Canon J.John - Live @ CornerstoneTheChurch Sept 2012

good morning Wow wasn't that beautiful that worship really was Shanna in the whole group honestly I felt kind of tuned into God's melody and just beautiful though the songs the the words but you can tell those songs are saturated in the presence of the Lord and they carry the presence of the Lord so you guys you must release a CD with this to get them out get them out get them around the world you know you know think globally act locally yes say that that's it so if you Twitter I'm can engage on that's worth twittering seriously there are honestly I I could have just kept going in all of that again Chris Pastor Chris pastor Lorraine always a joy to see you both dear friends and always lovely to come and visit Cornerstone as someone who travels globally and I've done this now for 30 years I I go to lots of different churches and so I I see lots of different things and I can honestly tell you this that past the Chris is the coolest dresser he's the coolest dresser no he would win the award for the best dressed coolest sharpest nicest dresser pastor in the whole world seriously seriously but you know I was thinking I was just looking here I think isn't he but I'm so glad he's not a model for Hugo Boss and I'm glad he's a model for Jesus Christ now I've brought two books here today that I am unashamedly going to plug and I've got absolutely no problems about doing that you know sir British people are so understated they are you know if Americans have got anything bad they sell it and if the British have got anything good they hide it you know that they're kind of like I am so sorry am i breathing some of your oxygen oh so sorry you know when like so like that I mean it's like look if you've got anything tell people about it but anyway the thing is I brought two books today one I've written one I haven't so that's quite good isn't it now you know the little phrase what would Jesus do you know that phrase what would Jesus do well you know nothing's written 'el it's all Holy Spirit copyright and a man 600 years ago came up with that when he wrote his book the imitation of Christ six hundred years ago he wrote it Thomas a Kempis I've read many books since I came to faith in 1975 I would put this I would put this book in my top three best books I have ever read ever ever anyway it's just it's been published in a new format and I wrote the introduction okay and I I would encourage you if you've never read such a book like this to get this sort of book two pages a day that's all don't read more than two pages just you know it's like when you you know you feed the baby you don't let rip off a leg of chicken and chuck it to the baby don't you take the skin off you take a little bit of meat give them a little bit and just two pages and just ruminate on it and then the day after two more pages and just let it soak into you there's there is an old introduction to the book I would ignore that so read my first introduction and then go into the book two pages now this is my book 26 steps to heaven I've written it there's a hundred different subjects in here and I've done two pages on each subject three quotes and a little reflection again dipping in dipping in that kind of thing great Lew book really good you know two pages is normally a laugh for most people but you can always do more you know now now what I'm gonna do now I'm gonna do a little test with this church okay so at the end of the service these two books are available at the back I brought 50 each okay I really don't want to take any back okay they're actually if you went to a book shop and bought them they're eight pounds each okay but you know here what I'm gonna do I here's a little test I want to see what kind of church you are okay I want you if you want one of these books don't get one of them if you if you don't have the money you really don't have the money in other words you don't not necessarily don't have the money with you today but you don't have it in your bank account then take them free if you do have the money and you're in a position to give more than the cost of these books then Chuck in more to subsidize all those people who actually want them but can't afford them okay now I did this in in North London at another church and we made a loss of three hundred and fifty pounds so I'm just interested to see whether you're going to be that type of church but I want to give this point that Pastor Chris that's for you imitation of Christ and the other one take those for you and Lorraine okay now when Pastor Chris and pastor Lorraine asked me to come and preach it's always a privilege to do that and on this particular occasion you know I say okay Lord you know what kind of message you want me to bring and I I can't there's one of those modes where I kind of knew I knew bring this message and and I do believe this is a message that's relevant to someone here today and if it's not and I got it wrong well I'm sure it's relevant to me how's your faith how's your faith faith is a little bit like a tea bag you never know it's strength until it's dropped in hot water how's your faith okay here's the passage that I'm going to unpack for you my wife kilise going to come read it come on Kelly good morning right the reading is from Matthew chapter 6 verses 25 to 34 that is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life whether you have enough food and drink or enough clothes to wear isn't life more important than food and your body more than clothing look at the birds they don't plant or harvest or store food in barns for your heavenly Father feeds them and aren't you far more valuable to him than they are can all your worries at a single moment to your life and why worry about your clothing look at the lilies of the field and how they grow they don't work or make their clothing yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are and if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow he will certainly care for you why do you have so little faith so don't worry about these things saying what will we eat what will we drink what will we wear these things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs seek the kingdom of God above all else and live righteously and He will give you everything you need so don't worry about tomorrow for tomorrow will bring its own worries today's trouble is enough for today thanks Kelly we worry if we're honest about a lot of things don't we if we're honest okay I mean Greeks even have worry beads did you know that they have worry beads and they actually play with these and they count their worries I mean wine why don't you count your blessings why would you count your worries I won I don't know about this whatever you know and they have worry beads a woman couldn't sleep at night because she was worried that her home would be burgled and one night her husband heard something downstairs and say he went downstairs and sure enough he found a burglar and he said to the burglar could I take you upstairs so that you can meet my wife she's been waiting to meet you for 12 years you know a real burglar can steal from us once but worry can steal from us night after night for many years worry not only steals our sleep it also steals our health and our ability to cope with life abundantly and what about people who constantly obsess about their weight you know it's all very well being very health conscious but should we think about what we eat to such an extent that there's no room in our heads to think of anything else you know and have you noticed now you know many of us are kind of getting into the habit of weighing ourselves constantly and you know what you do as you wear yourself and particularly as you get older because you can't quite see it so you bend down and we're bowing down elephants live longer than people maybe because they never worry about trying to lose weight so Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount encourages our faith and trust in him and he teaches us the truth about worry the Greek word for worry means to strangle to choke see worry can choke the joy out of us so what did Jesus say well first he said that worry is basically unreasonable verse 25 do not worry about your life what you will eat or drink or about your body what you will wear is not life more important than food and the body more important than clothes so Jesus is saying worry doesn't actually make sense we worry about materialistic things and there's no point why is worried unreasonable we worry about the wrong thing if we are going to be preoccupied about something Jesus is saying make it eternal rather than external did you know that most people's anxiety is preoccupied with 40 percent of things that will never happen thirty percent of things relating to the past that can't be changed twelve percent of things relating to other people's criticism which is generally untrue % of things relating to health which often gets worse with stress and negative thinking only 8% of the time are we anxious about real concerns that will need to be faced just 8% but we add another 92 percent so that there's a percent that there are issues we should be concerned about but let's worry about more stuff worried magnifies the problem and it makes mountains out of mole hills wory makes our problems seem bigger than they really are to worry about something you can't change is useless to worry about something you can change it's stupid I think it's stupid I mean if you can change it just go ahead and change it yeah what's wrong with you you know so so the first point Jesus is making here is worry is unreasonable second point worry is unnatural verse 26 look at the birds of the air they do not sow or reap or store away in barns and yet your heavenly Father feeds them are you no are you worth are you know much more are you not more valuable than they are so I love jesus's humor here I mean can you imagine you know birds on a tractor that would be the equivalent today wouldn't it yeah have you seen birds on a tractor and they're going out to sow no no no we don't we don't see that verse 28 why do you worry about clothes see how the lilies of the fields grow they do not labor or spin yet I tell you they're not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these see Jesus is giving us a lesson from nature he fir first refers to bird-watching ornithology now if there's anyone on God's welfare role its Birds they build a nest once a year and they flutter around I mean I see it really isn't it and Jesus says God takes care of birds aren't you a lot more valuable than birds said the Robin to the sparrow I would surely like to know why these anxious human beings fret about and worry so said the sparrow to the Robin I imagine it must be that they have no heavenly father such as cares for you and mean and then Jesus moves from all ethology to botany look at the lilies how exquisite they are designed and they only last for a few weeks God clothes the lilies of the field they don't worry here's the point birds don't worry plants don't worry people do now some people say I'm a born warrior now there aren't no born warriors worry is a learned response and we learn it from parents from peers from partners and the people around us you see our bodies were not created for worry have you ever heard someone say I'm worried sick yeah you know that's true worry can make us sick worry is unhealthy worry can cause ulcers back aches headaches insomnia so proverbs 12 verse 25 states an anxious heart weighs a person down worry can cause more fatigued than work probably because more of us worry than work you know if we prayed as much as we worried we would have much less to worry about actually that was really profound if we prayed as much as we worried we would have much less to worry about Jesus says your heavenly Father knows your needs God loves us and cares for us the more we know how much our Heavenly Father loves us the more we will trust him faith trusts God worry doubts God thirdly worry is unhelpful so Jesus says in verse 27 who of you by worrying can add a single hour to their life it's unhelpful because it never accomplishes anything worry doesn't solve the problem worry cannot change the past it cannot control the future it can only make us miserable today and that's amazing is it it can't sort the past it can't deal with the future and it makes us miserable today it's stewing without doing yeah like sitting in a rocking chair a lot of motion and no progress you know Arthur rank you know rank foundation he decided to do all his worrying one day a week and he chose Wednesday's when anything happened that gave him anxiety he would write it down and he would put it in his worry box and forget about it until the following Wednesday the interesting thing was that on the following Wednesday when he opened his worry box he found that most of the things that had disturbed him the previous six days were no longer issues and so it would have been useless to have worried about them in the first place that's not bad is it maybe we should have a little worried box worried every Wednesday put it in there I'm not gonna look at it till next Wednesday and then you think it worked for him and he was a busy man fourthly worry is unnecessary so verse 30 if that is how God clothes the grass of the field which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire will he not much more clothe you oh you of little faith there is no need to worry learn we must learn to trust him in other words faith faith whenever my sons ask me for money it's obvious by the way they ask they never worry where I'm going to get it from it never occurs to them so you know we get a phone call interestingly the phone calls are always to their mother mom mom mom I've got a bit of a cash flow problem you know they never ask mum I'm just wondering before I ask you do you dad have a cash flow problem no no then they're ask us if we've got a cash flow problem Inc you know we're a bit stretched you see the thing like that when it comes to faith conquering our warring we need to have a childlike faith child like faith God is saying I'm your heavenly Father I own the cattle on a Thousand Hills yeah and if he owns the cattle on a Thousand Hills he can always sell some cattle and give you the money because he owns thousands so if one source closes up he can open up another Philippians 4 verse 19 my God will supply all your needs in Christ Jesus it's interesting that verse it one day really I spoke to me through that verse it doesn't say my ministry shall supply all my needs my work shall supply all my needs my God will supply all my needs you know he might use the ministry to bring you some of it he might use your work to bring you some of it but you see it's God that is going to supply it worry always indicates we have a Miss on standing of what God is like and if I miss misunderstand what he is like then I can't trust him and have faith in Him so the issue is not worry but faith and who I think God is do we believe do we have faith that God will do what he said he will do that's the issue isn't it that is the issue numbers 23:19 is God man that he should lie as he said and will you not do it has he promised and will he not fulfill it you see this is the issue here the issue is God is he gonna deliver is he is he gonna do what he said he's going to do Hebrews 11 verse 1 faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen you know I like what John Wesley wrote in his I've read his Diaries these diaries are amazing just incredible his Diaries is it as four volumes of all all his Diaries of all his life amazing I mean and he said this I would no more worried than I would curse or swear just a little throw away I wouldn't swear I wouldn't I wouldn't curse I definitely wouldn't worry lovely isn't it I don't do these other things so why would I worry and he puts worry on the same level as cursing and swearing how often do we act as though God was unaware of our problems our concerns and our prayers I think many times we act as though he was unaware even when we do pray don't worry something Oh Lord you you know the situation in Sudan in case you didn't read the papers today well cuz God's busy isn't he he could have missed he didn't read Sunday times so he may not know isn't it he may not have tuned into radio 4 so he may have missed the news and he doesn't know he doesn't know you know that's how we do it don't we Lord Lord you know the situation well let me fill in some details for you isn't it cuz he doesn't know the details so I'll just give you a few of the details so that you're in the know and and God by the way could I now advise you as to what you should do I mean just think about that just think about that isn't it I mean you know yeah you the kind of the CEO this incredible company and and you're like the tea boy and you go and see the CEO and you say uh could I just advise you how to run the company do you mean it's like you know but some of the times it that's a little bit how we're approaching the whole situation rather than say God you know everything you know all the details about this country in that country and this person in this situation but lord I by your spirit wanted to pray according to your will so that so that the devil won't get a foothold in here that the Lord you said this so I'm claiming this promise and I'm speaking into being it's like what come on come on isn't it it's not giving God advice so what is the antidote to worry one faith in God verse 33 seek first his kingdom his righteousness and all these things will be given to you as well so the first thing we need to do is the seek first his kingdom first and when you unpack that what that basically means is I want you not just to be resident in my life but I want you to be President so many of us are often saying yes I want him I want your spirit I want more of your spirit I want more of your spirit you know a resident but not necessarily the president yeah oh yeah you know so many Christians look more Lord more Lord more I think we're constipated well you know honestly it's like isn't it more Lord draws more Lord yeah I'll have more Lord a more Lord it's like you can't take any more more Lord you know unless and this is coming out how can you have more it's got to go in its gonna go out through us through us so stop asking for more more MORE oh cool let it out let it out loudly let it out softly let it out let it out give it out you know I like I like what the Evangelist TL Moody said he said God will allow millions of dollars to pass through my hands so long as none stick yeah we're all about being guardians and stewards just channeling it channeling it channeling it hey seek first his kingdom so so what we want to do is to say yes I want you you know like like that beautiful passage in Revelation 3:20 Jesus stands at that door only not if you hear them not open the door let him in yes we want him in we want him in resident but we want him to be the president make sure that's a reality William Booth the foundation founder of the Salvation Army he was asked by Queen Victoria mr. booth what is the secret of your life and your work and he answered I guess the reason is because God has all there is of William Booth God has all of William Booth not just the little of William Booth so back to the analogy of the house you open the door you let Jesus in where does he go where does he go do you leave him in the hallway do you open the cupboard and take you in there close the cupboard could you want him resident but you don't want him president you see many people want him in they want him in you but what you've got to do is interesting what it the Bible says about the Holy Spirit do not grieve the Holy Spirit do not quench the Holy Spirit do not resist the Holy Spirit so in the whole of the Bible there are three do nots regarding the Holy Spirit regarding the presence of the Spirit do not quench do not resist do not grieve so so yes I want you resident so down into the basement clear out the cobwebs up in the Attic clear out the bat into this room sitting room dining room bedroom kitchen it's like all the doors are open and then what happens I really kill you said to me all the window cleaners beam we've had the windows cleaned I said no we haven't she see we have I said no not really he came and clean the windows I said well the only clean the outside you didn't clean the inside did he so you don't there are only half clean isn't it so half the time we're cleaning on the outside you know shaving and showering and look at this bit of that but unless it's clean on the inside you can't see out resident president the will of God nothing less nothing more nothing else Matthew Henry was an incredible Bible commentator and he lived his life in the light of a crete now this is a guy who wrote a commentary on every verse of the whole Bible okay so you could say this guy has studied the Bible because that takes some doing doesn't it to write a commentary on every verse of the whole Bible okay and he lived by this Creed this was his Creed I take God the Father to me to be my god I take God the Son to be my Savior I take God the Holy Ghost to be my sign to fire I take the Word of God to be my rule I take the people of God to be my people I do thereby dedicate and yield my whole self to the Lord and I do this deliberately freely and forever mmm what a Creed I mean when you think wow to say that's the Creed I'm living every morning think I'm gonna read that Creed that's what I'm gonna live for today this is this is the anchor of my faith the anchor of all that I'm gonna be and all that I'm going to do to live just one day at a time verse 34 therefore do not worry about tomorrow for tomorrow will worry about itself each day has enough worries of its own in other words don't worry about tomorrow don't open your umbrella until it starts raining huh if it's not raining don't open your umbrella today is the tomorrow we worried about yesterday that's quite clever you missed it today is the tomorrow we worried about yesterday and it's okay today why should we live one day at a time because by worrying about tomorrow's problems we can miss today's blessings you see worried listen to what Corrie ten Boom roads worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow it empties today of its strength powerful truth worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow it sieze today of its strength God gives us grace for today he doesn't give us grace for tomorrow today psalm 118 verse 24 this is the day the Lord has made let us rejoice and be glad in it see fear not tomorrow because God's already there that's encouraging us now God God's already there God's already at that appointment that you've got at the hospital God's already there at that interview that you've got set up God's already there at that important meeting you've got God's already there about the future in your life God God's already there because he he's the same yesterday today and forever he's very consistent he's sovereign he he's the Alpha and the Omega and he somehow holds it all together oh my god oh my god oh that is my god it is like oh my god my god it's like whoa the God of the entire cosmos and universe he's already there he knows he knows thirdly trust God to care for things beyond our control because God is faithful the root of the word worry is in verse 30 oh you of little faith worry and Trust can't live together in the same heart when we invite worry in the front door of our heart faith goes out the back door so am I going to trust God God all my worries there are a lot of things beyond our control and we can trust God because there are not beyond his control maybe what some of us we could take the following verse like daily medication three times a day morning noon and night Philippians 4 verse 6 don't worry about anything but in all your prayers ask God for what you need always asking him with a thankful heart and God's peace which is far beyond human understanding will keep your hearts and minds safe in union with Christ Jesus you know maybe some of us should just jot that down on a card have it in the pocket and in three times a day take it as vitamins take it at breakfast take it at lunch take it at dinner do you think I'm gonna here's my vitamins I'm just gonna renew my mind you know that's why we're encouraged aren't we in Ephesians put on the armor of God now how many of us put on the armor of God this morning before we came out okay a few okay maybe the rest of us didn't take it off the night before but I think the whole the whole thing about putting on the armor is called reinforcement reinforcement putting it on putting on I know you wouldn't want to see me in the shower but don't have that image in your mind but when I'm in the shower and is pouring down I'm like holy spirit holy low shut up Sean border you know I want that I symbolically believe that the waters the Holy Spirit washing me cleansing me healing me filling me and then I when I dressed when I put my clothes on I just symbolically do it as if I'm putting on the armor of God up on the helmet of salvation on my head covering my you know there's too many theologians who are dissecting the helmet of salvation and while they're dissecting it the devil gets into their heads that's why they write rubbish you know you're holding it on your head you put the belt of truth on breastplate of righteousness put it on to the on chute of feint sword upon the good news of peace and then it's like too much com1 honestly seriously kap-40 yeah but it's amazing you to kind of put it on I'm ready I'm ready for anything come on don't panic pray those are the two alternatives listen if it's if it isn't worth praying about then it isn't worth worrying about however if it's worth worrying about then it's worth praying about so we can pray about our worries so we can have less to worry about that's good isn't it pray about our worries so we can have less to worry about there's a lot of fear in a lot of us and what what does the Bible would say the perfect love of Christ casts out fear so that we've got to be careful we don't allow fear to cast out the perfect love of Christ so the perfect love of Christ perfect love of Christ and that's why worship is so important because it retuns us and it kind of we get reconfigured we get don't we and refocus Allah my God my God my god oh my god and it's like the end of that okay feed your faith and your doubts will starve to death when fear knocks at your door send faith to answer it there's an imbue Terfel Prayer I'm sure you've heard of it it was written by Ryan hold Niebuhr god grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change the courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference that's it that's it there are some things we cannot change give us the courage law to change the things that we can but give us the wisdom to know the difference you know Lazarus died he dies and he's in the tomb for four days okay and his body was decaying how much faith did Lazarus need to come back to life how much faith did he need none none none actually I find that very encouraging Lazarus didn't need any to come back to life how much faith do we need I like it when Jesus said to his disciples hey boys if you have faith as small as a mustard seed you can imagine it gets a little mustard seed like this if your faith has autism and muscles it and then Simon Peter says and then Jesus puts a little mustard seed in Simon's hand and Simon goes what what is these have you seen a seven sesame seed what that's the same size if you have faith as small as this you could tell that mountain over there push off wait what this this do don't think that's incredible I I think Jesus was saying actually saying we've got the faith but we have to exercise the faith exercise you see I actually don't think it's about quantity I think you know and there are situations there are situations like Lazarus is completely out of his control okay he can't make himself come back to life that's one of those scenarios I can't make myself come back to life in fact he can't even think that because his brain cells aren't working it doesn't even think that yeah so there are some situations that are completely out of our control God can do it now the rest of the time the rest of the time we only need a sesame-seed little bit of faith that's it a little bit like that in other words we've got it but we got it exorcise it in our God believing in him trusting in him and I preached myself by the way I'm preaching to myself we've got to reinforce this truth now now when when Lazarus came out he comes out okay and what is the first thing that Jesus says when he comes out yes you know your Bible well that's right so he comes out he's all bandaged up he's bandaged up bandaged up and he comes out and Jesus says on tie him now you see there are many of us who have become alive in Jesus but we haven't we're still bound so we can't speak we can't hear we can't work because we're and we can't walk don't walk around with the aroma of death when Jesus has made us alive get rid of the grave clothes is something tied your hands is something tied your feet is something covering you so you can't see your mat you can't speak you can't hear many of us somehow have come to Jesus but we haven't got all these off what is it what what do you think might be holding you back preventing you from being all that you're meant to be what do you think I don't want to give your ideas the spirit can reveal that to each of us that it might it could be this it could be that could be this could be that but whatever if you think you're bound in a particular area unforgiveness unforgiveness would be a one could be one it is one it is one unforgiveness you're not forgiving somebody and that has bound you it's bound you lack of generosity and that's bound you it's like it's bound your heart it's like you've got it's all tied round your heart because there's a lack of generosity you don't you don't speak well of people that's bound you bound you instead of speaking well of people you speak negatively of people my wife and I we've made a commitment we're trying the best as we can to now be positive about people or not say anything or not say anything so be positive or don't say anything yeah and none of these innuendos either if you only knew what I know so you didn't say anything you didn't say anything but you did or somebody says something about somebody and you don't really know the look good look really so sometimes it's a hum hmm what is it what is it there's bounding us look if you think something's binding you just say Jesus I think it is or I don't know but I know something's restricting me but I want to throw these away I want to lay them down at the foot of the cross and I want you to be resident I want you to be president in my life and I Lord I want to I want to be a person who really does trust you really does trust you really believes in you really expects from you that's what we trust you enjoyed this program for more information on life matters and cornerstone of church visit our website at www.nasa.gov/station we hold our Sunday services about 10:30 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. a Sandown para asia so we are a family church where all our

Channel: cornerstonethechurch

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Keywords: ctc, 12, 09, 16, AM, JJohn

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Length: 52min 10sec (3130 seconds)

Published: Wed Sep 19 2012