In the midst of visions, Daniel stops and reflects on the past seventy years of God's people in exile. Daniel's response is one of confession and petition – pouring out his heart in honesty, and pleading with God for mercy. Daniel's prayer shows us what it looks like to have a heart that seeks God. Application Questions: 1. What are your initial fe…

Daniel 8 records a vision of world empires clashing and God’s people suffering. This prophecy, written hundreds of years before the events took place, gave Daniel and his readers clarity for the chaos that was ahead of them—and it can do the same for us. God is at work even when things seem like they are falling apart. This makes you clear-eyed, fi…

Daniel transitions from stories to visions in chapter 7, using startling imagery that often leaves us confused and bewildered. The goal of these visions is to leave us comforted and hopeful, and as we look closer we see why: we find God’s kingdom juxtaposed against the kingdoms of earth, leading to a final clash that brings the kingdom of heaven to…

Today we celebrate the 100-year anniversary of Cornerstone's sanctuary. Built in 1924, this building is filled with stories of God's provision, transformation, and the spread of his kingdom. As we commemorate this moment, we find that the reason this church has thrived throughout the generations is not a testament to our leadership, our character, …

The famous story of Daniel and the lions' den concludes the narrative portion of the book of Daniel, and shows us how to navigate life in the midst of exile. In exile we must be wary of the world's agendas, we must seek faithfulness in our spiritual disciplines, and we must fix our hearts and eyes on God's glory. Application Questions: 1. Why shoul…

What happens when a young son is left in charge of the empire while his father is away for years and years? Predictably, nothing good. But, while Babylon begins to crumble from the inside out, God remains faithful to his people in exile, even when it seems like they've been forgotten. Application Questions: 1. In what ways are you tempted to put yo…

Life in exile always means dealing with pride—both the pride around you and the pride inside of you. In Daniel 4 we see a proud king humbled, showing us the nature and effects of pride in our city and our own lives. We also see God’s grace providing a cure for pride, pointing ultimately to Jesus Christ. When we look up to receive his grace, humilit…

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego faced a moment of truth. While we may never be asked to bow down to a 90-foot statue, it was not unlike many moments of truth we will each face. And the same God who granted them peace and hope in the midst of that moment is the same God who has given us peace and hope as well. Application Questions: 1. Have you ever…

Nebuchadnezzar is at the top of the world, but he's restless and troubled by questions he can't answer. His experts can’t help, but Daniel can. Through Daniel, God reveals a mystery about where all of history is going. In the process, we see that the answers to the biggest questions are found in Christ and his eternal kingdom. Only when we build ou…

Upon arriving in a new place, having been forced from their homes and compelled to learn the ways of Babylon, Daniel and his friends resolve to be different. But their resolution shows that they're a different kind of different. They are different not because they're out to prove anything. They're different because of what God has done for them and…

Daniel is a story about four friends who are far from home, in a foreign place with different values and priorities. The Bible shows us that this is our story too: all of us are exiles, navigating life in a place different than our true home. Daniel teaches us to live lives of steady confidence in God, looking to serve the city around us without lo…

It's safe to say that all Christians should be motivated to grow. We want to grow and be able to obey God for the rest of our lives, but sometimes we get stuck in our walk with Him. We've tried so many things and we're still stuck. If you find yourself struggling in your Christian life, my hope is that you'll realize that there's a better way to gr…

Jesus calls Christians to an upside down kind of life in how we treat other people. The world lives by law, and the law always leads to judgment. But in Christ we live by the gospel, and in the gospel we can see one another, and ourselves, through God's eyes. Application Questions: 1. What does judging look like in your life? 2. How do you see the …

Last week we looked at Jesus' call to lose our life that we might save it. This week we look at his call to lose our life to save others. The mission of the church is to be Christ's ambassadors on earth. And as it did for our Savior, that will inevitably involve suffering. Application Questions: 1. Why did Jesus come to earth? 2. What is the missio…

There are times that Christians embrace suffering that they could have tried to avoid. What explains that impulse? Jesus' conversation with Peter and his disciples in Mark 8 shows us why Jesus moves toward suffering, and why following him means we do the same. Application Questions: 1. Why does Jesus insist so strongly that he “must” suffer on the …

God is the ultimate source of consolation and comfort. But how do we experience that comfort when he is invisible and intangible? Scripture teaches us how to truly bring God's comfort into one another's lives by being a means of his comfort, and a reminder that God alone is the only true source of the comfort we need. Application Questions: 1. Wher…

The world is chasing after the ability to be resilient in the face of suffering. But, what does true resilience entail? And how does the eternal hope we have in Christ both produce resilience and give us something even greater? Application Questions: 1. How does remembering your inheritance change your view of the future? 2. How does your view of t…

Typically in the midst of suffering, we can't stop thinking about what has been taken from us. But God shows us in James 1 what He can produce in us in the midst of trials. Application Questions: 1. How are trials in your life always a "loss"? 2. What is counterintuitive about God producing something in us in the midst of trials? 3. How does wisdom…

How do we make sense of our suffering? Pain and difficulty can be completely disorienting and seemingly pointless. But God pulls back the curtain just enough to give us a glimpse of the glorious work he is doing through our suffering. And when we catch that glimpse, it changes everything. Application Questions: 1. In what ways do you try to make se…

Having established the theological pillars we need to understand suffering in our world, we now turn to explore what it looks like to walk through suffering on the ground. Scripture gives us a vocabulary for our suffering we can't find anywhere else in the world. And that vocabulary begins with understanding the sweet gift of lament. Application Qu…

How do we make sense of a God who allows suffering despite being good and in control of all things? Far from being a problem, God’s sovereignty gives us deep resources to face suffering. Only a sovereign God can take all things and work them for good, even when we don’t yet see how. What’s more, God uses his sovereignty to take on more suffering th…

The Bible gives us more than pat answers when it comes to suffering in our lives. According to Scripture, suffering comes in different shapes and sizes, and comes into our lives as a result of many different factors. Often, suffering is a mystery without a full explanation. It’s into this complicated middle that Jesus was born, suffered, and died f…

Every culture has a story of suffering that people use to make sense of the suffering they experience. Christianity provides a story of suffering that allows Christians to experience incredible hardship with endurance and even joy. It starts in the beginning with a good God creating a good world, which has been ruined by sin. This allows Christians…

The Psalms are incredibly honest about the reality and pervasiveness of suffering. In fact, they're often far more honest than we're willing to be. But it's only in being honest about the pervasiveness of suffering that we can experience the pervasiveness of hope. Application Questions: 1. In what ways are you currently suffering? 2. What types of …

Jesus tells his followers that they are salt and light in the world. Salt is a preservative put into things that otherwise would fall apart. This teaches us that Christians are in the city to help it hold together. Light is what allows us to see the reality around us. This teaches us that Christians are in the city to show God’s truth and love to t…

As we navigate life in a city filled with both unique blessings and unique challenges we need a supernatural endurance. Endurance is the strength to fulfill our God-given purpose even when things get hard. And, in Christ, we have all the strength we need. Application Questions: 1. What do you look to in order to escape the difficulties of the city …

God gives His people instructions for how to live as they are taken into exile in Babylon, thousands of years ago. The principles that God gives His people still apply for us today. We too are in a land that is not our own. We too are called to seek the welfare of the city to which we are sent. Application Questions: 1. What are ways that you feel …

Peter writes to Christians in a difficult place and reminds them of their identity: they are God’s own people. This identity isn’t achieved but received by grace. As citizens of God’s kingdom, Christians are sojourners in the city, living out the culture of God’s kingdom in loving interaction with our neighbors. Application Questions: 1. How does P…

In a city as large and varied as LA, it can be easy to lose yourself in it, life within it becoming something to merely tolerate or endure. But God has a plan and a purpose for the city, and invites you into it. Because of that, our lives in the city become wrapped up in the glorious purpose of a loving God. Application Questions: 1. In what ways d…

Los Angeles is a hard place to live for many, and Christians easily lose sight of the larger purpose for their lives here. The story of Jonah shows us that Christians are called into God’s own love for the city. This calling gives us a different view of Los Angeles and our role in it, leading us to share God’s love and experience it more ourselves.…

Many thought that as religion declined, humans would experience less guilt in their lives. Instead, guilt has increased in surprising ways. We all want to experience the freedom of forgiveness, but the options to deal with guilt in our culture don’t satisfy. Christianity, by exposing the reality of our guilt and showing us the reality of God’s grac…

Despite what many think, Los Angeles is a very spiritual city. While many do not consider themselves religious, most pursue spirituality in various ways. In Acts 17, Paul explores Athens, another very spiritual city. Instead of presenting Christianity as one spiritual option among many, he shows that their approach to spirituality cannot satisfy th…

How do we know what is right or wrong, good or evil? Who has the right to say? God in His perfect goodness and authority speaks to a world so often confused about good and evil. Application Questions: 1. How does authority relate to morality? 2. How does truth relate to morality? 3. Why is the "I choose" approach to morality empty? 4. How does the …

Los Angeles is a city filled with people striving to find their own meaning in life. The options seem endless, and the idea of discovering our own purpose seems exciting. But can we really have the deep purpose we crave if we are making it up ourselves? Only Jesus can give us a stable purpose that we don't have to earn. Application Questions: 1. In…

Easter is a time of generic hope ("after winter comes spring"), but Jesus says he brings hope into our lives now. We tend to downplay Easter so we can fit it into the ways we already understand the world, but Jesus bursts our categories. Dying for our sins and rising from the grave, Jesus opens the door to a new kind of life here and now, and usher…

Jesus famously calls us to "abide" with him as a branch abides in a vine. But what does that mean? What does it practically look like to live a life of abiding? And how do we know if we're abiding or not? Application Questions: 1. How has the gospel already given you a vital connection with Christ? 2. How does your relationship with your phone (or …

Everyone is searching for meaning, and purpose, and abundant life. Jesus makes it clear that the only way to the life we were created for is through Him. He is the way. He is the truth. He is the life. Application Questions: 1. What answers are you looking for from God that He doesn't promise to give you? 2. What promises can you cling to instead? …

People in Los Angeles aren’t very familiar with sheep, but Jesus compares himself to a shepherd to help us understand who he wants to be in our lives. Shepherds know their sheep, love their sheep, and lead their sheep. When Jesus is your good shepherd you will follow him more closely than anything else. Application Questions: 1. Jesus knows you eve…

In a passage where people are arguing with Jesus about his identity, we find his strongest claim to be God in the flesh. It leaves us with a radical choice: we must either follow Jesus as God in every area of our lives, or reject him entirely. Only when we understand these high stakes will we see the deep love Jesus shows for us by going to the cro…

At the beginning of John 6, Jesus feeds almost 20,000 people miraculously. By the end of John 6, the only followers He has left are His disciples. Challenging His disciples, Jesus asks them if they will leave Him as well? Peter responds with a declaration of faith and desperation that is true for all Christians everywhere. Application Questions: 1.…

Jesus is the light. He is the singular means by which we can truly comprehend and understand everything in the world. He allows us to understand ourselves, our lives, and the world around us as they truly are. And as his followers we have been given his light to illuminate the world around us. Application Questions: 1. In what ways does the gospel …

A crowd that wants physical bread are met with Jesus, who tells them he is the true bread of life. When we understand what Jesus is saying, we find our deepest hungers exposed, the place those hungers are finally satisfied, and the way we savor Christ in our daily lives. Application Questions: 1. What are the daily desires that occupy your mind the…

In our lives, it is far too easy for us to remain focused on our shallow needs. Jesus invites us to see a deeper need that only he can satisfy. Application Questions: 1. Why is Jesus' determination to bring living water such good news? 2. In what ways are you pursuing water that does not truly satisfy? 3. How is Christ crucified for you something t…

What can we learn from Jesus turning water into wine at a wedding? John tells us that it is a sign, pointing to a greater reality about who Jesus is and what he came to do. This sign shows us that Jesus is the true bridegroom, come to bring joy at a great price, drawing near to those he loves. Application Questions: 1. What can we learn from the co…

Our world views human life as either as the ultimate good (needing to be preserved at all costs) or as an instrumental good (only worth living if it maintains a certain "quality"). But God teaches us that, as image bearers of him, every human life is uniquely sacred and destined for eternity. Application Questions: 1. How do you see the world's und…

Sin brings about division in our world, the devaluing of the image of God in others. This is seen throughout the history of the world, and is felt presently and deeply in our world today. In Christ the walls of hostility can be brought down. In Christ we can be peacemakers. In Christ we can affirm and uphold the image of God in the midst of the div…

Our city believes strongly that all people are worthy of dignity and respect, but what is the foundation for that belief? The Bible declares that all human beings are made in the image of God, apart from their background, culture, or ability. Yet we see this image is marred by sin in the ways we often ignore or use other people. Only through Jesus …

Beholding the Son of God begets following the Son of God. When we see Jesus for who he is and remember what he has done, our hearts are drawn to follow him and orient our entire lives around him. Even when we don't know what the future holds, we can have confidence in the one that holds the future. And, as we enter a new year, he invites us to "com…

On Christmas Eve, we consider the nature of the incarnation and behold the one who is the Word become flesh. As we do, John the Baptist provides us with an example of how we are each called to behold him and bear witness to him both on Christmas and throughout the year.Oleh Scott Mehl

John’s gospel doesn’t have much of a Christmas story, but it does have the heart of Christmas: the doctrine of the incarnation. When we understand this staggering doctrine we can see the importance, joy, and hope of Christmas, and enjoy grace upon grace in our own lives. Application Questions: 1. How is the doctrine of the incarnation unique among …