I hope that everyone had a wonderful “Valentine’s Day”. Per the “History Channel Newsletter” the following gives the possible origin of “Valentines Day”…
Something a little different this week. The last 5 months of Cornerstone has been most difficult to say the least. Moving to Friday nights has challenged us greatly in almost every way. We are so appreciative to many of our congregants who have successfully navigated the change. We are also extremely grateful to our audio/video team who selflessly come early every Friday to come and set up. They provide a valuable service in broadcasting our service to the many who are unable to attend our services in person. Our online audience is slowly growing, and we are subscribed in over 700 homes globally. Our online giving is also growing slowly and is becoming a valuable source of support for this ministry.
One of the many things I love about the Lord is that no matter how bad things look, there is always hope of restoration. Isaiah was a prophet to the southern nation of Judah. Israel, the northern kingdom is in serious decline and is eventually destroyed by the Assyrian Empire. Judah lasts longer but is also in decline spiritually. Isaiah lived during the reigns of four kings of Judah: Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah. His ministry began in about 740 B.C., the year Uzziah died, and perhaps continued some 40 to 50 years, through and beyond the reign of Hezekiah. Isaiah helped to prevent Judah’s captivity and exile by Assyria when the Assyrian king Sennacherib invaded the land during Hezekiah’s reign (2Kings 17-20, 2Chronicles 26-32, Isaiah 36-39). However, Isaiah’s ministry began 47 years earlier in the last year of king Uzziah, Hezekiah's great grandfather (Isaiah 6:1,8). Isaiah’s work spanned the reigns of four kings in Judah (Isaiah 1:1). Isaiah probably lived to the exile of the Southern kingdom and into the reign of Manasseh (Hezekiah’s son). The time and manner of Isaiah’s death are not specified but Jewish tradition says that he suffered martyrdom by being sawn in two under the orders of Manasseh (Hebrews 11:37).
One of the things I enjoy watching are the “real-life” programs that feature families living off the grid in Alaska. I love watching the families survive and thrive against the elements. They rely on their God-given gifts to build homesteads, fish, and hunt for food, grow crops and raise sled dogs to live in a climate that is anything but livable in Alaska. All this without having a “Lowes” or “Home Depot” nearby to buy tools and supplies for their needs.
The following is a “call to action” that our dear friend and intercessor, Cheryl McCall received towards the end of 2022. Both she and Karen Austin have spent many hours praying for Cornerstone especially during the last few years dealing with the “plan-demic” and crisis that we faced at the church. I wanted to preface what she wrote with Ezekiel 22:30 since it’s this verse that she is referring too. Ezekiel 22:30 (ESV)
It’s hard to believe but tonight, Wednesday the 11th is my 68th birthday and the 31st anniversary of the first prophetic word that Cheryl and I ever received. It was 1992 and I had just graduated from Washington Bible College (now defunct) the summer before with a BA in “Pastoral Ministry”. Important to understand that WBC was a “cessationist” school which taught that many of the sign gifts on the Spirit were phased out by God after the “Canon” of scripture was completed. I was also a full-time associate pastor at a Baptist church in Frederick where I directed and oversaw youth and music ministries. To make long story short, my wife and I were invited to a house meeting where Michael Ratliff was the invited speaker. It was also a very difficult and stressful time in our lives.
I sense a shift in the release of the Kingdom of God in 2023. Just as a seismic shift takes place and shifts the plates of the earth, there is a shift in the spirit that will also affect a shift in the spirit realm and in the earth.
It’s impossible to come to this time of year and not reflect on the past year as much as you look forward to the new wondering what it will bring. James, the half brother of Jesus gives us an interesting perspective in his letter to the global church in James 4:13-14 (ESV)
“Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— 14 yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.”
Maybe it’s part of my personality or redemptive gift but I find that I’m always processing the past and looking forward what God has for us in the future. I find that no matter how dark it may seem, God has a plan of redemption in every situation. The key is to stay low and trust Him in the process. James gives some further advice in James 5:13-18 (ESV)
I did some research on the origins of “Christmas traditions” this week and wanted to share a few highlights of what I discovered. Some of the following is from the “Love to Know” website.
Although the actual beginning of the Christmas “festival” is not clear, many researchers feel that the celebration of Christmas is related to the Jewish celebration of the “Festival of Lights” which is the same festival that we read about in John 10 as the “Festival of Dedication”. The modern Jewish festival is called “Hannukah” which usually lasts for 8 days in December. Each day, a candle is lit commemorating the miracle that took place when the Maccabean revolt recovered the temple that Antiochus Epiphanes had profaned by slaughtering a pig on the alter. The Maccabean family not only took back the Temple from the Romans but lit the temple candlestick. There was only enough oil to fuel the menorah for 1 day, but it supernaturally remained lit for 8 days. This event was celebrated for hundreds of years before Jesus was born. In fact, we read that Jesus was in Jerusalem for this dedication where He also declared to the religious leaders that He was the great “I AM “, John 10:22-30 (ESV)
The scriptures say the we love Him because He first loved us. (1 John 4:19). Love is in-ate in us when the Holy Spirit takes up residence in our spirit. Before we find Him, love in the flesh is often conditional and self-centered. We love because someone loves us. We give because it benefits my relationship to do so. God’s love is unconditional and is given when it is not earned. In fact, sacrificial love is the central idea behind agape love. John 15:13 is the perfect definition behind this kind of love.
“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command.”
The greatest form of love is a self-sacrificial love the one has for another where a life is given when nothing is expected in return. The Greek word for this kind of love is called Agape. I’ve studied the Greek terms for love, especially the word agapē which is supposed to be the highest expression of love - a pure, selfless, unconditional thing. Agape love is love at the highest level. It's so much more than we could ever dream or imagine. When we fully understand and grasp what agape love means for us, it will transform how we view ourselves and ultimately, how we view ourselves. It is used over 106 time in the New Testament.
The following story of an American Icon symbolizes this, Alfred Vanderbilt.*
Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt
When disaster strikes, men and women are capable of moments of pure heroism. Sadly, all too often, such acts are largely forgotten to history. Unless that is, you are no ordinary person. If, say, you are one of the world’s richest men – and a globe-trotting playboy to boot – then your act of sacrifice certainly will be noted, and celebrated, for posterity. This is certainly true for Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt, who is remembered not just for his wealth but for the fact he gave his life so others may live.
To say Vanderbilt was born into privilege is something of an understatement. His great-grandfather, Cornelius Vanderbilt, left school at the age of 11 and then went on to make a fortune in shipping and railroads. Cornelius left the equivalent of $150 billion in today’s money to his son, who then doubled the family fortune. So, when Alfred inherited the family fortune, he had big shoes to fill. And fill them he did. For, while he may well have scandalized polite society with his partying and womanizing ways, he was also an astute investor, putting his money in real estate and, to a much lesser extent, horses.
It was for the latter that Vanderbilt set off from New York aboard the Lusitania in May 1915. He was planning on attending a meeting of the International Horse Breeders’ Association in Britain. Even though the waters of the Atlantic were teeming with German U-boats, most passengers on the huge vessel assumed that, since they were on a non-military ship, they would be safe. How wrong they were. On the morning of 7 May, the Lusitania was attacked off the coast of County Cork, Ireland. It soon became clear that it was going down.
Vanderbilt was, as a First Class passenger, given a lifejacket. He gave it away. Then, as the ship started to sink, he concerned himself with making sure as many children as possible got into the lifeboats. Given his status – and given what had happened on the Titanic – he could have easily got a spot on a lifeboat himself and saved his own skin. However, he was still trying to save others when the boat went under the waves. Vanderbilt’s body was never found. A reporter in the New York Times noted that he displayed “gallantry which no words of mine can describe”.
Sacrificial love is the same kind of love that causes a soldier to throw himself on a live grenade to save the rest of his platoon. It’s the same when first responders put themselves at risk running into a burning house or collapsing building to save people they don’t even know. This is the kind of love we’re supposed to have for one another. Christ was the supreme example of.
Agape love is a love that supposed to set the church far above the world yet so seldom does. Instead, the church is often a place that is divided by personal and theological difference which lead to cliques and insecurities which cause people to draw others to themselves.
This Christmas, buy a gift for someone who cannot do anything if return for you. When you do, remember Chris’s love for you. When you could do nothing in return, Christ freely gave His life for you. His is the deepest kind of love .
History Collection
December is the month that many celebrate Jesus’ birth. I’m more of the persuasion Jesus was probably born in September or October during the “Feast of Trumpets”. If that be the case, then Jesus was probably conceived during this time of year. That perhaps is more miraculous than His birth. The Holy Spirit gives us the explanation in Luke 1:30-35 (ESV)
And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” 34 And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” 35 And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be bornwill be called holy—the Son of God.
Whether you celebrate a Traditional Christmas (December 25) or Hanukkah, known in Jesus’ time as the “Feast of Dedication” John 10:22 (ESV),
“At that time the Feast of Dedication took place at Jerusalem. It was winter”
The “Feast of Dedication” was instituted by Jude Maccabeus, to commemorate the purification of the temple from the profanations to which it had been subjected by Antiochus Epiphanes 165 B.C., and kept for eight days, from the twenty-fifth Chisleu (December), the day on which Judas began the first joyous celebration of it (1 Maccabees 4:52,56,59; and Josephus, Antiquities, 7.7.7). This all took place in the 400 year inter-testament. Jesus was possibly in Jerusalem to celebrate the dedication. Certainly, He was there to declare that he was indeed the “light’ of the world come to save men. He also later declared during this trip oneness with the Father (John 10:30 (ESV).
The first Thanksgiving took place when the settlers at Plymouth had a three-day feast with the Wampanoag Tribe in 1621. This event marking the first real successful harvest was a break in the hostilities between the two groups that lasted for decades and led to the ultimate decimation of the Wampanoag tribe and the loss of lives of hundreds of settlers.
In several recent holidays, I have been grateful for broad efforts to honor service members’ valor and patriotic dedication. At the same time, I have been struck by how many Christians’ thinking about such topics is a hodgepodge of cultural traditions (accepted or rejected to varying extents) but largely disconnected from biblical truth—and a historical understanding. I invite you to join me in reflecting on a few items regarding our nation, the Kingdom of God, and our role as dual citizens.
There is something that the Old and New Testament believers possessed that I’m convinced is missing in many believers of today. It’s living and moving in the Holy Spirit. In fact, living and moving in the Holy Spirit is referred to over 270 times in the Bible. The doctrine of the Holy Spirit does not seem very important today, even in charismatic circles. This understanding was foundational to the early church: Acts 17:28 (ESV)
The following is an article that Cheryl wrote for a Christian Women’s virtue magazine back in 2004. She spoke on this topic again last Friday night at our Friday Shabbat service. Enjoy!
I was meditating upon the majesty of God today and suddenly, I received a revelation of why it is so necessary for the day we live in. Lets first lay a background for where we are going. The first scripture I want to look at Is Isaiah 6:1-8
“In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3 And one called to another and said:
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!”
4 And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. 5 And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.”8 And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.” 9 And he said, “Go, and say to this people:
I included the entire Psalm because it is such an incredible portion. It shows God’s intent and care for those He has created in His image. One of Satan’s schemes is trying to convince us that God is not near but actually non-present when I’m in despair or when I feel alone is abandoned. Nothing could be further than the truth. He is always present. Verses 7-8 prove this.
The term “seeking the Lord” is a common catchphrase in the church but have we ever considered what it really means? The modern Christian culture puts the emphasis the other way around, that God seeks us out. Although there is the truth to that, there is a danger that the gospel becomes “me” centered and not “Christ” centered. In this blog, we will examine a few verses to try to understand why it is so important to God that we seek Him. The first verse I want to look is a well-known verse from Isaiah 55:6-7 (ESV)
Today, we finished cleaning out the 66 Waverley facility with 22 years of items to either take with us or discard. We are so grateful to all those who have helped us. It would be dangerous for me to name all those who helped us, but the Lord knows who you are. However, special thanks to Victor and Laura Lugo who were our special assistants in giving direction. Watching you all work last Saturday, especially was the best gift any of you could have given this pastor. In all my 45 years of pastoral ministry, I had never seen so many work in such harmony and unity to get the job done. An atmosphere of love was so present, and I couldn’t help but think that the Lord was pleased. Psalm 133 came to mind.