Cornerstone Message Podcast

Don't give up on changing the world! You have been empowered and sent to make a difference in the world today. Discover how God has equipped you with everything you need to live the kind of life he dreams of for you in part one of this new series.

The early church understood and adopted the idea of the resurrection in surprising ways. Where did these new ideas about the resurrection come from? Were there some innovative and imaginative theologians that decided to make lemonade out of the lemon of their would-be Messiah's crucifixion? Or is there another explanation? Hear the surprising innovations on the resurrection that the early church embraced and how they can help give you rock-solid faith for today!

Discover Jesus' remedy for boring, self-satisfied, lifeless religion, today in the conclusion of 7 Letters to 7 Churches. In the seventh letter, Jesus addresses the situation in ancient Laodicea. Their self-satisfied complacency was robbing them of the richness of their relationship with Jesus in the present, and putting in peril the fulfillment of their purpose with him in the future. Don't fall to the same fate. Trade in your complacency for an energetic and vital communion with your Creator-God.

What would it be like to hear "You're doing great" from Jesus when you're worn out and getting to the end of your strength? Letter Six in the collection is unusual in that the church in ancient middle-eastern Philadelphia is actually doing well in Jesus' estimation! What characterized their church that led to this assessment by Jesus? Listen in and found out.

Have you ever been surprised in a relationship? You thought everything was going well only to find out the other person had major issues. Or perhaps as you got to know someone you realized they aren't who you thought they were. It's one thing to be surprised by someone else. It's a whole 'nother level when you discover you're surprised by...you! Today we again pick up the series in Revelation exploring the personalized letters from Jesus to seven unique churches. In today's letter, Jesus shocks the church of Sardis with the revelation that everything is not as it seems, and they are facing a peril they didn't see coming. Discover that Jesus knows your situation and knows what needs to be done to make every believer and congregation survive and thrive in Part Five of 7 Letters to 7 Churches.

Guest speaker Shanna Crowell continues our series on the post-resurrection appearances of Jesus with the story of the man famous for his doubts. The disciple Thomas found in Jesus someone who did not reject him for his doubts, but instead made allowances for them, provided the evidence he needed to overcome them, and gave us even more reasons to believe when we face the same kinds of doubts.

Have you ever had your expectations shattered? Struggled to make sense of your circumstances? While we know the end of the story, for Jesus' disciples the days after his crucifixion and death were among the most grievous and disappointing moments of their lives. Even when the reports of Jesus' appearing alive began coming in, the disciples were more bewildered than encouraged. We will see how compelling the evidence is for Jesus' resurrection, we'll also see how Jesus changed lives by showing up alive after he died…and is still doing so today.

If I'm aiming to accomplish God's will, does it matter how I go about it All of us have an incredible capacity to justify our actions based on our good intentions. In letter four of our series, Jesus directs his piercing gaze at our hearts so that we don't deceive ourselves into error and suffer the sobering consequences. We can avoid self-deception and receive all the good things God has given us through his Son. See how in letter four's message.

No one believes a lie on purpose. But it is possible to deceive ourselves unwittingly. In the letter to his church at Pergamum, the third of seven personalized letters from Jesus contained in the book of Revelation, Jesus deals with a bit of self-deception that had crept into the church. They were faithfully and publicly holding to their allegiance to Jesus, but they had deceived themselves into thinking bold allegiance was all that was needed. Isn't it?

In the second personalized letter from Jesus to a church in the opening chapters of the book of Revelation, Jesus gives only commendation and encouragement to the people of the church in Smyrna. They are facing economic, political, and existential threats that could leave them poor, unprotected, and perhaps even dead. But Jesus reminds them that he was once dead, but now lives forever, and promises that they too can be victorious regardless of the dangers they must endure because he has promised the crown of life to those who are faithful to the end.