Cornerstone Church - Atlanta, GA

Your outlook on death affects your quality of life. If you ignore the fact that death is coming, you'll get blindsided by the inevitable and not make the most of the life you have. If you fixate on death, you'll end up neglecting the great gifts that God provides us in the present. Christianity gives us a better ways to view death and to live our lives. The resurrection of Jesus changes both the way we spend our lives and view our deaths, so that we truly live a full life.

The beauty of wisdom is that it can lift our spirits without having to change our situations. Living in frustrating time

Acts 2 gives us the recipe for a faithful church in a fallen world.

Too often, the good die young and wicked live long. Too often, we're lindsided by the bad things that come our way after trying so hard to be good. Or bitter at the blessings that come other people's way who aren't trying to live good lives. This kind of injustice in life can leave us feeling off balanced. How do we find peace in the midst of life's paradoxes and live balanced lives in an imbalanced world? The Teacher in Ecclesiastes 7 answers this very question.

How we think of ourselves shapes how we live our lives. It's not a contradiction to refer to a community of sinners as saints. Understanding that this is what God says about our identity helps us to truly live out the new life given to us by Jesus.

Sin has no place in us because sin has no power over us.

The best way to face adversity is to prepare it in advance. We do this by realizing that the way to define what's "good" isn't to look to our feelings but our futures. Looking to the future sobers us and reminds us that the best way to face adversity isn't to focus on the adversity in front of us, but our Father, who has graciously (and wisely) allowed it.

When it comes to contentment, many of us treat money as if it's the main ingredient. Like air to a balloon, we think that the more money we have, the more our contentment will grow. The Bible seems to have a different view on the relationship between money and contentment. We've heard THAT the love of money is the root of all evil. Ecclesiastes 5 takes us a step further and shows us WHY. Once we see money for what it truly is, we can understand where true contentment lies.

Unity isn't always to be desired. Division isn't always to be avoided. What's more important than unity and division is the purpose of the unity or division. In 1 Corinthians 5 we learn that the purity of the church is the priority of God's church. To that end, there comes a time where the church must remove certain members to maintain this purity. Far from being judgmental and condemning to the straying member, when church discipline is done rightly it provides (1) hope for the straying and (2) joy for those that remain. God shows His incredible grace and wisdom in the way that He instructs us as a church to deal with sin in the life of the church. He doesn't want us to be ashamed, but assured of our salvation. To this end, church discipline is a gracious gift from a loving Father.

Part 2 of our family matters series.