Digging Deeper
Pastor Tony starts a two-part series on the purpose of Cornerstone Community Church – “We exist to be used by God to lead people from their unbelief to be fully mature followers of Jesus Christ.” We accomplish this by proclaiming, warning, and teaching. We persevere in this purpose till Christ is formed in each of us. This requires each of us to be radical followers of Jesus. Is Cornerstone’s purpose clear and accomplishable? What would you add to it? What can we do to serve our Lord to serve others to become fully mature in Christ?
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Digging Deeper
Pastor Tony completes our studies in Philippians by recapping what we’ve learned to fully grasp what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ. All that truly matters in this life is pursuing Jesus. If we are pursuing Jesus, then He informs us of every area of our lives. If we only tack Jesus on to our lives along with all the other things, that results in mediocrity. What should we truly strive for as believers?
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Digging Deeper
Do we sometimes take things out of context? Pastor Tony continues our study in Philippians 4 by analyzing the meaning of “I can do all things through Him Who strengthens me” and “My God will supply every need”. Our Lord didn’t give His life for us so that we can have all kinds of cool stuff – cool stuff is a gift from Him. Rather, we need to learn how to enjoy what He has given us and then share it with others. Do we struggle with giving and receiving? We must learn to do both equally so God is honored, rather than making God servant to us so that we can be honored.
www.cornerstonecommunity.net
www.cornerstonecommunity.net
Digging Deeper
Have you ever wondered why the Christmas story is sanitized – leaving out less than desirable details about the birth of our Savior? Perhaps because we feel that everything about His birth was perfect? Pastor Tony describes that Jesus actually came to this earth to be like us so we can be restored to Him. We really can’t have a fulness of worshipping Jesus as our God until we understand that Jesus was our brother and He lived a life just like ours.
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Digging Deeper
- Paul wants the Philippians to imitate him and others who are mature. How comfortable are you to say to a younger believer “imitate me”? Why do we tend to say “don’t imitate me but imitate Jesus”?
- In verses 18-19 Paul gives a somber description of some people within the Christian community that they were not to imitate. Without being overly judgmental let’s talk about the examples Tony gave in his sermon. Why are these people enemies of the cross?
- Read Philippians 3: 20-21. The country to which you commit your Citizenship demonstrates to whom you are primarily devoted. We are not to put our minds on earthly things because our citizenship is in heaven, i.e., the Lord is the one we are primarily devoted to and not the things of this world. How should this affect our daily lives? Read Colossians 3: 1-15 to see more on keeping your mind on things above.
- Jesus is coming back to fully redeem our bodies and our salvation will be complete (see Romans 8: 23). Philippians says that our glorified bodies will be like Jesus’ glorified body. Brainstorm on what that means.
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Digging Deeper
Read Philippians 3: 12-16 and discuss the following questions:
- Paul admits that in his pursuit of perfection, he has not yet arrived; but he is in strong pursuit of it. I am sure that we would all agree that we haven’t arrived yet either, but do we like Paul have an intense desire to pursue that Christ-likeness?
- Discuss what you (or we as a group) need to leave behind as we reach forward for maturity.
- Let’s brainstorm on the specifics of what the “prize of the upward call” looks like. Look up Philippians 1: 9-11; Hebrews 12: 14; 2 Peter 1: 3-4 as you discuss this.
- What do you need to talk to God about regarding what you need more understanding in?
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Pastor Tony devotes this Sunday’s message for thanksgiving to our God. He begins in 1 Chronicles when the Ark of the Covenant is brought into Jerusalem with thankfulness and musical worship. Then he teaches on two doxologies that cover the second coming of Christ – our hope. Our great God created the universe by speaking it into existence, He became human, died and rose again and is reigning until He returns to earth to eradicate all sin and sorrow!
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Digging Deeper
What is something that sets you apart from others? What are you great at? What talents do you have? Any major accomplishments? The education you have? How about your good looks? The things in your lives where you feel “I’ve done well.” Once we figure that out, let’s put it in a resume to God as to what we have to offer Him. Are we ready to hear His response – “I need none of that”? On a human level, we think that’s important, but in our relationship with God, these are not the basis in which we connect with Him. Pastor Tony continues our study of Philippians revealing that we must abandon all to know Christ.
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Digging Deeper into Philippians 2:19-30
- Let’s discuss the two principles that Tony pulled from Paul’s relationship with Timothy and Epaphroditus. Dialogue as to how these transfer to our daily lives.
- Principle #1. Seek the Interests of Christ rather than your own interests.
- Principle #2. Risk your life to serve others.
- Compare Paul’s attitude about his potential death (Philippians 1: 20-24) with his attitude about Epaphroditus’ near-death experience (Philippians 2: 25-30). How does Paul’s teaching on death in 1 Corinthians 15: 24-26 and 15: 54-58 inform this discussion?
Cornerstone Church