Phil Joel

Friends it is only one week till Phil Joel will be joining us at Cornerstone.  If you want to come let us know.  Our Phone number is 780-459-0551.  Our location is 22 Sir Winston Churchill Ave  Grandin Park Plaza.  See you there.

Tomorrow

Pastor Gary Heinrichs will be at Cornerstone Fellowship tomorrow in St. Albert.  Gary is one of those rare people that take his cal of God seriously.  He is going to Mexico to minister to the people there.  Not a safe place these days but I admire him for his willing to serve.  The challenge for each of us is that we are all call to serve as Christians.  The reality is that are to serve wherever we are.  I have been called to St. Albert but I did serve 17 years in the North.  God has given us one lifetime and each day to make a difference.  Never apologize for trying to help someone know Christ.  It is like a person who tries to rescue a person from a fire.  You know it is the best thing and so you do it.  You know that salvation is the best thing ever to happen to share it with confidence because if someone hears you and respond on the day they meet the Lord they will be so glad you did your part to introduce them to Christ.  Gary will do that in Mexico.  I hope you do it in your world.

Clash of Christianity and Consumerism.

The city I live in is a great place to live but the church here is stifled by the consumerism mentality.  Living in the most affluent city in Alberta is a challenge and blessing.  Resources are available for the Kingdom the problem is that many in this city go outside to Edmonton to spend their resources.  Hundreds even thousands travel to Edmonton, Spruce Grove, Sherwood Park and Morinville to go to church and they give their time, talents and resources to these communities at the expense of the churches in St. Albert.  Out of the some 25 churches in this city about half are one hundred in a city of $60,000.  The rest of the churches average between 200-500 on a given Sunday.  Yet we have large churches within a mile of the city pulling people and resources to them.  This is such a paradox.  Our first responsibility to evangelism is to our own home community, then places nearby. It seems here it is role reversal.  Now this is not a new problem, it has been going on for decades.  So how does one break this problem.  Pray, the stronghold's of consumerism and its blindness must be broken.  No person will see until their eyes have been opened.  Next, confront, remind those of this city that where they live first is their mission field.  You will never be a successful missionary or transformer of lives until you transform the world in which you live now.  There are over 50,000 lost people here.  They need our resources, time and talents here.  Perish the thought that a believer stands before the Lord on the day of accounting and find out that their most important mission field was neglected while the communities next door benefited before their own.  Many head will hang in shame.  Think about this.  

The urgency of the hour.

I have been working on my series on the end times.  I have never felt strongly about the closeness of the coming of the Lord.  There has never been such an urgency in my heart.  I feel compelled everyday to do as much as I can for Him.  I don't want to waste a single moment.  My thought is that I want to have Maximum impact in the minimum amount of time.  I hope that is your prayers as well.