Cornerstone Gospel Church
  • Worship Service Sunday, 10:30 am
  • Gospel Service 1st Sunday of each month, 3:00 pm
  • Home Groups Wednesday, 7:30 pm

Latest Sermons


Preaching to Intellectuals
22 August 2010
audio/mpeg iconPreaching to Intellectuals

In Athens, Paul was accused of being a babbler. This wasn’t that he spoke unintelligently, but that he seemed to have picked pieces of different views and put them into his own belief system. And from this, they wanted to know what he was teaching, most likely so that they could show their superiority of thought.

So much of the ‘church’ today want to be relevant. And they will take Paul’s preaching on Mars Hill as the reason to do this, the problem is that being relevant is a distraction from the Gospel. And isn’t it funny that everyone wants to be relevant to the hip and trendy crowd, and no one wants to be relevant to the balding, middle aged white guys. Could there be another reason why they want to be relevant?

The Athenians, as most religions today, believed that the deities could be pleased by the actions on man. So when Paul confronted them by telling them how they had the nature of God wrong, it was a great affront. We need to remember that, prior to salvation, our whole life was displeasing to God. And since our salvation, our whole life is pleasing to a God.

Stirred In Our Spirit
15 August 2010
audio/mpeg iconStirred In Our Spirit

Why do Christians preach? The first two reasons could be that firstly, we love God, and secondly because we love man. Because we love God, we are obedient to His command to go and preach. But also, we preach because there is a joy that comes from a harvest of souls.

What is it that stirs us today? So many in the world are numb to the predicaments of the world. The problem is that so much of the church then plays on the new found emotions of a newly saved person.

Turning the World Upside Down
1 August 2010
audio/mpeg iconTurning the World Upside Down

It was Paul’s manner to seek out his Jewish compatriots and to reason with them from the Old Testament for their salvation. In Paul’s day, as now, the biggest battle was the understanding of who the Messiah must have been, and the necessity of his suffering and death.

So what is our custom or manner of evangelism? Paul’s custom was to reach out to his brethren with the gospel on a regular basis. What about us? What is our custom? Are we regularly evangelizing on the streets? At the grocers? In our workplace?

On Evangelism, Missions and Pioneering
18 July 2010
audio/mpeg iconOn Evangelism, Missions and Pioneering

We need to be in prayer for God to raise up people for the work of evangelism and pioneering. It is easy for us to become comfortable in our church and forget about the people outside. We need to ensure that we don’t just turn the church into a social club, and retain our desire for reaching the lost. Evangelism is something that everyone is called to do. But not everyone is called to be on a church evangelism team.

Pioneering takes evangelism to e next level, not only does the pioneer commit to reaching the lost, but also to disciple them and to be their pastor. And it is the church which needs to send these pioneers out. And we need people who will commit to sacrificing themselves and reaching those outside of their normal sphere of influence.

All Things to All Men
11 July 2010
audio/mpeg iconAll Things to All Men

God may change His workmen from time to time. But He does not change His work. He is not concerned with our programs and plans. The church’s work is not about programs and plans. Everything that the church does should come back to the work of God for salvation.

Was Paul being hypocritical when he had Timothy circumcised before taking him out, while carrying letters from the church at Jerusalem decreeing that believers did not need to be circumcised? No. What we see is Paul “becoming all things to all men.” Instead of casting another stumbling block in front of the Jews that they were to go witness to, Timothy was circumcised so that the Jewish leaders would eat with them, so that they could witness to them. We see missionaries today in countries like India where the wives will dress like the locals so as not to add a stumbling block over and above the offense of the Gospel itself.

Representatives for Resolutions
4 July 2010
audio/mpeg iconRepresentatives for Resolutions

Legalism so often stems from a desire to do what is right, but gets corrupted from a selfish ambition. Legalism declares that I will be right with God by my actions. There seem to be two types of legalism.

The first (which we see here) is that we are saved through a combination of faith and works. This effects the future of the church by effecting the way that we evangelize. Because if Satan cannot effect our salvation, he will effect our gospel preaching to corrupt the salvation of those we witness to.

The second tends to be found in more controlling church, where your faith is measured by the level to which they adhere to a set of rules or regulations. In these situations, people concentrate on the external, and judge each other based on the external appearance, and not the circumcision of the heart.

Paul and Peter argued that as the Spirit of God cam upon both the Jews and Gentiles, bit were saved at that point. Therefore there was no requirement for the Gentiles to be circumcised.

A Constant State of Flux
27 June 2010
audio/mpeg iconA Constant State of Flux

Everywhere that the disciples went they preached the Gospel to both Jew and Gentile, and many were saved. But the religious Jews tried to place stumbling blocks in the way of the new converts. And wherever Paul and Barnabas went, it was the religious Jews who would try to stone them. And this spirit still shows today. Think of the peace protestors who will happily throw missiles at the police, while protesting for peace.

It is amazing with what zealousness persecutors of the church act. And the modern persecutors such as Dawkins and Hitchens have nothing on the Jews in the first century. And so it is the way with religious people. We as Christians should have the same zealousness in preaching the truth, as those who preach against it do.

The Proclaiming of the Gospel in the Growth of the Church
6 June 2010
audio/mpeg iconThe Proclaiming of the Gospel in the Growth of the Church

Antioch was an important city in the first century. It was on the Roman road, and a centre of trade and commerce. When Paul arrived in a city, he firstly went to the synagogue to reach those who he had a burden for.

We find in Acts 13 the first recorded sermon of Paul. To start with, Paul lays an important foundation, that the Lord has raised a savior for Israel, whose name is Jesus. Part of the reason why the Jews were expecting the messiah to provide His Kingdom through a military victory, as David was a successful military king. As the Jews were expecting the messiah to a be introduced by a prophet. And Paul indicates that the prophet was John the Baptist.

In the second section, Paul gives the reasoning as to why Jesus was the promised messiah. As he starts the section, he speaks to both the Jews present and any gentiles who feared God. Christianity is not a discriminating world view. Anyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

Religion is the biggest blight on humanity. Just as the Jews at the time of Jesus did not understand what the prophets were saying, despite reading them every day. And within the realms of Christianity today, we see he same.

Division Amongst Labourers
30 May 2010
audio/mpeg iconDivision Amongst Labourers

How important to you are the brothers and sisters around you in your local church? There is no area of ministry more difficult than that of long service in the Church. One of the problems with today’s Christian is that they are constantly distracted from service in the church. Reality is different from dreams. As much as we have a a picture as to how we think ministry will be, it is often different. Ministry will challenge your integrity and tenacity.

We need to a learn to persist in God’s calling until He chooses to move us. Ministry will cause to you shrink back or to persist. We see in this passage that John Mark departs from the service he has been called to. And although we do not see the reason for this departure, is causes a rift firstly between Paul and John, and later between Paul and Barnabas.

So how does this effect the others in the local church around us? If we have been called to ministry in the local church we must ensure that we are steadfast in that call so that we do not cause our brothers to stumble, nor to distract their focus from their ministry.

Weeds Among the Wheat
23 May 2010
audio/mpeg iconWeeds Among the Wheat

The local church is being destroyed from within. For too many naive Christians fellowship in a local assembly has become secondary to their search for likeminded Christians. The problem with this is that if you find likeminded individuals you are less likely to be grow through being challenged in your beliefs. The local church is an important, biblical foundation in a Christian’s life. As we get to know each other, we gain transparency in our lives, and can be guided, and guide others to grow

The local church is not about controlling people, but equipping believers to fulfil the purpose that God has for them. But even though there are many in the church seeking the truth, there are many who seek to prevent people from hearing the truth.