Cornerstone Boulder Weekly Podcast

Awe is defined as an intense feeling of reverence, admiration, or worship experienced when the emotions of fear and amazement are triggered. Sadly, we can often attempt to insulate ourselves from such emotions when, in reality, we would be much better off engaging with them. There are, of course, healthy ways and unhealthy ways to pursue such a life, but Gene lays out a strategy for avoiding the laziness that creates dispassion and, instead, following God into places of fear and amazement by living our life for Him. We were made to be amazed.

Self-Reliance seems like a virtue in our modern era, but when it comes to wisdom, self-reliance can actually be a vice: we rely on wisdom we don't have and we end up in places we never wanted to be. However, Brian shares in his message that Wisdom is not something only accessible to the elite, but something that is available to all of us if we are willing to ask for it. Brian goes on to show what this asking really looks like and how we become people who receive wisdom instead of trying to make our own ways work.

Terry Wardle joined us for a special talk on Sunday all about how we finish well. Terry shares how we can make sure that we finish well by choosing to live in the present and make three important choices every day: remember that God is for us and not against us, choose not to throw stones, and say yes every day to a fresh empowerment of the Holy Spirit. 

We're really thankful for Terry and glad he shared this with us. We hope you enjoy!

The Migration series is all about how we can move from the vices that enslave us to the virtues that liberate us, but Gene takes this message to give a warning that the opposite can also happen; it's possible for virtues to gradually become vices. Though Gene shares that there are many examples of virtues becoming vices, he picks two that are common and that often work in concert with one another: when humility becomes self-denigration and when self-love becomes self-centeredness. Gene goes to show how humility and self love are both positive virtues in the Scriptures, but when they start to go into their extremes they become detrimental to ourselves and to those around us.

Inspired by our visit from Paty Gonzalez, Brian changed the beginning of his message to show what it means to be a strong one in the world. Often, we don't intend to work against justice, but as Brian talks about Justice, he shows that our migration originates in our apathy and grows as we learn to take a stand and take action towards seeing justice in the world. Brian concludes by showing that this action is crucial, but not as overwhelming as it might seem.

There is a particular ideology that has propagated around the world promising happiness to those that buy in. There's only one problem; instead of giving happiness, consumerism ropes people into a trap of anxiety and constant disappointment. In this message Gene offers some perspective on what we should really treasure and speaks about the replete serenity that comes from aligning ourselves and our values with the Kingdom of Heaven.

There is a type of courage that can deceive you, let you down, and get you into trouble and there is a kind of courage that comes from a key relationship that every person needs. When we talk about courage it's important to be able to distinguish these two types of courage and to know how to consistently choose the second. Brian looks at a fairly famous story in a new way and shows us how we can know true courage and how we can put ourselves in a place to choose it.

Brian returns from his sabbatical to talk about how we move from places of fear towards courage. In the first of this two-parter, Brian talks about how courage is not the opposite of fear, but rather, the response we can have to fear. As Brian illustrates, continually choosing the courageous response begins to change us to be people of virtue who are not overwhelmed by our fears.

The Foreshadows series concludes with a message from Gene speaking to the response we have to God's incredible story. At the core, we all have a sense of what this story should be, but we face questions when we come to difficulties and challenges. Gene addresses this and talks about how we can look at our own life stories and interpret them in light of what God is doing.

One of the most interesting aspects of Scripture is the importance that the LORD places on appointed times throughout the year; commonly referred to as the Jewish Feasts. As Gene takes us into this particular foreshadow, he reveals how these feasts reveal a cycle of struggle, hope and redemption. Not only that, but these feasts line up EXACTLY with important events in history that reveal God's mysterious plan to redeem and to unite his people. Finally, we see that these feasts cause us to look forward to a day where God will gather together his people and dwell together with them. After all... it's all about going home.