Cornerstone Simi Audio Podcast

Thomas Scherer, Cornerstone’s Student Ministry Director, joins Todd and Christian today discussing the implications of Matthew 28:17 and the Apostles' conflict between worshiping Jesus and doubting His work and call on their lives. We too find ourselves experiencing moments, or even seasons, of doubt because none of us share the vantage point of our all-knowing God. We too wrestle with God when life is hard and unexpected events undermine our confidence in what God is doing. The solution to this doubt is to worship Jesus, keep our focus on Jesus, trust in Jesus, and accept that our doubts are a sign of our weakness, which can be overcome by Jesus! You will be blessed by this insightful conversation between Thomas, Todd, and Christian and find that your confidence will build when you realize that God is always with us and being used by Him for Kingdom work is His idea!!

Todd, Christian and Spencer begin this podcast with a conversation about what they believed the Apostles actually understood about what Christ was saying when He told them He would be “with you always, to the end of the age”. They discuss that although the Apostles had a lot of illusions from their time with Christ about what was coming, it would not be possible for them to fully understand what the future would hold. Additionally, Jesus was asking them to take on an insurmountable task, to go to all nations, for all time, and to live like Jesus always, and they couldn’t do it without Jesus! And neither can we! Jesus’s statement is meant to empower us to be faithful always, acknowledging that God is with us, has prepared a way ahead of time for us, and we are simply joining Him in the work that He has already begun.

Our pastors cover 2 teachings in this one podcast - discussing both baptism and the command to teach new disciples, all that Jesus taught. They speak of baptism as being initiated into Jesus, and a transition into our new identity. If you’ve ever struggled about being baptized before you have straightened out your life, you will love the guys' candid discussion that will free you to commit to Jesus before you’ve actually “nailed it”. They describe it as “making a promise (now) to work it out with God with a longing to make this promise real (in the future)”. Then they move on to discussing what it means to embrace the teachings of Jesus, which will lead to our allegiance to Christ strengthening over our lifetime with Him.

Continuing in the Summer series on The Great Commission, Todd points out that after Jesus declares His authority over Heaven and Earth, He immediately commands us to “go and make disciples”. But in order to do this we must remember two things - making disciples will not be possible without the power of the Holy Spirit within us and secondly, this command comes, not unexpectedly, but as a result of all the instructions given previously in the book of Matthew. Our pastor’s acknowledge that this is hard but go on to explain how discipleship happens within the local church and among the church body in simple day-to-day activities and relationships. If you are overwhelmed by the prospect of discipleship you will find encouragement and hope in this straightforward discussion.