Cornerstone International Church

Today the Cornerstone community had the great opportunity of seeing three people baptised. Before the baptisms, we spent some time looking at the first baptism post-Christ’s resurrection and following the outpouring of the Spirit (see Acts 2:36-41). We considered how this act is an instrumental part of our initial new birth in Christ, more important than we sometimes realise, part of the ‘normal Christian birth.’

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Many, many years ago, Abraham headed to a land that he had been promised by God. He arrived, but it was still as if he were in a foreign land (Hebrews 11:9). Something was not fully right. Why? Because he was ultimately looking for a city whose designer and builder is God (Hebrews 11:10). Though he was looking, probably looking real hard, he never fully found that place. He had seen the heavenly blueprint, but he never was able to see it become an earthly reality (Hebrews 11:13).

Jesus also made an interesting statement: ‘I will build my church’ (Matthew 16:18). And there is no doubt that He is the faithful One to build according to pattern of the Father. He has been building according to the heavenly pattern, the pattern of God Himself, ever since He arrived on the scene.

But, if we are honest, we can get so caught up in trying to build something that is not according to the pattern, the blueprint, of God. It’s been happening since the Fall. God has been looking to build a city, the church, after His own pattern. But we miss it so many times. We say the church must have this, must do this, must look like this, must be built like this. Yet, such ideas remain far from the design of God. The challenge is that we must build according to the great designer and architect.

We must also remember that we have a high calling - to display the manifold wisdom of God to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places (Ephesians 3:10). Absolutely astounding! But so many times we fall short of building as God builds, thus leaving us short of this magnificent calling. Yet, if we do pattern after the blueprint of God, the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places will look on in awe at the wisdom of God displayed in the church. And it starts in the small things - serving, reconciliation, brokenness over sin, seeking God in prayer.

So, what are you building? Or, better yet, how are you building?

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Continuing on from last Sunday’s message, I finished out this short series on the Lord’s Supper. This week, we specifically looked at 1 Corinthians 11:17-34. One important part of the passage we considered is vs27-29, this being misunderstood by quite a few. I also took time to focus on some specifics with regards to the elements: whether the bread must be unleavened (without yeast) and whether the element representing the blood can be fermented (or alcoholic). Finally, I pointed out an interesting mission aspect in regards to the Lord’s Supper.

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We have started a short, two-part series on communion, or the Lord’s Supper. This week we looked at four areas in particular: 1) a little background from the Passover, 2) the terminology surrounding this act, 3) the four varying views concerning what happens to the bread and wine in the sharing of this meal, and 4) who should participate in this meal. Next week, we will mainly look at some of Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 11.

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‘In the beginning, God created the heavens and earth.’ And ever since then, God’s creative power has been at work. But with the Fall, sin entering in through our first parents, God introduces a new aspect to His divine, creative power. What is that new aspect? His redemptive, renewing and restoring power culminating in the work of Christ. We are now called to both receive this renewing creative power of God in Christ and to participate with God in communicating His renewing creative power in Christ.

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Cornerstone works with the network of churches known as Lifelink International. Within our network of churches, we believe apostles and prophets still exist today, but are definitely to be connected to the initial apostolic foundation and faithful to the teaching of Scripture. I have been writing a series on this on my personal blog.

In this audio clip, Mike Rimmer, who works with both Cross Rhythms and the BBC radio in the UK, spends time with Alan Scotland. Alan works apostolically amongst the Lifelink network of churches. In this 30-minute interview, Alan shares his story from childhood to the present looking at what God has been doing for these past 60 years.

For those who visit our podcast and are part of Cornerstone or the wider Lifelink network, I thought you might be interested in hearing the interview. Also, as we believe Jesus still gifts people as apostles today, this might be interesting for others to listen to, as I believe Alan has an apostolic ministry today, but is very humble and balanced. This is somewhat contrary to many other self-proclaimed apostles.

You can also download the audio file from our iTunes podcast.

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