Cornerstone Atl Weekly Sermons

A new year is a time that's filled with tons of activity. We have goals, hopes and aspirations for what we want to accomplish. As we approach a new year, it's more important that we draw near to listen to God to hear what He has to say to us rather than to draw near to lecture Him about what we want Him to do for us. As we look at Ecclesiastes chapter 5, we'll be encouraged to watch our step, weigh each word and ultimately wait on God.

The sweetest word in any language is someone's first name. Dignity and worth are instilled in them as they're recognized as someone unique. Names are special in this regard, but one other thing that makes names special are their meaning. Each name tells a story and Christmas is no different. When God refers to Jesus as our Immanuel, it's His way of providing us an invitation into His family. Jesus is God's standing invitation to join His family.

Leadership is one of God's greatest gifts to the church. The world in which we live has many different definitions of what it means to be a leader. The apostle Paul gives us a different take on what godly leadership looks like in the life of believers. Pastor Moe closes out our Pillars series by looking at (1) the strength of a leader (2) the work of a leader and (3) the life of a leader.

We can find everything we need in God.

To live is Christ and to die is gain.

In prayer, we long for God's presence before (and more) than His provision.

When God saved us, He didn't just take out of danger, He took us into His family. Because we are adopted we have God as Father and glory in our future.

Weakness isn't a curse, it's a gift from God that makes us humble, dependent, and ultimately strong. True strength comes through weakness.

You biggest fight in life is a fight against isolation, not imperfections. In Ecclesiastes 4, we're challenged to accept life's imperfections while fighting to avoid isolation.

God's promises of future judgment is meant to keep our hearts from being discouraged, it's not meant to keep our hands from getting dirty. God's promises free us from the anxiety that comes from worrying about the future. The fact that He has the future covered gives us the freedom to spend this one life we have to live well.

The key to finding joy in this life comes from realizing the limits that are placed on us. Life is meant to be managed, not manipulated. The sooner we understand that, the sooner we can enjoy our present life as a gift from God. Ecclesiastes 3 we see three truths that must be grasped in order for us to have present joy. You aren't in control. God has complete control. God has perfect control.

God given resources are meant to be shared, not hoarded.

Everyone is a counselor, the issue is whether you'll be a good one or not. Christians have a responsibility to speak into situations with wisdom of God. The church grows to maturity as Christians embrace their responsibility to give advice, comfort, and correction.

If you fail to plan, you plan to pail. Sayings like that communicate the reality that looking to the future is the key to our success. And while that may be the case, the future is also the very thing that fuels our present anxiety. Anxiety can either cause you live for LATER (obsess over the future) or LOITER (ignore the future and just enjoy now). The future may be the key to our earthly success, but as the writer of Ecclesiastes reflects on two future certainties that we can't escape (Our death and our descendants), he challenges our perspective on the future and how we live in the present. He shows us why putting our hope for meaning in merely securing a better future on earth makes for a terrible way to live in the present.

Everyone of us goes through life with a nagging sense that something's missing. There's a feeling of emptiness that leads to attempts on our part to fill the emptiness. For those of us that consider ourselves good and moral, it's easy to think that our biggest battle is to stay away from immoral pleasures in favor of immoral pleasures. However, the author of Ecclesiastes seems to think different. Innocent pleasures, don't always make for innocent pursuits. Sometimes our pursuit of very innocent things, can distract us from our true purpose of finding our true pleasure in God. We have to remember that we have an eternal palette that will swallow up every earthy pleasure and still leave you as an empty person. We were never meant to fill up on earthly pleasures but something more. God's gift to us is that earthly pleasures are only to serve as signposts towards the real pleasure--Himself!

Knowledge is power. It's a statement that we're all too familiar with. We know how powerful knowledge can be because we know the pain that ignorance can cause. We've all known the regret that comes along with the statement, "if only I knew then what I know now." Lack of knowledge about certain things seems to be the source of pain and loss in many of our lives. Knowledge, seems like something that would make our lives better. Until we look at the book of Ecclesiastes. The Author of the book gives us interesting thoughts on knowledge. Knowledge may drive us to answers, but we often find that agony is sitting in the passenger seat. In a broken world, it seems like the more that you learn, the more you lament. Far from solving all of our problems, knowledge tends to create additional problems. How should we treat the pursuit of knowledge in a fallen world? Is there any place where this pursuit of knowledge won't ultimately let us down?

The garden of our ideal life is littered with disappointments. Nothing in the life that we have is disappointment proof--regardless of how hard we work to make it so. When it comes to the business of living, we find ourselves moving from asking "how do I accomplish my goals" to "why do I exist? what am I even working for?". As we start our series in Ecclesiastes we see that the author of the book found himself in the same place. His conclusion is a sobering one, but it's only the starting point.

When it comes to interacting with other people, our preferences can easily become our prejudices. It's easy to be drawn to people that are impressive and distance ourselves from people that are unimpressive. In James chapter 2, we are reminded that God doesn't play favorites and that is the best news that people like us could ever hear.

How Christ came into the world, reveals why Christ came into the world. His birth in a manger served as a megaphone to announce to the world the reason for His coming. And if we understand that, it will drastically change the way we look at the world around us.

In Jesus, we get the best picture of what God's intention was for creating humanity. Jesus shows what it truly means to be human.