When you trust God, plans can change very quickly. I got a call from Don Gillette at Because We Care Ministries a couple of weeks ago asking if I wanted to go back to Nicaragua and help teach pastors for a week in March.  I hadn’t planned on going this year, but it didn’t take long after praying to realize that this was definitely something that God was leading me to do. So the next day, I emailed him back and told him I was in, even before I knew what I would be doing. Now, if you know me, you know this goes against my personality. I like having all the details and information and being fully prepared before committing. But when I went on a mission trip there in November of ’09, I left a piece of my heart there. So, this time, it was an easy decision.

I found out yesterday what I will be doing. I will be teaching a group of 12 to 15 local pastors theology for a week. I’m going to be focusing on who God is. His nature, His character, His attributes, and His love. I’ll be teaching each morning and joining a mission team for some ministry as well. Don told me to be prepared to preach as well, so I’m looking forward to preaching with a translator again. I’m excited to see some familiar faces and reconnect with the people of Nicaragua. Most of the time will be spent in the village of Somotillo, which is on the northern part of Nicaragua close to the Honduras border.

I’m already planning and preparing to teach, so leave me a comment if you know of a good book that describes God’s character and nature. This is a great chance to make a lasting impact. When you go on a mission trip for a week, you can see life change, but when local pastors are trained, you can be part of the transformation of entire communities. I’m excited to teach on the Love, Holiness and Righteousness of the awesome God we serve!

There is no denying that debt is a huge problem in our country. Both for individuals and our government. At Cornerstone, we deal daily with people who are struggling with their finances. Our benevolence requests have skyrocketed this year due to the local high unemployment rates combined with the rising cost of basic necessities. It’s sad when people simply cannot pay for gas, groceries, and electricity. Unfortunately, the problems are made worse when people are in debt with no savings and no plan.

We want to serve our community and make a difference. We’ve hosted Joe Sangl several times here at Cornerstone with his Financial Learning experience, but we also want to offer Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University.  FPU is a 13 week course filled with Biblical wisdom about managing your finances. The class starts this Sunday evening at 6pm and is open to the community. The first lesson is free! All you need to do is register to attend. If you want to continue, the cost will be $100 including materials and lifetime membership in FPU. Your member’s kit will include a workbook, audio CD’s of all the lessons, Dave’s envelope system for cash management, online access to Dave’s resource center, Dave’s book Financial Peace Revisited, and a lifetime membership to attend any FPU class anywhere, anytime, at no charge.

If you would like to signup, please visit the Cornerstone website and let us know. Also, if you would like to sponsor someone who would like to take the class but can’t afford the $100 fee, please let me know. I am excited that we will have a number of guys taking the course who are recovering from addictions, and we will need some help to make sure all of them can take the class. I am also excited to see Josh & Karen Ramey lead this class. They have both been through Dave Ramsey’s counselor training and they are excited to get this class started. Here’s some more info from Dave’s website.

More than one million families have attended Financial Peace University with amazing results. On average, these families paid off $5,300 in debt and saved $2,700 in just the first 90 days! Stop worrying about money, and start your journey to Financial Peace today.

As I think through the past ten years, there are a few church services that really stand out in my mind. One was a youth service on April 1st of 2001. My wife and I were serving at a country church as part time youth leaders. We had just got back from taking over 50 teenagers to a Student Conference, and we turned over part of the morning worship service to our teens so they could share about what they learned. What happened next was a youth revival. Student after student stood before the church and shared what God was doing in their life. Instead of a few minutes, they took the entire service and more. And it was on that morning when I shared that God was leading me into ministry. I didn’t know what it would look like, and I didn’t know where I would end up, but I knew things were about to change. That morning sparked a journey that led students to enroll in seminary and even serve as missionaries and it has led me to become a pastor. I still have the VHS tape of that service, and it is one that I will never forget.

This past week at Cornerstone was another one of those services. Our mission team shared about their recent trip to Nicaragua. It seemed like everything was stacked against them sharing. We had to cancel the service the week before when they were supposed to share because of snow.  And we didn’t make a decision about this week’s service until early Sunday morning. We had to cancel our early service because of ice and cold, but we decided to have our 11am service. Everyone was glad we did. It was a powerful service where we heard not about what they did, but about what God did in their hearts. I am so proud of our team members for being sensitive to the Holy Spirit. I just stayed out of the way and let God move. It’s awesome when that happens.

I think it’s important for us to look back to the Spiritual markers in our life. The moments and events that formed us and shaped us. The experiences that caused us to change our direction and focus on following Christ completely. The Israelites built alters to remember those events, and we should not forget the power that comes from realizing that our God has been faithful.

Here is the video from Sunday.

Mission Team Update from Cornerstone on Vimeo.

I’ve shared before about how much I like YouVersion. It’s a Bible application that you can access for free from your mobile device or the web. They have a number of great Bible Reading Plans that help you get into a habit of reading God’s Word. Reading Scripture is an important discipline of the Christian life. It connects us to the very voice of God, and that’s why I urge everyone to read their Bible on a daily basis.

The team at YouVersion has released a great Christmas reading plan. They have included reflection questions and action steps that you can take each day. This is a great way to share the Christmas story with your family. In today’s society, it is hard to keep our focus on Christ during this crazy time of year. Taking time each day to think about the true meaning of Christmas is so important for us as believers. This plan is 25 days long, so if you start now it will take you through Christmas day. Click below to find out more.

What are some of the ways that your family keeps the focus on Christ during Christmas? Leave me a comment below with your ideas.

This week our church has a mission team in Nicaragua.  We have partnered with Because We Care Ministries to do numerous trips to Nicaragua in the past.  Each time the teams come back with incredible stories of God at work. We are able to do construction and radio ministry in the mornings, and then in the afternoon the team will distribute food and medical supplies to remote villages.  Yesterday during our early 9:15 church service, we were able to video chat with the team over Skype. It is absolutely amazing how technology can help you connect and communicate across the world.

This year, we also have another way to hear and see updates from the team. Each night at 8pm Eastern Time, you can watch a live NicaNews video webcast from Because We Care Ministires on UStream. I have also embedded the channel below so you can watch right here on the website.

During the message this past week at Cornerstone, we were able to take questions from the congregation via text messaging. We ended up with more questions than we had time to answer during the service, so I wanted to share my answers here on the blog.  I also asked for Jennifer’s input on these. I love having interaction during our worship services. Hopefully we will be able to do more things like this in the future.

Continue Reading…

Staying married in today’s society is tough. Let’s just be honest for a minute. Everything from tv and movies to the books and magazines we read tell us that we should be happy at any cost. Marriage is viewed as temporary, something that we just move on from as soon as it quits providing us the happiness we desire. Families are split apart, lives are forever changed, and in the process we still don’t find the happiness we are longing for. I believe the Bible has a better plan for marriage, and it means that we that we have to desire Holiness more than happiness.

Too many times we look to our spouse to fill needs in our life that only God can fill. If we would just focus on seeking God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength, I think we would be amazed at how our marriages would be strengthened. When we put God first, suddenly our selfish desires don’t seem so important. In church, I shared a “twitter” quote from Rick Warren, and I think he is accurate in his assessment.

I can summarize 35 yrs of pastoral marriage counseling in 2 words: GROW UP.James 4:1-2, Prov.13:10.Selfishness is the root

April 9, 2010 4:43 pm via webReplyRetweetFavorite

@RickWarren

Rick Warren

If we would just grow up and think about the needs of our spouse before our own, most conflict in marriage would disappear. At Cornerstone this past weekend, we talked about the importance of the vows we make during our wedding. Do you ever stop and think about your vows? Before you argue, before you get angry, before you say or do something that you will regret, think about the vows you made.

I take you to be my lawfully wedded wife/husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish; from this day forward until death do us part.

In Matthew 5:31-32 and Matthew 19:3-11 we see Jesus address the seriousness of marriage vows. In Malachi 2:13-16 NLT we see God’s heart towards divorce. Throughout scripture we see that covenants are made to be kept, not broken. I think the American church has done a poor job at helping people understand the commitment they are making, and they have also done a poor job at helping people stay married. Because of that, we see two huge problems within the church.

The first problem is that divorce is too rampant. We see people separating and divorcing over minor problems within their marriage, and the church does nothing to discourage it. The second problem is that those who have been divorced have been outcast from church. It seems as if divorce is the one sin that is unforgivable. As a church, I want everyone to realize the seriousness of the vows they have made, and that divorce is a last resort only when vows have been broken and the spouse is unrepentant. However, for those that have experienced the heartbreak and pain of divorce, I want them to know that they can experience the grace of Jesus Christ. Do everything you can to be reconciled, but if reconciliation is not possible, then know that you don’t have to live a life of guilt and shame. Please read this post to find out how you can move forward in your faith after divorce.

If you missed our service, you can watch the entire sermon online. I closed the service by showing this video from Newspring. I appreciate them allowing us to download and share the video. It is powerful and it shows how God can heal any marriage, even after divorce.

At Cornerstone we have just started a marriage series called ONE, and we are looking at Ephesians 5:30-33 NLT.

And we are members of his body. As the Scriptures say, “A man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.”This is a great mystery, but it is an illustration of the way Christ and the church are one.  So again I say, each man must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.

You can find our messages from Cornerstone on our website or in iTunes. For all our our Cornerstone attenders, please keep inviting your friends. I can’t wait to share more about what it takes to have a marriage where two truly become one.

But I also want to share about other great marriage sermon series. Pastor Perry Noble at Newspring Church is also currently doing a marriage series called Man vs. Wife. He does a great job of explaining why this is an important topic in this video.

I am loving the series and you can watch or listen to the sermons at their website. It is definitely one of the most real sermon series about marriage that I have listened to.