Pastor's Corner - Opening God's Word Together

The grass withers, the flower fades when the breath of the LORD blows on it; surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever. (Isaiah 40:7-8 ESV)

Dear Friends,

The verse from Isaiah tells us something very important about the Bible - it is the very Word of God. Isaiah also tells us something else about the Word of God - it will stand forever. Mankind will fade away, the opinion of man withers under the power of God, but His Word is everlasting truth that will not fade away. The Bible is God's Word that is living and active (Hebrews 4:12), it equips us for righteousness (2 Timothy 3:16-17), and helps us know and worship the Lord God (Deuteronomy 17:19).

I can remember in college, back when I sought to be a serious student of the Bible, someone taught me how to use a concordance. I remember going out to buy this concordance and getting so excited about flipping through the thousands of pages to find where God's Word spoke to a certain topic. It would take hours to find particular references and cross-references. The length of time to search the concordance was a real challenge.  But now, we have apps on our phones and computers that can literally do this research for us in seconds instead of hours. What a blessing it is to be able to search God's Word like this.

All this to say, one of the most important things we do at Cornerstone, if not the most important thing, is open up God's Word and learn together. At Cornerstone we practice Reformed worship which is we READ the Bible, SING the Bible, PRAY the Bible, and PREACH the Bible. We seek to be a biblically based church. Therefore, let me encourage you, and your family and children, to bring your Bible to church. We don't even mind if you read the Bible on your phone and or iPad. We just ask that you not let these devices distract you from worship and learning. Having a Bible, in our own language, that we can read and study and use on multiple platforms is one of the greatest blessings that God has bestowed upon mankind.

So bring your Bible to church so that we can open up the Word of Life together and hear what God's Word says. If you have noticed, the preaching at Cornerstone is not topical or motivational; it is expositional. That means we take chunks or whole books of Scripture and we - verse by verse, word by word - learn what God's Word is teaching. Because this is our mode of preaching, it is paramount that you have a copy of the Scriptures in front of you to learn and grow and imitate the Bereans like their time with the Apostle Paul. " Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so." (Acts 17:11 ESV)

Since expositional preaching and Bible study are at the heart of our church and worship, let us be like the Jews in Berea who studied the Scriptures along with Paul who taught them God's Word to examine and see if what was being said and taught was truth. The only way I know to do this is to have your own copy of the Scriptures in front of you and follow along.

Looking forward to opening God's Word up with you this Sunday!

Your friend in Christ,

Wilson

By the way, some of you have asked what translation I use for preaching. I use the English Standard Version (ESV). I highly recommend this translation as the most accurate and readable English translation available today.