Election Meeting 2016

Let me invite you to turn in your Bibles to 2 Corinthians chapter 3. 2 Corinthians chapter. 3, After this service, And around 12:10, we will be having a short election meeting here in this room and we'll be putting before you the nominations for elder and deacon and deaconess for the coming ministry year and we would encourage all of you to join us for this time. It'll just at most take half an hour of your time, especially those of you that are members.

This is a, this would be an opportunity for you to play your part as a member of this church in, in casting your vote, regarding these, officers that we are putting before you in the life of our church family. But if you're here and you're not a member of the church, but you care about Cornerstone, we would absolutely be thrilled. to have you join us for this brief meeting after the service. It'll provide you with a brief glimpse of how we operate as a church, and we would be blessed, by your presence as well.

So that's immediately following this service after about a 2015 or so to 20 minute break that, that we'll be taking. So what I'd like to do with our time in this service this morning is to share some thoughts with you before the election meeting that we're going to have afterwards. So, after consulting with sermon title experts, and getting their help. I'm entitling this message pre-election Thoughts.

not the election, the primaries that are happening on Tuesday of this week, even though we all should do our part and let our voice be heard and vote, this week, but talking about the voting that'll happen after the service this morning. And I'd like to start off by talking. About an epistle. That is not contained in the canon.

Of scripture. However, even though it is not contained in the canon. Of scripture, I do believe that this epistle is actually written by the spirit of God and I believe it is worth us looking at and being thankful for. It's one of my favorite epistles actually, to read.

And before you walk out on me, let me assure you that while this epistle is not one of the 66 books of the Bible, It is actually spoken of in the text of the Bible. In fact, it is spoken of in 2 Corinthians chapter 3. And I just want you to give a listen to what Paul says as he speaks about this particular epistle. In chapter 3, verse 2, Paul is speaking to the Corinthian church, and he says these words to them.

He says, you are our epistle, written in our hearts, known and read by all men, being manifested that you are an epistle of Christ, cared for by us, written not with ink but with the spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone. But on the tablets of men's hearts. Paul has seen wonderful things happen in the lives of the Corinthians. He planted the church and was personally involved in the conversion of many of those brothers and sisters in the Corinthian congregation.

They sense their conversion, had their ups and downs with the apostle Paul, but Paul has worked hard on his relationship with them. He's worked hard to cultivate sanctification in them. He has written them letters, he has paid them a painful visit and reconciliation and repentance have resulted from his shepherding. loving efforts in their lives.

And as Paul writes these words that I just read, his heart is full. In these verses, Paul is saying a handful of things to the Corinthian church by way of describing them. He's saying that the Corinthian church as a whole is a letter being written by Jesus Christ himself. He's also saying that instead of using ink to write this letter, Jesus Christ is using the Spirit.

Of the living God. He's also saying that the location of this letter or the tablet or the paper that it is written on is the heart of the apostle Paul and his colleagues in ministry. And in the hearts of all those whose lives were being touched by the Corinthian Christians. Paul is also saying that this letter is being cared for.

By the apostle And by his colleagues in the ministry. And Paul is saying basically, I carry this letter around with me and I make sure that it is read by others. I open up my heart. So that they can read the epistle of Christ, which is you and your story, he says to the Corinthians.

This epistle that contains the unfolding story of the Corinthian Church. So to put it all together, Paul is saying you Corinthians are an epistle. An epistle of Christ being written by Christ through the Spirit of God, and he's writing this epistle in my own heart and in the hearts of all those who are being touched. By you.

I begin with that because it's been mine and Donna's, my wife's name is Donna. It's been mine and Donna's privilege. To be a part of Cornerstone for over 24 years now, and I, I, when I read these words by Paul, I can, I just know I can say the same thing. To you as a congregation.

You are an epistle of Christ, written by Jesus Christ. Through the spirit of the living God. And my heart is one of the hearts that this, that Jesus Christ is writing this epistle upon. Christ is writing the story of you, the cornerstone congregation, deep into my heart, and he writes portions.

Of that epistle in the heart of everyone in this church. And outside of this church who are being touched and impacted and enriched by you. I just want you to know that I appreciate you and I know I speak for all the elders. When I say that, I want you to know that I personally read the epistle of Christ frequently, which is you.

Many times when I'm discouraged. When I am tired of fighting, you guys have no idea how much just in certain moments of discouragement, thinking about you, thinking about your story, thinking about God's work of grace in your life, and our partnership in the gospel, the encouragement that that brings to me, just on every thought of you. I think of some of you in the fights that you are right now in. I think of how you have fought.

Some of you and been victorious. I think of how some of you are still fighting. I think of the grace that some of you have shown in the most provocative of circumstances that have been very painful to you and it inspires me to keep fighting and for me to do the same and to show grace to others. I think of how some of you have experienced defeat.

And really low points in your life and how you have failed and yet by the grace of God, You have stayed in the fight, and you have come running to the foot of the cross, and you have drank deeply of God's grace, and you have allowed that grace to enable you to stand again and to soar. And becoming the person that God wants you to be. And when I think about you and read the epistle of Christ in that way, it inspires me to do the same. I think of how many of you have been living with unanswered prayer for many years, and yet you're still praying.

And it inspires me to keep doing the same in my own life. I could go on and on and on all the ways that on every thought of so many of you, my heart is enriched and encouraged as I read the epistle of Christ which is you. I think of how many of you labor on behalf of the children of this church and the men and the women of this congregation. And your faithful service blesses not only those you minister to, but it blesses the rest of us.

It blesses me. Last week, the Ina year ended. And at the awards night. A week and a half ago, I was so blessed by the visual of all those who labor in this ministry on behalf of the children of the Ana ministry and as the leaders came up and they shared their love for their children was so evident.

And it blessed me greatly. Just thank you to all of you that have labored in the Iana ministry. In fact, could we just take a moment, any of you that participated in any way, shape or form in the Ijuana ministry over this past year, could we, could we have you stand? Yeah, let's express our appreciation to them.

Thank you. Thank you for your labor and thank you for your love for the children. Last Sunday was our final. Sunday school week of the year.

We'll be taking a break for the summer, quarter and I, we're, we're thankful. I'm thankful for all of those who served as teachers and as helpers and as administrators and nursery workers and our Sunday school ministry over this past. Ministry year from infancy all the way through adulthood. So I'd like to take a moment and just ask all those that served in the Sunday school ministry from nursery all the way through adulthood as teachers, helpers, administrators, nursery workers, in any of those capacities, could you stand so we can express our appreciation to you.

Praise God. Thank you for your labor and for your love as well. All of you, not just in these ministries, but everyone that is a part of the Cornerstone, family, you are all collectively are an epistle. Of Christ And I am personally blessed every time.

I take time to reflect upon and read this epistle that is you. You are an epistle of Christ written not with ink but with the spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone, but on my heart and on every heart in this room, and even on the hearts of those that are outside of Cornerstone whose lives are being enriched and impacted by you. If this epistle of Christ that is cornerstone. were to be quantified in words somewhere, you would find in that epistle these words that you see now on the screen.

Our purpose as a church is helping people journey from brokenness to wholeness to the gospel of Jesus Christ. The elders several years ago did not create that statement and then impose it on you, the congregation. The elders actually developed This purpose statement as an expression of what we observed was already happening. As a byproduct of the sweet work of grace in our midst.

The statement is merely a written expression of what we observed as elders when we read the epistle of Christ, which is you. As the statement says, we're here to help people to journey from brokenness, from the brokenness of sin. All the way to wholeness. Jesus said it is not the healthy who need a physician, but the sick.

Even so, Jesus did not come for the righteous. But for the unrighteous, he did not come for those who are whole, but for those who are broken, and Cornerstone is a church for the broken. Those who are broken because of sin. And we as a church want to help people to journey from the brokenness of sin all the way to complete and utter wholeness in Christ.

Most people in our culture today intuitively know that something is wrong. Something is wrong even with them, but they don't have a vocabulary. Or a way of understanding or giving expression to what that is. But it's the Bible that tells us what our brokenness is.

Our problem is sin. We were created by God for relationship with him. Yet we became alienated from God and from ourselves and from others as a result of our sin, and we need a savior. Outside of ourselves to come and make us whole.

And God has provided that Savior, and guys, that's the good news. That's the gospel of Jesus Christ. At the center. Of our church life is not a set of commandments or pieces of good advice, but good news.

A staggering announcement. That Christ has died for our sins, and he was buried and he was raised on the 3rd day and is now ascended to the right hand of God, where he sits as the sovereign Lord of the universe. And from that position, Of absolute lordship, Jesus is giving salvation to all sinners who humble themselves and call upon his name for salvation, making him their Lord and their Savior and their chief shepherd, who shepherds them all the way from brokenness, the brokenness of sin.

To glory Not only is the gospel the ultimate good news, but there's also good news in the Bible about the good news.

So when you read the New Testament, there are passages that declare what the good news of the gospel actually is, but then there are passages that tell us good news about this good news. And one such passage is Romans 1:16, where Paul says, I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. I'm not ashamed to believe it, I'm not ashamed to believe it's true for me. And I'm not ashamed to preach it and share it with others.

I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God. Literally in the Greek text, into salvation. To everyone who is Believing. Just from this statement alone from the apostle Paul, we can see 3 things that are true about The gospel.

Firstly, we see that the gospel is the power of God, not just a power, but the power of God. The ultimate location. The ultimate entity in which God's power resides and does its most amazing work. Secondly, we see that the gospel is the power of God into salvation.

That's the literal translation of that phrase into salvation and the use of the word into Indicates movement. So when Paul says that the gospel is the power of God into salvation, he's saying that the gospel has the power to generate movement. In the lives of people. It has the power to move them from being outside of salvation to being inside of this thing that we call salvation.

And then once they are inside of the salvation of Jesus Christ, the gospel has the power to move them deeper and deeper into all things salvation. Even after we are saved. The gospel has the power. To help us to get to the places where we need to go inside of the salvation that God has provided for us through Christ, and we need that, right?

Since you've been saved, have you ever felt stuck? We've all experienced that. You ever seen since being saved, a place where you need to get to, but you're not there? The gospel is the power of God to get you there, to those locations where you need to be.

If someone has wronged you, and you are struggling with bitterness, and you need to get to a place of grace towards that person who has wronged you, the gospel has the power to move you to that place of forgiveness. If you're being defeated by lust, the gospel has the power to move you into a place of victory. Over that lust If you are overwhelmed with discouragement and anxiety and condemnation, the gospel is the power of God to transport you into a place of encouragement and peace and confidence before God.

The gospel is the power of God into every aspect of salvation.

That is needful for us, that God has provided for us in Jesus. Do you believe that? Thirdly, we see that the gospel, just from the statement of Paul that the gospel is the power of God for those who are believing. The gospel is not simply for those who haven't believed yet.

The gospel is not simply for those that we're trying to persuade to believe. The gospel is the power of God for those, literally, in Romans 1:16 who are continuously believing, that's Christians. Hence we can say that the gospel is not just for the lost. But the gospel is for us Christians too.

This is precisely why Paul In speaking to the Roman Christians. In the church at Rome, he says to them in Romans 1:15, I am eager to preach the gospel to you. He says that to Christian people. Literally, he says, I am eager to evangelize you who are at Rome.

Paul is saying, I can't wait to be with you in the flesh so that I can evangelize you Christians. It is our conviction here at Cornerstone that one of the greatest problems in the church today. is that we have churches that are filled with under evangelized Christians. Christians who, as Jerry Bridges says, know just enough of the gospel to get into the kingdom, but they know nothing of the unsearchable riches of Christ.

One of the great problems in the church today is that churches evangelize people up until they get saved. And then they stop evangelizing them after they are converted. Churches that do this fail to understand how ginormous the gospel really is. And they also fail to understand how little of this massive gospel is actually understood by people on the day of their conversion.

They also underestimate how powerful the gospel is. From day to day, for those who believe, for Christian people. This is why when Paul writes to the Ephesians, He spends chapters 12, and 3 doing nothing but preaching gospel. This is why Paul in the book of Colossians spends chapters 1 and 2 doing nothing but preaching gospel to Christian people.

This is why Paul in the book of Romans, 16 chapters, spends the 1st 11 chapters doing nothing but preaching gospel to Christian people. Before he begins to give them the instructions of Romans 12. That's the pattern we see in the New Testament. In fact, if you read the entirety of the New Testament, you will observe that most of the evangelism content that we see in the New Testament is being delivered actually to Christian people.

So if we want our church to bear the imprint of the New Testament, And if we want our church to be marked by the power of God, then Cornerstone needs to be a place where the gospel is preached. To the lost and preached to the saved all the time. This is why Cornerstone is here. We wanna help people to journey from the brokenness of sin all the way to wholeness, and it is the gospel of Jesus Christ that we intend to use as the premium instrument.

To accomplish that. Another way of stating our purpose is to say that our goal as a church is to structure all that we do. In our church life in such a way so as to put to the test the biblical thesis. That the gospel is the power of God.

We want to put that to the test. And we want our church to serve as a model. That provides overwhelming proof to the world. That the gospel is truly the power of God.

It's the ultimate entity in which God's power resides and does its most amazing work. We believe that God is in the business of changing. People's lives through this message about Jesus Christ and so many of you in this room are living demonstrations of that. Listen to what one writer said back in 2000.

And 8 He said, I am convinced of the enormous contribution that evangelism makes. Christianity changes people's hearts. It brings spiritual transformation. The rebirth is real, the change is good.

Amen. You say, wow, who's the Christian writer who made that statement? Actually, the man who said this is Matthew Parris. A British journalist who is an atheist even as he wrote those words.

And he arrived at this conviction after visiting some Christian charities in Africa in 2008. He returned from his trip. to Africa and he wrote an article entitled, as an atheist, I truly Believe Africa needs God. In fact, let me read to you some of what he said which provides a context for the quote that I just read to you a moment ago.

He says, I returned after 45 years to Malawi. And a small British charity working there called Pump Aid. It helps rural communities to install a simple pump letting people keep their village well sealed and clean. I went to see this work.

He goes on to say, it inspired me, renewing my flagging faith in development charities. But traveling in Malawi refreshed another belief too. One I've been trying to banish all my life, but an observation I've been unable to avoid since my African childhood. It confounds my ideological beliefs.

It stubbornly refuses to fit my worldview and has embarrassed my growing belief that there is no God. He says now a confirmed atheist. I've become convinced of the enormous contribution that Christian evangelism makes in Africa. Sharply distinct from the work of secular non-government organizations, government projects, and international aid efforts.

These alone will not do. Education and training alone will not do. In Africa, Christianity changes people's hearts. It brings a spiritual transformation.

The rebirth is real. The change is good. This is the testimony of an atheist observer. And guys, if an atheist testifies to his belief that our gospel has the power to transform lives, then how about we believe that?

How about we believe God, when he tells us that the gospel is the power of God into salvation. How about we believe that the gospel of Jesus Christ actually has the power to change our lives and our children's lives and the lives of broken people around us. How about we embrace the fact that this gospel is the number one thing that our culture today most needs, not just in Africa, but here in America. In fact, at the close of his article, Matthew Parris said that if Christian evangelism were removed from the African continent, And replaced only with secular charities.

And government programs that bring wealth and education to Africa and no gospel. He says the results would be deadly. He concluded his article by saying removing Christian evangelism from the African equation may leave the continent at the mercy of a malign fusion of Nike. The witch doctor, the mobile phone.

And the machete. That's true in Africa. And it is true in America. This is actually a good time to be a Christian.

In America. This is the time of all times for us to believe the thesis that the gospel is the power of God and the structure all we do in our lives, in our homes, in our church life around this thesis to really put this thesis to the test. To build a church based on this belief, to walk in the good of the gospel each day, to let the gospel infuse everything we do. In all of our ministries and to make this gospel known to others.

Because we believe that the gospel has the power to change lives. Amen. The journey from brokenness to wholeness. entails 5 points and I just briefly want to Take a look at these 5 points of the journey.

These are the 5 things that we want to experience and help others to experience through the gospel of Jesus Christ. First of all, is gospel conversion. We want to preach the gospel to others and exhibit the gospel in such a way to the lost that they can hear it and see it and become born again. And believe in Christ and be brought into salvation.

The next point in the journey is gospel immersion. In other words, we want Christians, once they are saved, not to set the gospel aside. But to actually keep the gospel in front of their face at all times. And to keep learning about.

The gospel and see how beautiful and how big this gospel is, which is an ever blossoming flower that will spend all of eternity blossoming and getting bigger and bigger, and we will be discovering new facets all the time, even through eternity. But that once we're saved, we don't set the gospel aside and say, OK, Lord, give me the rules to live by. No, we keep the gospel before our eyes. We as a church want to teach those who are converted to Christ from the earliest days as Christians to think gospel.

And to reason from the gospel to every area of their life until their life becomes fully immersed in the gospel, fully gospelized. The 3rd point of the journey from brokenness to wholeness is what we would call gospel community. We want people to experience gospel community. where they experience the riches of Christ and community with their brothers and sisters in the Lord.

God has saved each of us who have believed in Jesus Christ and, and he has given to each of us spiritual gifts and he's also in his good providence. Allowed each of us to be left with certain deficits. So that both our gifts and our deficits would drive us to one another. To live in community with one another.

That's what all of our ministries are about, where we assemble in various capacities. That's especially what our care group ministry is all about. Creating environments in which our people can do life and do community with one another and thus experience the fullness of the riches of Christ. 1/4 stage in the journey from brokenness to wholeness is what we would call gospel mission, where our lives take on an increasingly laser focus where we are all about the gospel and all that we do, living lives.

Characterized by gospel intentionality, seeking. At all turns to impart the gospel to others, both lost and saved through the words we speak and through the people we are toward them. And when we're evaluating anything in our life, we're asking, will this serve God's gospel purposes in me? And will this enhance my ability to serve God's gospel purposes in others.

Imagine the potential of a congregation of 500+ people who live only to serve God's gospel purposes in the world. That's the potential of this church and any church that follows Christ. The final stage in the journey from brokenness to wholeness. Is gospel glory when we stand before Christ fully glorified.

In his presence in heaven. What a day that's gonna be. Our sinful flesh is removed. We will experience physical resurrection, we will be embodied, physically embodied beings full of nothing but vitality and beauty and strength, no disease, no sickness, no cancers, no sin, no struggle with sin.

This is gospel glory. This is the, this is the climax of the journey from brokenness to wholeness. And one of our privileges as pastors and elders here at Cornerstone is to shepherd you. From brokenness to this glory, and then present you to Christ.

Our attitude as elders about you is what Paul's attitude was about the Thessalonian Christians when he said to them, who is our hope, our joy, and our crown of exaltation? Is it not even you? He says to them, in the presence of our Lord Jesus at his coming. We look forward as elders to the day when we can present you to Jesus Christ.

Our job as a church, and our job as church leaders is not to please the world, but to prepare a people to be presented to Jesus. One day Paul expressed this ethic in 2 Corinthians 11:2 when he said to the Corinthians, I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. For I betrothed you to one husband that to Christ I might present you as a pure virgin. Paul viewed himself literally as the spiritual father.

Of the Corinthian church, and he lived for the day when he would walk the Corinthian church down the aisle. And present her as a bride. To Jesus That's the literal imagery. Here.

My youngest daughter, and I'm gonna so regret going here, My youngest daughter, Brianna, is getting married this summer. And it is an awesome thing. To hand your daughter over to another man, even if you love that man and deem him worthy. Of your daughter There's nothing In my life that I've experienced that is like it.

Some of you dads have experienced this handoff. so what it's like. For those of you that have not experienced it yet, get ready and keep a box of tissues handy. Three Monday mornings ago, I woke up at 1:30 in the morning.

With my heart racing. And my mind filled with all the ways that I could have been a better father to my daughter over the last 18 years of her life. And I couldn't fall back to sleep. And I felt an urge to Run out of my room and into her room to plead with her to wait.

To get married so that I could have a chance to be a better father to her first. And I lay there in the wee hours of that morning, praying and repenting and surrendering my daughter to God. Yet again 2 days later, Brianna was about to go on an errand with Donna. And she's about to walk out of the house to go, but she came into my room and Gave me a hug to say goodbye.

And I grabbed her and I started to tell her what I was experiencing at 1:30. in the morning two days prior, and I just started sobbing. And she hugged me and held me and comforted me, and it felt really awkward, my 18-year-old daughter comforting. me and she spoke to me, some very comforting things that helped me a lot, but no, nowhere in anything she said did she ever express agreement with the idea of postponing her wedding.

But since that incident, I've, I've wondered. Over the last 3 weeks, if I will have a similar feeling as a pastor. Of this congregation. I wonder if we elders will have this feeling in the moments before we present you to Jesus.

We're gonna be so happy. To present you to Christ in that day, but will we at all feel regret? Over all the ways we could have pastored you better than we did. When we see you in glory.

You're gonna be so radiant, you're gonna be so beautiful and so glorified, and I know, I know in that moment that we will feel so blessed to have been your pastors. And we will only wish that we had done better than what we had done. Nonetheless, our hope Is that We elders would be the pastors that when you stand before Christ in glory, that you will be glad that we were your pastor, that you will be glad that Cornerstone was your church, and that you will be glad that your care group Was your care group?

Regardless, you will, on that day have completed the journey from the brokenness of sin all the way to glory, and that's our goal for you.

We're all on this journey and we wanna take as many people with us on that journey as we can. That's why we share the gospel with others. This leads us to the topic. Of our vision that I just want to talk for a few minutes about that we've had before us over the last couple of years.

Our vision at this stage of our church's history is growing responsibly in the place of God's provision. It was our desire to reach considerably more people. That brought us to this campus and it is this vision that represents our heartbeat to this day. We want to grow as a church, and we don't apologize for that.

We want to grow in the number of souls that we're reaching for Christ. We want to grow in our ability to accommodate more people. And our services. In our final six months at our old location at Linden Street, we averaged on Sunday mornings 390 people.

And since the 1st 5 months of just this year, we've averaged 515. And some Sundays have left us a little scared. Just we had one normal Sunday where we had 595 people and we were like, what is going on? and so we've, had to do thinking as elders about how to prepare for being able to show the hospitality of Christ to more people should God bring them to us.

And with everything exactly as it is right now, we can accommodate a little bit over 700 people in our one service format that we have right now, but we're wanting to expand our ability. To show hospitality to over 900 people in our one service format, and we're calling this effort, Project 900. And there are investments that we'll be making in the months to come. We've already talked a little bit about this in previous weeks to enhance our ability to do that, such as preparing room 103 across the hall here to be a worship overflow room, and Jonathan Jones will talk about some of the details of that in our election meeting that's coming up right after this service.

But we believe that we have something to offer to the world. something very special, and that is the gospel of Jesus Christ. Gospel words that we can speak as we announce this good news to people whom God brings our way and also living out and being a personal embodiment of the grace and the mercy and love and truth of the gospel to others and we want as many to experience that and to hear that. As possible.

So we wanna take whatever steps we need to take in order to make that dream a reality and we'll be talking more about that this afternoon. We wanna grow, but there is one caveat. We wanna grow responsibly. And the way to grow responsibly is to make sure that we are using the right means of growth to accomplish the growth that God wants here at Cornerstone.

And it turns out that the means by which we foster good growth happens to be the very means by which we inhibit bad growth. And let me just real quickly identify three ways of fostering responsible growth here at Cornerstone. The first is the preaching and the teaching of scripture. In 2 Timothy 3, Paul tells us that all scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction and for training and righteousness in order that the man of God might be equipped, totally equipped for every good work.

Those who have ears to hear the voice of the Spirit and who have an appetite for God's word will be drawn to the preaching and the teaching of His word. These are the people who embrace the reproof and the correction. Of God's word. They actually show up at Bible studies, and at men's meetings and at care group and at morning services on Sunday mornings, asking God to show them ways.

That they need to grow, welcoming the reproof and the correction. Of God so graciously revealed in His word. But there are some who don't want to be reproved. Nor do they want to be corrected.

They just want a church that affirms them. They want a God who will correct Himself. And adjust himself to their values and their lifestyle. These people, though they may say they are Christians, are not Christians.

And when the preaching and the teaching of the scripture is rightly done in a local church, it will serve not only to nourish and grow the saints, but it will also sound like fingernails on a chalkboard. Remember chalkboards? To false Christians. And it will either bring them to repentance or it will chase them away and they'll go find somewhere else that tickles their ears.

Also, if we wanna grow responsibly, then we will wanna practice continuous evangelism here at Cornerstone. We wanna follow Paul's example and evangelize not only those who are lost but also those who are saved. We wanna keep the gospel central in all we do, and we know in doing so that the gospel will serve as an aroma of life to those who are being saved. But we also know that the same gospel will serve as an aroma of death.

To those who are not of Christ. And they will run from the stench of the gospel that we love. Some will find the gospel we preach a stumbling block. Others will find it foolish, but the people of God will testify and say it is the power of God in my life.

Either way, as we stay focused on the gospel, the church wins. It gains true converts and it's preserved. From false converts. Another way of facilitating growing responsibly as a church is to be committed to faithful shepherding from the elders of the church.

It's our belief that where there are faithful shepherds, Christ will send his sheep. This is our strategy for church growth if we have one. Our church will experience good growth only to the degree that we have godly elders. Who stand ready to shepherd people with love and truth and who stand ready to equip God's people for the work.

Of the ministry. I'm so blessed by the elders that we have here. At Cornerstone, Alvin Davis and Mike Berry, Carlos Slimtiaco, Jonathan Jones, Bill Payne, and Paul Kumamoto. It's a blessing to be in the trenches with these men.

These are mighty men of God. Who are your pastors? And they're my pastors, because I need pastors too. Bill Payne has been serving as an elder here at Cornerstone for a number of years now, but I wanna let that at the end of August, his term.

Of service as an elder will come to an end, and he will not be renewing. His term of service as an elder. we will miss him on the elder board, but we appreciate his desire to serve his parents. In Texas, where he has been spending time over the last couple of months.

he will be spending a lot of time in Texas in the coming months. We would encourage you to pray for him if you're not already doing so. he'll be there and here off and on, serving his parents and, and literally being the hands and the feet of Christ to his mom and dad in the twilight of their life. I love the way Bill thinks.

I love the way he feels. And his thumbprint is all over my life. And our elder team will be impoverished as a result of his stepping aside for, for now, but I think I've learned how Bill thinks enough to where we can still represent him. In our meetings, and I'm grateful that he is still going to be a part of the ministry team to the degree that he's able.

That said, we're grateful that Mario Lemmon. is willing to serve as an elder here at Cornerstone for the next 3-year term. Mario has been serving as an elder apprentice over the past 3 years and we are very confident that he will be a great addition to our elder team. And you'll note on the screen that Jonathan Jones is up for a 3-year term as well, and he's a wonderful part of our ministry here, and we would not be where we are right now as a church without His energy and his leadership and his ministry, and so we're putting him before you today as well for another 3 years of service on our board.

Beyond the Elders, we have a number of deacons and deaconesses, and I believe you have an insert that is in your bulletin. that has their names and we're putting them before you in this brief election meeting that we're going to have for your affirmation, today. According to Ephesians 4:12, every Christian in the church is to do the work of deaconing. As they serve to meet the needs of others, but the Bible does provide a category for the office of deacon.

for those who oversee areas of deaconing in the church, and we've got a wonderful group of deacons that were Putting before you today, the elders have approved each of these individuals that are put before you today. We've approached them. We've asked them if they would be willing to serve. In these roles for the coming year that will begin, our ministry year begins in September and each of them has agreed to serve and so we as elders are putting them before you today saying we believe that these individuals should serve in these roles.

But in putting their names before you as a congregation, what we're saying is that we trust the Lord that if he's telling us as elders that these individuals should serve in these roles that he will tell you, the congregation, the same thing. So we wanna give you the opportunity to participate. In casting your vote in our election meeting coming up here. At this time I'm going to pray and we're going to have the worship team come up and they'll lead us in.

Our closing song and we'll also be taking up our, offering, at this time, and then I'll come up and just make a few quick announcements and we'll, we'll break. until about 12:10. But let's pray together Lord, I, I praise you for the privilege of being involved in. Ministry to your precious people for whom you shed your blood, the blood of your Son.

That's the premium you place. Upon the people of God. And I'm blessed to be one of them. And I'm blessed to be among these brothers and sisters.

Thank you for the work of grace and the life of each person who is a part of this church body. And all the ways that they exhibit the grace. And the truth and the love and the mercy of Jesus. And thank you for making all of these brothers and sisters a part of My own gospel inheritance.

You're a good God and we thank you for the quality people that we have in this church and And also the quality men and women that we can put before the congregation for their affirmation in a meeting. Such as we will be having in a few moments. You're a good God, and we just say thank you to you this morning. Lord, we thank you for the opportunity to give of our offerings to you, and we ask that you would receive these funds and do much with every penny that is given for the cause of the gospel of Jesus Christ and for the spread of this amazing message.

Throughout this community and around the world. And we ask all of these things in the name of Jesus, and all God's people said.