Yesterday, I preached from John 10:11-21 on Jesus' fourth "I am" statement in the Gospel of John: "I am the good shepherd." I found crafting that sermon to be a challenge. Not because the text is obscure or difficult to comprehend, but because Jesus so clearly and directly makes his point in the first 5… Continue reading Why Sheep Need a Shepherd
Yesterday in my sermon on Jesus' third "I am" statement in the Gospel of John, I took a brief detour to remind our congregation of an indispensable practice for reading the Bible well. For years, I've been taught the maxim: "Context is king." It's a sticky phrase I've memorized to help me remember that the… Continue reading The First Rule of Bible Reading
Yesterday, I had the opportunity to worship alongside my church family and sit under the teaching of the Word. Pastor Dennis, the Executive Pastor at Cornerstone, preached from John 8 on the second of Jesus’ seven “I am” statements in the Gospel of John. In his sermon, Pastor Dennis included a quote from C.S. Lewis—one… Continue reading Seeing by the Light of Christ
Back in August (2024), I shared this brief prayer with our church family: My prayer for Cornerstone is that we will rediscover our passion for Jesus, so that we can't help but live our lives to know him and make him known. That's a lofty goal. To know Jesus and make him known has been… Continue reading My Prayer for Our Church
This Sunday I preached from Hebrews 12:1-3. I'll never forget hearing Pastor Matt Chandler tell a story once of preaching on these verses early in his ministry career. He said he delivered a passionate and challenging sermon that connected well with his audience. But afterward a godly, older saint gently approached him and asked if… Continue reading Why you should read Christian biographies (and 21 you should consider)
struggling and striving to follow Jesus
Joshua Wester 