November is National Adoption month and this coming Sunday is Stand Sunday. Stand Sunday, held in early November every year, is an international awareness campaign regarding the needs of orphans and vulnerable children. Today I want to talk about spiritual adoption. English-Canadian theologian J.I. Packer said this about understanding spiritual adoption: “It is one matter to stand before the judge and have one’s penalty forgiven and wiped clear from one’s record, which is justification, and it is quite another when that same judge wraps his arms around the offender and takes him home to live with him. To be right with God the judge is a great thing, but to be loved and cared for by God the father is greater… If you want to judge how well a person understands Christianity, find out how much he makes of the thought of being God’s child, and having God as his Father.” (Knowing God, p. 187, 188, 201). In the sermon, we will explore the love of a good Father who planned our adoption from before the world began, who has raised our status from slaves to sons, who has liberated us and clothed us with honor and righteousness, who has promised us an eternal inheritance, and who has given us a great purpose.

After church on January 12, Cornerstone will be hosting a special lunch called Family Hope 101 for any of you willing to consider the ministry of foster care and adoption, or willing to come alongside foster or adoptive parents at Cornerstone in ways such as bringing a meal, watching a sibling of a foster child, allowing foster parents to go on a date. You can register for this event here. Care for orphans and vulnerable children is one way that the adopted family of God can testify to the mysterious planned love of our Father in heaven, the costly sacrifice of our redemption accomplished by Jesus, and the hope for a blessed future as guaranteed by the Holy Spirit. 

This coming Tuesday is Election Day!  This election season has been quite divisive for the country and somewhat exhausting for many individuals.  Besides simply being wearied by it all, how should Christians respond to all that is going on in the world today? Preaching from 1 Peter 2:11-20, Pastor Billy explores the posture that believers ought to have towards the world.  We will hear the apostle Peter’s call to the church to neither assimilate nor isolate but to participate—to participate in in the world by doing good so that others would come to “glorify God.”

One of the greatest joys we can experience in this life is seeing someone come to faith in Jesus for the first time.  Jesus actually says the angels in heaven rejoice as well!  In the sermon this week Pastor Billy explores Peter’s call to the church to “proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness.”  We will consider some reasons we have to delight in this high calling. 

The Christian life is not meant to be lived alone.  While we might come to Jesus individually, we are not meant live separately.  Peter reminds us of this fact, telling us that as we come to Jesus, we are being built together into a new spiritual house with Jesus himself being our cornerstone.  In the sermon this week Pastor Billy challenges us to view this new spiritual house as something that is precious to us.

Have you ever tried to read your Bible and actually fallen asleep?  Ever carve out some “extra” time to pray but walk away feeling discouraged by how hard it is?  In the sermon this week Pastor Billy will explore why we often struggle in this area and consider how the gospel can fuel our hunger for God’s Word.

When you think about the call to be holy, what comes to mind?  Obedience perhaps. Commitment. Devotion.  Maybe we think about worship.  In the sermon this week Pastor Billy addresses something that might be missing in our understanding of holiness—love! It’s no mistake that as Peter calls the church to be holy “as God is holy,” he immediately addresses the need for us to love one another deeply.

The gospel gives us the power to respond to anger in a way that honors God and is consistent with His word. 

“Be holy,” God says, “because I am holy.”  God’s people are told repeatedly throughout the Bible that they should be different from the world. Set apart. Holy.  But what does this mean?  Does the call to holiness somehow negate the grace of God?  Is holiness something we achieve for ourselves?  In the sermon this week, Pastor Billy explores the relationship between the work of Christ and the call to holiness. 

Sometimes suffering produces clarity but other times it leaves us confused and simply feeling stuck.  In the sermon this week Pastor Billy explores three gospel truths from 1 Peter 1:3-12 that help us to get unstuck. 

Pastor Billy kicks off a new sermon series entitled Living With Hope In A Hostile World

Peter begins his letter writing to the “elect exiles.” These two words provide powerful insight not only into what the letter of 1 Peter is all about but also remind us of the sort of people we ought to be.