Cornerstone Church of Parker

One of the most pressing questions that religions try to answer is, “What is the source of eternal life? And how does a person obtain it?” Today, we are going to hear how Jesus answered those questions and in the process we are going to see that Christianity is truly unique among the world’s religions.

We are all children of earthly parents. We resemble them in many ways, both physically and temperamentally. People can look at us and see that we are our parents' child because we share similar features and modes of living. This was true of Jesus and His relationship with God the Father. When we believe this is true, we become children of God too. As children of God we are called to resemble Him in our mode of living, so much so that people can look at us and see that we are, in fact, children of God.

Mark 16

Staying balanced during times of transition is easier said than done. When one season ends and another begins, naturally we do a poor job managing our emotions. In Mark 16 we learn how to smoothly transition from one season to another and in the process maintain our balance in world of constant change.

Mark 14:12-25

Balancing the tension between where we’ve been and where we are going is not always easy to do. The only way we are able to do so if we remember that our times - past, present, and future - are in God’s hands. One of the ways that we can help ourselves remember this truth is by periodically using meals to facilitate important conversations about God’s movement in our lives, just as Jesus did with His disciples in Mark 14.

MARK 1:1-11

Staying balanced amidst the competing expectations of others requires you to make pleasing God by meeting His expectations your primary goal in life.

Mark 9:2-29

After a “mountaintop” experience with God we can become disillusioned when we have to return to our everyday lives. Naturally, it’s hard to balance being overwhelmed with God’s presence on the mountaintop with being confronted everyday with unbelievers, sickness, and demonic activity. It’s hard to balance times when we clearly hear God’s voice with times when He is silent. Despite the seemingly deep contrasts in our experiences, as believers we stay balanced when we realize that God is present with us on the mountaintops and in the valleys. When we cannot hear God’s voice like we would like to, He is still moving powerfully in our lives and in the lives of the people around us.

Matthew 24-25

How do we sustain the changes that God makes in our lives, both in near and far future, given the fact that we live in a world full of dysfunction, deception, and destruction? In the face of such blatant sinfulness and selfishness it is only natural for us to fall back into our old ways of living, believe lies, or lose hope. In His last major discourse, Jesus shares with us at least three practical ways we can sustain the true changes that God makes in our lives and ultimately endure to the end.

Matthew 18:1-35

Think about pressure-packed interactions you’ve had with others - when you’ve hurt  someone else, how did you respond? What about when someone else hurt you - how did  you respond? Your response in those pressure-packed interactions is a great way to know  just how truly changed you really are. In Matthew 18, Jesus addresses both of these  situations and in the process gives us four indicators of a truly changed life.

Matthew 13:1-52

The source of a truly changed life is God’s Word. After we acknowledge that we need God’s help making changes, He will start changing our life in small ways. But these small changes should not discourage us, because in the end they will have a long-lasting, positive impact on our relationships. In this sermon, we will learn that the degree to which we experience change is dependent on our response to God’s Word and our ability to not compare ourselves to others.