What is surprising to me is that no one from Jerusalem seems to have tagged along with the Magi when they headed out for Bethlehem.  These Scribes and Chief Priests would have prided themselves on their expertise concerning the scriptures.  When Herod asked the question not only did they get it right but they even knew the scripture reference. (Does anyone else picture a little sword drill right here to see who can find Micah 5:2 first and read it?) But no one seems to have thought it might be worth while to go see what the fuss was about.  Their long awaited Messiah was I a house just a few short miles away and they didn’t know it.

Now I’d like to think that I truly enjoy reading and understanding God’s Word.  Lately I’ve been all about trying to get people to pick a Bible reading plan for the coming year.  I want my kids to memorize verses and I have every intention of teaching them a Christian Worldview.  But this passage teaches me that it is possible to know a lot about the scripture and still not get it.

I’m reminded once again of 1 Timothy 1:5, “The goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.”  Our goal isn’t to always get the right answer or win the debate.  We don’t saturate our minds with scripture just so we can impress people with what we know or feel good about ourselves.  We read it and meditate on it and listen to it taught anticipating that a better understanding will lead to love and faith and repentance.

There were a lot of people who knew their Bibles who missed Jesus’ first coming and there will be those who know their Bibles and aren’t ready for His second coming (see Luke 17:26-30).  Let’s be warned by this text so that we will never desire to know the Bible for any reason other than that we might know Christ.

The fact that I sent away 2011 asleep in my bed shouldn’t in any way reflect the kind of year it was.  I can’t think of another year in my life when so much happened.  I’m really thankful for all that God did in 2011.  Sitting here this morning on the precipice of 2012 I look back and see all the things that are different from last year this time.

Last year this time we thought we were soon headed to Ethiopia to adopt a little girl.  Here we are one year later back home with a little boy.  2011 saw us make two trips to Ethiopia.  The whole process was a remarkable experience but the high point had to going there to get Gus.  I’m so glad to have had the opportunity to see it and meet so many great people.  And now we have him and sometimes I just can’t believe it.  The adoption process is great and hard and exciting and gut-wrenching all at the same time.  I feel like God has repeatedly used my children to show me what it means to live on the strength of Christ.

Last year this time I was still in youth ministry.  I’ll say it again:  I didn’t mean to be a youth pastor after I left Chicago.  But God had other plans.  I’ve loved being a youth pastor for these last 10 years or so.  There are so many relationships that have been born out of that time.  I came back from Ethiopia and left 2 days later and headed to Louisville, KY for what will most likely have been my last Summer Camp.  It was a great time seeing old friends and enjoying the company of the students who came along.

Last year this time I didn’t think of myself as a church planter.  In God’s providence I am now doing something that I am certain I can only do with His help.  I’m so thankful for Cornerstone Church.  I finally get to preach every Sunday.  I’m praying that God will use this little church to bring the light of His Word to Savannah.

As if those things weren’t enough there was so much else!  I finally made it back to California after about 5 years.  It was great to see old friends there.  I finally made it to Israel and it was amazing.  There were definitely some heart breaks along the way.  But I understand more and more that God uses all of it to mold us and shape us.  Oh, and more than one person commented on the amount of gray in my hair.  I hope the gray hair combined with the heart aches mean I’m at least getting a little wiser.

Then Mary turns up pregnant with an explanation that was as hard to believe then as it would be today.  Believing God’s Word to him in a dream Joseph accepts by faith the task set before him. Moore states the consequences like this:

“In believing God, Joseph probably walks away from his reputation.  The wags in his hometown would probably always whisper about how ‘poor Joseph was hoodwinked by that girl’ or how ‘Joseph got himself in trouble with that girl.’  Joseph certainly walks away from economic security.  Joseph surrenders a household economy, a vocation probably built up over generations and handed down to him by his father.”

Put yourself at 17 or 18 years old in Joseph’s shoes.  How would you or I have responded to such a dramatic change in our life plans?  How would you have felt sitting in a smelly cave filled with animals while your brand new wife was in labor with a child you didn’t help conceive? What about when you were fleeing to Egypt because a crazy king wanted to kill that baby?

To me, Joseph is an excellent example of Jesus’ words in Mark 8:35, “For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it.”  Joseph quite literally lost his life, the life he had planned, for the sake of Jesus.  Joseph’s life is a stunning example of faith and an illustration that God is and is a rewarder of those who seek Him.

We’ve been working hard to get the media section of the website up and running.  As of last night we have the last 3 sermons available.  We didn’t get the first one because of “technical difficulties.”  You can go check it out here.

I’ll give a word of explanation.  Circumstances led us to start our church a little sooner than we had originally planned.  What would have originally been core group meetings have turned into Sunday morning worship services.  I chose to study I Timothy first because Paul tells Timothy in 3:15 that he hopes to come to visit shortly, but in the meantime he is writing “so that you will know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth.”  Obviouslythis  information is valuable to a brand new church.  Hopefully, as you listen you can get a feel for the type of church we hope to become.

Even better, come join us on Sunday and check us out in person.

“Happiness is the gift of God—but that there is the closest connection between full following of God and full happiness, let no person for an instant doubt. A hopeful growing believer has the witness within himself. He walks in the full light of the sun, and therefore he generally feels bright and warm. He does not quench the Spirit by continual inconsistencies, and so the fire within him seldom burns low. He has great peace, because he really loves God’s law, and all who see him are obliged to allow that it is a privilege—and not a bondage—to be a Christian. Oh the comfort of a tender conscience, a godly jealousy, a close walk with God—a heavenly frame of mind! The Lord make us all of such a spirit.” ~ J.C. Ryle

From: J.C. Ryle Quotes

In I Timothy 1:19 Paul instructs Timothy to keep faith and a good conscience lest he suffer shipwreck in regard to his faith.  There is real spiritual danger lurking around every corner.  Only with the eyes of faith do I even know that I have real spiritual enemies.  The great danger of the Christian life is doctrinal or moral failure.

Here’s what strikes me:  we work hard and expend our resources to protect our loved ones and things from the dangers we CAN see with no real assurances that we’ll ever be safe.  Shouldn’t we work even harder and expend more resources to protect ourselves and our loved ones from spiritual dangers?  At the very least I can know that by keeping faith and a good conscience I will be truly safe.

If I let myself, I can imagine some truly terrifying scenarios in this world.  But all of them should pale in comparison to the prospect of finding my faith shipwrecked.  To fail to lock my house carefully or invest my money wisely may cause me to lose my money and things.  An intruder may even be found in my house waiting to make my life.  But contrast that scenario with the consequences of failing to guard my faith or my conscience before God. From an eternal perspective this would be infinitely more disastrous.

Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. (Matthew 10:28)

In I Timothy 1:3-7 Paul compares the fruit of false teaching to the fruit of the true gospel.  False teachers who teach strange doctrines generate “mere speculation” that “fails to further the administration of God.”  They’ve turned aside to fruitless discussion and they make bold assertions concerning things they don’t know anything about.   Contrast that with the goal of the instruction that Paul has entrusted to Timothy: “Love, from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.” (vs. 5)

Now I count myself among those who champion solid biblical teaching. And I hope and pray that Cornerstone Church will be characterized as a bible teaching church.  But as I studied this passage last week I became aware that at times I may have misunderstood the goal of good biblical preaching.  Is it possible that I have valued good, biblical preaching as an end in itself?

Last Sunday we saw that in I Timothy 3:15 Paul tells Timothy that the church is the pillar of the truth.  A quick study of pillars in Paul’s day indicates that pillars did more than just hold up the roof.  Pillars made the building beautiful.  Paul says that the church does more than simply uphold the truth of God’s Word.  The church makes the truth beautiful.

The church doesn’t make the truth beautiful by simply possessing the truth.  We make the truth beautiful when we live the truth.  The goal of biblical instruction is love.  When the church hears the Word and responds in love to God and love to each other then we are behaving as pillars of the truth.

Why do we love biblical preaching?  What is the goal? Do we love to hear the truth so that we can out-argue an atheist or win a debate about doctrine?  Do we leave our bible preaching church each week just feeling smarter?  Or are we being stirred to love from a clean heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith?

This is especially the case in any kind of conflict.  We need to take active steps so that we can see the situation from God’s (and the other person’s) perspective rather than choosing to remain blind.  I really appreciated this post from Josh Mack about keeping your eyes open when you’re in the midst of a conflict.   He gives 10 suggestions:

1. Make sure you listen to people who are different than you. Encourage others to share with you how they would do things differently.

2. If someone is reacting to you in a way that seems out of character, at least ask whether you might be part of the problem.

3. When someone tells you they think you are wrong, take some time to evaluate whether they may be right even if you don’t think they are as smart as you.

4. Watch out for anger. Anger is a particularly blinding emotion.

5. Pray and pray again that God would make you aware of the sins and mistakes you do not see.

6. When someone agrees with you, consider whether it is because you are right or they are your fan or perhaps their temperament is very similar to yours instead of the fact that you are actually right.

7. Have friends.

8. Try to get outside yourself and look at the way you are acting. Stretch yourself to put yourself in someone else’s shoes. Ask the question and seriously consider, how could I be seeing this wrong? What other possible explanations could there be for what is happening other than the one I am telling myself?

9. Keep reminding yourself that there is something much more important than other people thinking you are right.

10. Understand that if you can not come up with at least one way you were in the wrong, it might be possible that you are more wrong than you realize.

When Jesus died on the cross the Bible tells us that the veil was ripped in two.  Men can now confidently enter into God’s presence because of the blood of Jesus Christ.  Even more amazing is the fact that the Living God Who does real things now lives in the hearts of men.  Paul asks the Corinthians, “Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?” (4:16)

Why is it that so many well-meaning Christians continue to speak of God dwelling in a building when the Bible has made it clear that the Holy Spirit has now taken up residence in the hearts of believers?  Here’s a thought:  it is a lot easier to build and visit a “holy place” like a church once or twice a week than it is to live holy lives all week long.

Human know-how and will-power can easily generate enough money and time to build a building.  Once that building is built we dedicate it, decorate it, and consecrate it so that it becomes a place where we feel like we encounter God.  We dress up our bodies and our behavior.  We sacrifice some time by visiting God in the same way we might visit a relative.  Then, having done our duty we return to regular life not planning on encountering God until the next time we visit.  At the end of the day we feel like we’ve made an effort and God is pleased.

Contrast the effort expended to build and visit a holy place with Christ’s call to deny ourselves, take up our crosses and follow Him.  Paul says that because we are a temple of the Holy Spirit we are not our own.  We have been bought with a price.  Peter tells us that we have been granted everything we need for life and godliness so that we can actually become partakers in the divine nature.  But this kind of consecrated life doesn’t come by paying a visit to church once or twice a week.  In fact, this is something that man, left to his own wisdom and will-power cannot do.

For the Christian, every area of life should be viewed as a holy place set apart for service to God.  Our words, our actions and even our thoughts are to be sanctified and brought under the Lord Jesus Christ.  As we spend our life abiding in Him we will find that the Holy Spirit is doing the work of making us holy.  This process strikes at our pride because we can’t do it ourselves.  And it strikes at our hypocrisy because we’d rather choose to visit holy places than to live a holy life.

Cornerstone Church desires to be a gathering of believers who understand what the bible teaches about the church.  We don’t come to a place where God dwells once a week.  We by God’s grace live as people in whom He dwells every day of the week. We also don’t gather so that we can show of our Sunday best.  We gather acknowledging that even our best isn’t good enough before God.  We gather to celebrate and encourage one another in His grace and mercy through His Son Jesus Christ.

This week we were able to reach an agreement with the Southside Branch of the YMCA to meet in their facilities.  I couldn’t be more excited.  I’m not sure what I pictured but I didn’t expect this.  So next Sunday we will meet at 10:00 for coffee and fellowship followed by corporate worship at 10:30.  The address is 11702 Mercy Blvd, Suite 1-A.

We are really excited about how God is bringing this together.  Every day we’re busy discovering new things that need to be done.  There’s so much about a church that we take for granted.  We’re also working hard to get a website up and running.  And I can tell you that we’ll begin with a series from I Timothy called The Household of God.  I just couldn’t think of a better place to start than Paul’s letter to a young pastor of a struggling church.  Makes sense don’t you think?

Please continue to pray for us and let us know if you’d like more information.