Workers, Not Watchers // This Is How We Change The World Transcription
Nothing worthwhile happens by accident—especially the most worthwhile thing: Helping people find the Father, a family, and a fulfilling future. Living each day with Kingdom-minded purpose takes intention and dedication. We must be clear about who we are and what we value if we wish to change the world. At Cornerstone, we know who we are. We rally behind our core values that give us clarity, purpose, and an identity.
This is how we change the world.
Our culture is obsessed with consuming.
Consuming products, consuming content, and even consuming church.
But church is not meant to be “consumed.” It’s meant for Contribution. Fulfilling God’s purpose only comes from working on the field, not watching from the sidelines.
am just still pumped about the fact that we're here. And we're together and we get to worship together again, man. We just needed this. And so I'm just so thankful God has been so good to us. He's seen us through these last months, He's given us a building. And I know the best. Like Rachel just said, the best is not just yet to come. The best is right here. And right now, I'm thrilled to be a part of it with you guys. I hope things are going good. I hope that your fast is going good. I know we're like about midway a little bit more than midway through the fast right now we start every year off with 21 days of prayer and fasting, seeking God together not just as a church, but as individuals that God would grow us and he would challenge us in new ways. So I hope that you're going well, you're staying strong, staying sane, strong. I'm seeing the faces of a lot of people who are not sticks. Right? about you online. Are you staying strong you get into this because I want to let you know this. Alright, hear me. If 2021 ends up like 2020 It's gonna be because you, you haven't
been keeping up with us. And we have a database and we know where you live. Alright, I'm gonna hold you personally responsible, not just minutes. And obviously, no 2021 is going to be an amazing year, you want to know how I know that. Because God's in it. Because God's in it. 2020 was an amazing year, if you knew where to look, if we knew where to look, 2020 was an amazing year. And 2021 is going to be an amazing year because God is there and God is on the move. He's moving in our church already. I mean, we're just into January. And I'm already seeing how God is doing amazing, amazing things in our people to personal stories, person after person of how God's moving in their life of how he is challenging them and changing them. And I'm just excited to be on this trip with you guys this year of change where God is not just doing change through us. As we look to change our community as we look to better the city of Akron in Northeast Ohio and all of Ohio in the world. I mean, we've got Cornerstone family watching from all over the place. Yeah, shout out to all of our people watching we have I don't know if you guys know this. We have Cornerstone family in places like Massachusetts, in Indiana, we have Cornerstone family in the Philippines. Like we are a global ministry in a lot of ways. We have people all over the place. And so thank you so much for being a part of us too. And what God is doing here, again, not just through us, but in us, he is doing something in our hearts, and I am just thrilled about it. He's doing something new, he's doing something new our word for the year right? There it is, I was like the wrong one. Now, now he's doing something in us. Now, our verse for the year. Second Corinthians says, Therefore if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come. It's here the old is gone. The new is here, the new is here. And now. And we are seeing God do the new right here. And right now. And as long as we continue to embrace the values that we're talking about in this series, this is how we change the world. As long as we embrace these values, we're going to continue to see God move, we're going to continue to see him change our lives and change our hearts for the better. So if you've been with us, awesome, if you haven't, shame on you, shame on you. But if you've been with us, we've been in this series, this is how we change where we're looking at our core values, our statements of saying, Hey, this is who we are, this is what makes Cornerstone cornerstone, right? This is there are tons of great churches out there amazing life-changing churches, but the things that we're talking about on these Sunday mornings, these are the things that make us uniquely cornerstone, these are our values, these are the hills that we are willing to die on. And so I really quickly just want to go through where we've been. We've looked at three of our core values so far. We're gonna run through these real quick, I want you to say just the yellow part, I want you to say the titles with me, we're gonna say these together. But here's the thing. We're not going to just like, say them together, we're going to declare them together. Okay? We're not saying that we're not reading this, like the syllabus, your first day of a college course where it's like, Hey, can someone read part two? And yeah, the papers need to be submitted online. I don't want you to read it like that. I want Long live the King University. No, no, I want you to declare it today. And if you're watching online, if you're sitting in a Starbucks, say it out loud, I don't care if you look weird. I want you to declare this along with us. Okay, so here we go. Number one, long live the king. Ooh, that was I felt it. That was good. It's not about us. It's about him. It's about Jesus. We are here to make Jesus famous and follow where he leads every other core value hinges on that one. Every other core value hinges on that one, core value number two, unity is our calling card. We want to be known for what we are for, not what we are against. If we just do that we're going to look different in this world, right if we just do that We're gonna look different in this world. Number three, second-mile generosity, our time, talent, and treasure are cheerfully given to expand the kingdom of God and to impact our communities. So that's where we've been, we've been through those three. We're going to be looking at number four today. But before we get to I want to let you know we're going to be in the book of James so if you have a physical Bible, you can start turning to the book of James we're going to be in chapter two today or if you've got a YouVersion app or Bible app, you can look it up. If not, don't worry, words will be up on the screen. But while you're getting there while you're typing it in or turning your pages to James chapter two, I want to ask you really quickly is it okay if I talk about the Browns one more time? Is that alright, okay cuz I just I'm hoping you're saying okay, cuz I'm gonna talk about and regardless because diehard Browns fan, we went 11 and five, beat Steelers in Pittsburgh like just, there's so much going on. You guys are lucky. I'm just talking about them one more time. And I'm not preaching the sermon in full Browns uniform with a helmet right now. Cuz like, I just want to get as much out of this season as I can. And it's like, it's done now. Like they lost last week to the Kansas City Chiefs. And it was a heartbreaker. So like I'm getting the last little bits out of this season while I can because I can't talk about him again until like September. So it's hard for me to pray for your pastor. All right. I want to talk about the Browns real quick. If you've followed them at all this year, you know, that whenever they made the playoffs, the like excitement and energy around the making the playoffs was sucked out of the room with the news that their coach their head coach, and their player, Kevin Stefanski had contracted COVID 19. Right. Like the day after they won it came out in the news. Coaches caught this. He's not gonna be able to coach like he's not even allowed to be at the stadium. He's got to stay at his house back in Ohio. And that was just like, shattering news, right? So he has to stay at home and he's, he's not just at home, he's quarantined in his basement. At home. He's not even upstairs with his family. So he's at home and he's getting ready to watch this big game, getting ready to watch this playoff game. And so he's down in the basement. And if you know the playoff game, what happened if unless you've been living under a rock, first play the game. First, play the game. Pittsburgh has a bad snap that goes into the endzone the Browns recover it and it's a touchdown. Five seconds into the game. The score is seven nothing Cleveland like this is just insanity. So Coach Stefanski is downstairs getting ready to watch this. He has his phone turned off. It's like not even receiving any things he doesn't want to. He doesn't want any interruptions who wants to just be able to focus on the game says his phone turned off. All of a sudden he starts hearing yelling upstairs like he's getting ready for the game. And he's just sat down turned on kickoff is going. He hears yelling upstairs and Yeah. And he's like what is going on? His TV is like on the 32nd delay from what his family is watching upstairs. I was like what is going on? And all of a sudden he sees the fumble. He's like, Oh, no. Are you kidding me? This is crazy. So after that excitement, he said it kind of washed over him that this is gonna be unbearable watching this game because I'm going to be hearing noises upstairs. Before I know what's going on. I'll hear them going like oh, no, and I'll be down here. No, what's good? What's gonna happen? What's gonna happen? Right? He said it was awful. And he said the whole experience. He talked to a journalist after the game. He said the whole experience of watching that game gave him a completely lean new respect for fans. He said I gotta tell you, I have a completely new respect for our fans. Because that was brutal. Watching this game and having no say in the outcome, no say in what's happening. That was difficult for me. He said I like to have some kind of control of what's going on. I like to know that my hard work and my preparation can go into affecting the outcome of the game. I couldn't stand just sitting there and watching. With that in mind, let's turn to James chapter two. We're going to start in verse 14. read down through verse 17. And then jump ahead a few verses. This is what James says this is verse 14. What good is it my brothers and sisters? If someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them Go in peace keep warm and well fed, but does nothing about their physical needs. What good is it? In the same way faith by itself if it is not accompanied by action? is dead? Verse 20, you foolish person James is not sugarcoating this for us, you foolish person. Do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar, you see that his faith and his actions were working together. And his faith was made complete by what he did. And the scripture was fulfilled that says, Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness, and he was called God's friend. So you see that a person is considered righteous by what they do, and not by faith alone. Pray with me, wherever you're at real quick.
Heavenly Father, Your Word is perfect. And I am not. Please help me to get out of the way so that I can communicate clearly and effectively today, and that people would not be hearing pastor Jacob but they would be hearing your words speaking to their hearts. We love you and we pray all this in your name, amen. Our core value number four that we are looking at today. core value number four is workers, not watchers say with me workers, not watchers, fulfilling God's purpose in our lives comes from working on the field. Not watching from the sidelines is the coach the fan ski whenever he was watching the game, you know, when he got he got the itch. He got the hits. He got the itch to do something. He got the itch to be out there. He knew he was not where he was supposed to be. He knew where he was not where he was supposed to be at. He's sitting back home in Berea, just sitting in his basement watching this game, he got the itch because he knew he was not where he was supposed to be. And there are some of you in here today. There are some of you watching online. And I got to tell you, I am praying you get itchy today. I'm praying you get itchy. I pray that as we're talking today, I start looking out and seeing you, you know kind of scratching a little bit right I pray if you're watching online, you start to get itchy. Because there are some of us in please understand, I'm not condemning you. But there are some of us who are not where we are supposed to be. We're just not where we're supposed to be. And so just like the coach, I hope you get the edge today. Because your place is not on the sidelines, your place is not on your couch, your place is not sitting in a seat, your place my place. If we are followers of Jesus Christ, our place is on the field. It's on the field, it is working, not watching, anyone can watch. Anyone can watch. But being a difference-maker being a change agent being an agent of transformation. That does not happen unless you're working. It doesn't happen through watching. It doesn't happen passively. It happens through intentional action through working. And those difference makers, the people who make a difference, the people who do change things for the better. Those people all know that there are people who live on the field. There are people who felt that it's and they responded to it, they have gotten themselves on the field and they are working they're workers, not watchers. So I want to ask you today as we kind of set out on This is rhetorical. So don't say out loud. But I want to ask you today, are you working? Or are you watching? Are you working? Or are you watching? If you're watching online? Are you working? I know you're watching. But are you working too? Are you working? Or are you watching? Now if you're working, and I'm looking in this room, and I see some workers, I see some incredible workers in this room. If you are working, can I just say thank you. Thank you, the mission of Cornerstone the fact that we are here the fact that this building is not where we're going to stay that we're going to have a different building, the fact that the building doesn't even matter that we are reaching people for Jesus and we are seeing people find the father, find a family and have a fulfilling future is because you work you're not content to just sit by and watch. You're not content to just be passive. You get your hands in the dirt and in the mud. And you work and you love people and you sacrifice and you give and you serve and Cornerstone is what it is today because of you. So if you are a worker, thank you. And I mean that thank you. And if you are a watcher, hear me now. There is no condemnation for you. So if at any point in today's sermon, you're feeling like man, I feel like I'm being judged, man. That is the devil lying to you. Because there is no condemnation here. No condemnation if you are a watcher. So throughout this sermon, I will not condemn you, but you better believe I will be challenging you.
You have too much within you to just sit by and be a watcher. There's too much at stake. Things are way too important and you are way too valuable to just sit by and watch and watch ministry happen and watch God move. We need to work. We need to work with no condemnation, but there will be a challenge. Are you ready? Are you ready for the challenge? If you're ready, let me know. Are you ready? Are you ready? Are you ready to be challenged? I'm ready for God to challenge me. Let me know in the comments if you're ready. I'm ready for the challenge that God has for us this year. And here's the thing you need to be challenged. You need challenge even if you are a worker you need challenge because guess what, watching is fun. Watching is fun, it's intoxicating. Whenever we just watch something whenever we just kind of sit by passively there is something about it. That's intoxicating because watching sells us a lie that way too often we fall for it sells us a lie that we wait too often fall for and again, it's not just watchers, it's workers to workers to because guess what you want to know one of the biggest issues facing the church right now not just Cornerstone Church, the big C church. Volunteers. Every church in the country, from mega churches to small country churches is having a hard time getting volunteers to come back. You want to know why. Watching is fun. Watching is easy. Volunteers go on hold up. I've had a full year of being able to just chill at home, be in my PJs, turn on a channel, and worship. Just doing that and doing nothing else. I can do nothing else. And now you're wanting me to suddenly come back to a building. And now you suddenly want me to watch kids during the 9 am service. Yeah, I'm good. I will be worshiping from home. Thank you very much like you want me to work with teenagers. You want me to serve at the tech booth. You want me to run cameras. You know, I'm good. I'm good. I don't want to greet anybody at 9 am I want to grab a cup of coffee and my slippers and that's what I want to greet. I don't want to do this thing because watching is fun. Watching is intoxicating. There is a draw there is an alert to watching. You want to know one of the most successful things on the internet right now is Twitch, have you guys ever heard of Twitch streaming? It's like this thing that people do where they'll stream themselves playing video games or doing something else. Video games are the big one though. People will go on they're like, Ninja, he's uh, I'm seeing a lot of blank stares right now people like we're talking about ninjas and twitches and going what is going on? There's a professional gamer His name is ninja. It's his code name, I guess, or something. But he'll broadcast himself playing fortnight, he'll broadcast himself playing Call of Duty. on Twitch, he'll stream it. Millions of people will tune in. That's not an exaggeration, literal, millions of people will tune in to watch him play a game. Many of these people have never played the game themselves. But they'll tune in by the millions and sit for hours and watch people they do not know, play a game.
On one hand, I'm like, that sounds insane. But then I remember when I was a little kid. And when I was younger whenever I was 10 and 11 and 12. Because I just got to say I know games today the graphics and stuff are incredible. I grew up in the golden age of video games. There was the high republic of video games. It was incredible. Like it was just a glorious time when I was I was born in 87. So I still had like one toe in the original Super Nintendo, Sega Genesis, all that but I also got to experience like the Nintendo 64 and PlayStation and PlayStation two. So I was like, I had the best of both worlds. And it was just a fantastic time to be a kid. This is awesome. And my one friend Eric White. He's actually part of our extended family Eric and Alexis in Indiana. If you guys are watching what's up Missy guys, they have Eric, he had a Nintendo 64. And whenever I was growing up, Eric was like my idol still isn't a lot of ways love Erica, just an amazing, amazing guy. He was older than me, he would come over and hang out a ton. And he would bring his Nintendo 64. And he had a game which in my opinion, is one of the greatest games of all time, it's always listed near the top The Legend of Zelda The Ocarina of Time, such a good game. And it's just like a mind-blowing game because every game before it was pretty much just the whole like, there are 10 levels once you beat it, the game was just done. Like that's it. And this game is like a big story. And there's all these like side quests and everything like that. And the graphics it was just it was crazy. Just a groundbreaking game. And Eric would bring it over and he would play it and I just got sucked into watching it. Just watching him play like seeing the story unfold, seeing him beat different levels and going around the country of high rule and all this stuff like this is so cool. There's Awesome but just completely geeking out, right? Multiple times when Eric would come over he would ask me Do you want to play? Because we'd be sitting there for like hours? Right order pizza play more order pizza play more. You want to know I never played Eric offered multiple times. Multiple times. I'm no, I'm good. I just like watching. I'm good. I like watching. I never played the game. And I've kind of realized what it is. I've realized the allure of watching people play games me watching Eric people signing on Twitch to watch this guy play fortnight. You know what the allure of this is, you know, my watching is so intoxicating. When we watch, there is an illusion of investment. Without the pain of playing. There's this illusion that man I'm invested. I'm a part of this. And yet I'm a part. This is so great. This is awesome. What's going on? But I never have to actually put in the like pain of Wait, what button does what? I died again, being in this game is hard. Like, wait, what do I do? Where do I go? I can't beat this love. I get to have the investment. This illusion that oh, man, I'm a part of this without the pain of ever playing, without any sacrifice to ever learn how to do it. And there are a lot of us where That's where we're at. In our spiritual walk. We are watching and we are getting this illusion that we are invested in what God is doing at Cornerstone. But we've never played the game. We've never played we have never picked up a controller never really got our hands in the dirt. Illusion investment. Without the pain of playing. You want to know. That's why do you think reality TV is such a big thing? Why do you think that's such a big thing? I mean, think about years ago, the real world kind of kicked everything off. It's the OG of reality TV shows, right? The real world. And it was like the only one now. It's easier to find reality shows than it is to find scripted shows. Like you'll see a scripted show every now and then. But generally speaking, it's all I mean, it's all real. It's reality. All these guys go and try to sell stuff. And these people live here. And these housewives are crazy. And it's just all reality. It's all reality. Because we feel like we're friends with these people. Oh, yeah, this lady. She's crazy. She's so funny. Oh, yeah, that's just like me. We get this illusion that we're invested in these people's lives that were a part of what's going on. We've never met them. We've never hung out with them. We haven't actually ever played a part in what's going on. But we feel like we're invested even though we've done nothing. It's the draw of reality television. Can I get really out to you for a second? It's the draw of reality church.
