Cornerstone West Los Angeles » Sermons

The Bible gives us more than pat answers when it comes to suffering in our lives. According to Scripture, suffering comes in different shapes and sizes, and comes into our lives as a result of many different factors. Often, suffering is a mystery without a full explanation. It’s into this complicated middle that Jesus was born, suffered, and died for our sins to show us God’s own love for us in the midst of any situation.

Application Questions:

1. Why is it important to see that suffering comes in all different shapes and sizes? 

2. When you see suffering in your own life or someone else’s, how do you typically explain it? How does that compare to the ways Scripture talks about the causes of suffering?

3. How does the book of Job confront our desire for an explanation for our suffering?

4. How does Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection “in the middle” give us comfort for our suffering?

Every culture has a story of suffering that people use to make sense of the suffering they experience. Christianity provides a story of suffering that allows Christians to experience incredible hardship with endurance and even joy. It starts in the beginning with a good God creating a good world, which has been ruined by sin. This allows Christians to be honest about the struggle of suffering without ignoring the grace of God in their lives. The story ends with an eternity free of suffering and pain. This means Christians can put their current struggles in eternal perspective, giving them realistic hope in suffering now.

Application Questions: 

1. What is your “story of suffering”? How do you see it shape the way you understand suffering in your life?

2. How honest are you about suffering and grace in your own life? 

3. How does eternity play a role in the way you understand suffering?

The Psalms are incredibly honest about the reality and pervasiveness of suffering. In fact, they're often far more honest than we're willing to be. But it's only in being honest about the pervasiveness of suffering that we can experience the pervasiveness of hope.

Application Questions: 

1. In what ways are you currently suffering?

2. What types of suffering do you tend to overlook or not consider "real suffering"?

3. Are you surprised when you experience seasons of intense suffering? What do you think this says about your view of suffering?

4. Of the four reasons for hope seen in our passage, which did you need to hear the most?

- God is completely sovereign.

- God is infinite in wisdom.

- God is perfect in love.

- God is always present.

Jesus tells his followers that they are salt and light in the world. Salt is a preservative put into things that otherwise would fall apart. This teaches us that Christians are in the city to help it hold together. Light is what allows us to see the reality around us. This teaches us that Christians are in the city to show God’s truth and love to those who wouldn’t see it otherwise. Being salt and light is not based on our moral achievement but on Christ’s grace and presence in our own lives. 

Application Questions: 

1. How might God be calling you to be salt for the city?

2. How might God be calling you to be light for the city?

As we navigate life in a city filled with both unique blessings and unique challenges we need a supernatural endurance. Endurance is the strength to fulfill our God-given purpose even when things get hard. And, in Christ, we have all the strength we need.

Application Questions: 

1. What do you look to in order to escape the difficulties of the city when you are tempted to not endure?

2. What stories (witnesses) from the Old Testament bring you particular encouragement as you strive to fulfill 3. God's purpose for your time in our city?

4. Who are other people in our church family whose lives spur you on to faithfulness in our city?

5. How does the love and sacrifice of Christ shape how you view your own love and sacrifice in our city?

God gives His people instructions for how to live as they are taken into exile in Babylon, thousands of years ago. The principles that God gives His people still apply for us today. We too are in a land that is not our own. We too are called to seek the welfare of the city to which we are sent.

Application Questions: 

1. What are ways that you feel the temptation to assimilate to the city?

2. What are ways that you feel the pull to make this world your home?

3. How do you feel tempted to retreat from the city? How can you lovingly engage?

4. What would it look like in your life to seek the welfare of the city? Do you pray for the city?

5. How is a compass different than a map? Why does that matter?

6. How does the example of Jesus help guide your loving engagement?

Peter writes to Christians in a difficult place and reminds them of their identity: they are God’s own people. This identity isn’t achieved but received by grace. As citizens of God’s kingdom, Christians are sojourners in the city, living out the culture of God’s kingdom in loving interaction with our neighbors. 

Application Questions: 

1. How does Peter’s description of the Christian identity compare to how you normally think of the Christian identity? 

2. How have you experienced the temptation to achieve your own identity? Why is it good news that the Christian identity is received by grace?

3. How would your life in the city change if you saw yourself as a citizen of God’s kingdom, and therefore a sojourner here in Los Angeles?

4. Where is God calling you to abstain from the passions of the flesh? Where is God calling you to keep your conduct honorable among others in the city?

In a city as large and varied as LA, it can be easy to lose yourself in it, life within it becoming something to merely tolerate or endure. But God has a plan and a purpose for the city, and invites you into it. Because of that, our lives in the city become wrapped up in the glorious purpose of a loving God. 

Application Questions: 

1. In what ways do you see life in the city as a struggle? 

2. How does God's purpose for the city give you hope and direction in your life? 

3. How can the security of your inheritance and the glory of God animate your life in the city this week? 

Los Angeles is a hard place to live for many, and Christians easily lose sight of the larger purpose for their lives here. The story of Jonah shows us that Christians are called into God’s own love for the city. This calling gives us a different view of Los Angeles and our role in it, leading us to share God’s love and experience it more ourselves. 

Application Questions: 

1. What is the main reason you live in the city? 

2. How does God’s heart for the city and God’s grace for the city shape the way you view Los Angeles?

3. How might God be showing his love for you through calling you to the city?  

Many thought that as religion declined, humans would experience less guilt in their lives. Instead, guilt has increased in surprising ways. We all want to experience the freedom of forgiveness, but the options to deal with guilt in our culture don’t satisfy. Christianity, by exposing the reality of our guilt and showing us the reality of God’s grace, provides genuine freedom from guilt not just for a moment but forever. 

Application Questions: 

1. What does the experience of guilt look like for you?

2. What of the current options—denial, rationalizing, atonement—are you most tempted to use to deal with guilt? 

3. How does the gospel provide a better way to handle guilt? 

4. What can you do practically to enjoy forgiveness this week?