Living Faithfully: Community, Purpose, and Transformation

"Cornerstone Church in SEI Valley needs room to grow and uh he said I'd never been there before I'm just going to read it cuz I just love it you know it goes uh you read it like yeah I'll hear it again it was just cool it says I'd never been there but could not deny my curiosity in the parking lot on the way in I saw a teenager pick up a piece of trash I must admit I'd never seen this before and it didn't look like anyone told him to do it he just did the look of puzzlement on my face must have prompted the smiles I was soon to discover that I was a little early for the Sunday evening service catering to the college crowd at Cornerstone Church they have four Services a day and therec they have four Services a day there because the lack of room it was empty when we arrived so I found a couple of seats and talked for a bit I stretched out after all how many kids could show up to church at 7:00 at night they'd be out drinking debauching I'd heard about what this age group is into sex drugs rock and roll to be cliche heck that's how we were trained when I was that age so I should be pretty empty I walked around a little bit some gal thought I was an usher no not the rap singer but an old man who shows people to their seats I I told her I was new there and she was polite and apologetic I went to sit down before I was asked to ush anyone else soon they started coming in from every Walk of Life every color every culture not a group of rich or a group of poor but all of them kids in their late teens or early 20s some old folks came in too like me so I didn't feel alone the music started I looked around the place was suddenly packed packed I looked around suspiciously the Overflow was packed as well there were lawn chairs in the adjoining rooms it was being multicast on TVs in different rooms so they so they could see I was worried this could not turn out well young people have no respect and no discipline it will be a bad scene then on stage comes out this happy animated baldheaded smiling Pastor he was wearing jeans and a head mic like Mariah Carey he starts talking and these Lawless Renegades I was in the midst of were paying attention have you ever tried getting a teen to pay attention the the pastor taught them about respect respect respect for God no less the delinquent looking crowd soaked it up was this for real I remember the last time I talked to atina about respect it didn't turn out so well he then talked about living to be good to other people and they prayed not the plastic Jesus kind of prayers that people pray when they have to go to church these kids look like they wanted to be there they looked forward to it I looked at them they prayed like someone who wanted God to hear them I felt so out of place then the music played again I didn't know these Tunes the kids did it was kind of catchy my foot started tapping they were happy they were polite they prayed to God they sang songs to God hundreds of them I didn't know what to say I turned to the person who had joined me to Recon out this church and said I've never seen this many kids in one place being nice I saw a young man cry in my row his hands folded so tight his fingers intertwined with each other he wasn't turning to drugs or alcohol he was turning to God he was doing the right thing praying to God and doing it well he was learning he was amongst friends he was in a church how do they get this all to happen I don't have that answer there are many pastors there I I don't have the answer to anything I've seen that night but I did have the guts to see it and you should too I've never seen anything like it in my life then it hit me what I had witnessed is the next Generation these were the future doctors lawyers Business Leaders moms and dads they were learning to do what my generation did not learn we did not learn God or respect or decency we learn selfishness that's why the world is as it is today but there's hope our selfishness has brought us to our knees but the selflessness of our youths has brought them to their knees now to learn how to do it right if Cornerstone Church in SEI Valley is teaching this as I have witnessed then give it room we need them and thinking about those kids and all the people in the other three services folding their hands tightly in prayer I dusted off my Bible to find this for you look it up Matthew 19:14 where it says let the little children come to me is that" [00:42:16]

"this is almost 8 weeks ago I go up to Stanford Hospital get the bomb out the pop whatever results come back fourth time the doctors have had to tell my parents your son has leukemia again for a fourth time I know I feel like I should be in Ripley Believe it or not it's crazy um a few days later the doctors had asked us to come back up to go over what options that I had I'm 18 now so I can um basically I can it's up to me and my parents can't change that so the oncologist comes in and basically for a five minute talk he says there's nothing that we can do for you we can give you chemotherapy we can do some treatment but inevitably it will not work no third B marrow no more chemotherapy nothing is going to work there's no pill there's no there's no nothing so I asked him with nothing how long do you give me well first he says you need to get a crying baby I didn't believe that either he says it's your own individual blood everyone's blood is different it reacts differently um there's no there's no like hammer on the nail like time it's it's it's really hard it can vary but I did get this out of him this was almost two months ago he said maybe 3 months plus or minus I was 2 months ago and I'm still here me being here tonight is no accident I'm dying of a disease no no I'm not I'm I'm dying from a blessing that was given to me by God people ask me a lot of questions and later I'll bring that up to you guys if you guys have any questions but one of the questions that I get asked a lot is hey Clayton are you scared and usually I just say no I'm not scared uh because I don't really feel like talking right then or explaining myself but inside yes yes I am I'm terrified I'm mortified but not for myself not for cancer I've been doing this I've been on this train for 12 years this is my fourth time I know what's going to happen I know the feelings I know all the needles I know all the pains is going to come with it I know that I'm not scared of that I'm not scared of dying either because I know where I'm going when I die I know I'm going to heaven because when I was little I'm I still am little but when I was younger don't mock me when I was younger I confessed with my mouth and believed in my heart that Jesus is Lord and that he is the only way into heaven and I believed that and I know that and I was able to do that because God sent his only son to Earth to die on the cross for my sins and your sins because he loves us so much that is why I was able and I and I know that I'm going to heaven so I'm not scared for where I'm going when I die I'm scared for everyone else I'm scared for the for all the people who don't know where they're going when when they die I'm scared for the people that might think they know where they're going when they die I'm scared for all the people who are distracted by this by this world that is controlled by Satan especially for you guys because you're in America and this is Satan's country I'm scared for everyone that's distracted by Friends by iPods by video games by movies by having a roof over your head by feeling secure or by feeling Comfort or by having 20 bucks in your pocket see I'm dying so it's not hard for me to live every day like it's going to be your last because tonight I easily can go into a coma and never wake up from it it's not hard for me to be thankful for life when I know that tomorrow I might not have it and it's not hard for me to be thankful for my friends because I know that I might not ever see them again very soon yes I'm dying but wait here's the kicker so are you guys we all have a have a clock have a timeline of when we're gonna kick the bucket and for me I have the luxury of knowing about when I might go see I I I feel sorry for you guys because you guys don't know when you're going to die I do so everyone everyone that's that has that that is blinded by this world and is not living every day like it could be their last which is very well could be I feel sorry for you guys so these those are the people that I'm afraid of the people that are blinded the people who don't know where they're going when they die and the people that think they know where they're going when they die but they really don't" [00:54:48]

"it's one of the most powerful messages I'd ever heard because it was so real it it made sense like if if I only have a few days or weeks to live I think that would be my message right it would be yours too and you're going wow that makes sense doesn't make sense for him to go okay my last week on Earth I want to go to Hawaii or I want to do this or you know that doesn't make any sense if you really believe in God he's just going look I I don't feel sorry for myself I know where I'm going but I'm very scared for you and the things he was saying about life and how it's true most of us in this room don't even give it a thought the fact that we're dying and the fact that this could be our last day on Earth and and so we're not living like it's going to be we just figure out we'll come back next weekend the weekend after that on and on and on and yet this guy's going no no I got I I have the advantage on you guys I'm just going to throw it all out there I'm worried that some of you aren't going to heaven you think you are but you're caught up in this trap and he just laid it out there um as articulately as I've ever heard an 18-year-old lay it out um and it's pretty awesome that our high schoolers and Junior highers were in here to hear that and be impacted by it but my I wanted to bring it in cuz I thought you know what that wasn't just for for the Junior highers and high schoolers that's for all of us to look at that guy this Spirit-filled kid who I don't know if he's in heaven right now or if he's still on the Earth but if he's here he's going to be using his life for God and it was just such a challenge for me to just think am I saying everything everything that that I want to be saying you know it's interesting because when my first daughter was born I saw this uh kid speak at a a camp I was at and she was 16 and and she was dying of cancer too and remember just looking at the life of this 16-year-old girl beautiful girl you know her hair was gone everything but just so bright and joyful and back then all we had was pagers you remember those and uh and she you know her church um they gave out her pager number and uh and and every time her pager buzzed it was because someone in the church was praying for her and so she was talking about how she was in high school and and all day long this thing's just vibrating on her hip and her knowing you know what my church is praying for me right now someone's praying for me right now just all day this thing just buzzing on her hip and just the body of Christ coming together in her life but I just remember her talking and and I don't I forget if Lisa was pregnant or we just had our first kid and and I remember just saying to God I go God you know what that girl is so beautiful her walk with you and I would love to have a child like that I would rather have a child Liv 16 years and madly in love with you than a child that lives to be 70 or 80 that doesn't have that type of Faith you know and I and it just reminded me of that as I'm watching Clayton speak I go man that's just a beautiful thing what what proud parents you know he must have to to have a kid that just understands who God is where he's going confidence and what a what an impact he's had on his peers as well as on us today and and after uh Dave gave that message a few weeks ago about the low expectations we often have of our teens it was so impactful but but did we really pray like we believe God could do something in the lives of our teens did we really pray for our kids do we really believe in this prayer that you know what I want my kid to have that Faith with or without leukemia I want my kids to know God like that and I think that's the biggest desire in our hearts is not their success or their appearance or their Athletics or I hope not anyways but that it's like oh if they only knew you like I do or even beyond that may their faith be stronger than mine and so what I'd like to do is I'd like us to have a time of prayer right now for our youth um it's so exciting to read that article in the paper and to know that you know what our youth are making an impact on people and there is something going on there but I want us to pray like crazy pray that it would be in an even greater way I mean a great thing happened at our our Elder meeting this Monday night we got together as Elders because we're struggling with this whole whole concept of how the Bible looks one way and church looks another way and that that just is driving me crazy it just harder and harder to stomach every year when you read the book of Acts and you look at the American church and we're going man what does God want us to do here and as we were discussing this Matt who's leading worship brought up he goes you know what I think we're trying too hard um we've been trying trying trying we just try too hard when you look at the book of Acts that was something God was doing that no one was going to stop they didn't sit and plan it all out and figure it all out and it was weird because that was the exact same thing God had been saying to me is you're you're trying trying trying and that's great but new life is is something that God creates and something that God does and we just want that Unstoppable movement of God and so we said how about if we just stop talking and we just get on our knees right now we just started praying and we just prayed for the next hour and said you know let's stop planning and let's just pray pray and ask this Supernatural God to blow our minds and it was just a great time and I feel like that's exactly what God's calling our church to do is just to pray not even knowing the answers not even directing our prayers necessarily saying God you need to do this this this this way but to say God we don't know we just want you to bring glory to yourself and so I thought it'd be good if this morning even in in light of what we heard about um the youth and the teens and everything else as if we just had a time of prayer with faith where we prayed for our kids and just prayed that they'd grow up and just this next Generation they would just go Way Beyond where we went in our faith and uh here's what we're going to do I want you to think about your kids but I also want you to think about other people's children and so I'm just going to give you a minute and uh all I want you to do is turn to to one or two people make sure no one's left out and just tell them the names of your kids and get the names of their kids from them and if someone feels comfortable you guys could pray right there otherwise take the names of these kids and pray for them during the week and you may even add something and say hey you know what my pray for this kid specifically you know he he ran away or or or this one's in jail or whatever it may be um because crazy things you know uh have happened through prayer and and if you don't have kids you know I'm sure you know of a brother or sister or nephew or cousin or just let's just bring some names together and let's bring it before the Lord and let's just spend some time praying for our kids right now so go ahead and and just turn and and uh tell someone the names of your kids and tell them prayer requests maybe for your kids let me just pray for all of our kids together father I just love all the noise in this room and I love the fact that you heard every single name that was mentioned you heard every request because you're God and you sort through it all out you know I I thank you that you love our kids more than we do God right now I pray that our kids would fear you more than they fear us more than they fear the police more than they fear rejection from their friends God I pray that our kids would love you more than they love us more than they love their popularity their giftedness your boyfriends your girlfriends God may you be the greatest fear in their lives and the greatest love of their lives in Jesus name we pray amen you know I was thinking at the first service when everyone was praying and I was up here praying and um I pray for my own kids a lot but something I noticed while I was up here was that I I wasn't I didn't pray for other people's kids that much and I just started praying for all the you know because we've been getting together in our neighborhood you know all the Christians in our neighborhood have been getting together and I've gotten to know their kids and I was up here and I just started praying for their kids you know not mine I just started praying for theirs and I thought man wouldn't that be awesome if every neighborhood did that where think about this what if all of the Christian Neighbors in your neighborhood you knew they were all praying for your kids so suddenly they have a heart and concern for your children and you started doing that for them I mean wouldn't that be amazing if that's the way our communities worked and we actually prayed for each other's kids I I encourage you you know as you go and leave this week I pray this week that you guys would actually uh get a list you know and maybe email everyone in your neighborhood and say hey let me know the names of your kids their ages how we can pray for them and let's just email this list to all the different people in our neighborhood and let's kind of raise our kids together so suddenly I'm not the only one that's worried about my kids you're worried about mine too I'm concerned about yours and I'm praying for yours I mean that's the way the body of Christ is supposed to work I mean biblically I should care for your kids like I care for my own kids you know and I should have a concern for them a love for them and so let's uh I I just encourage you and challenge you to do that this week you know get to know your neighbors again get a list from the community Pastor whatever neighborhood you're in and and let's start praying for each other children believing actually believing in prayer see I believe that this service because we're going to spend more time in prayer I really believe things are going to be different because of what we do I really believe in prayer I mean it's great when you guys come you sit you listen you hear the word of God but there's something about praying with faith and saying God you know what because we prayed I expect something not not because I deserve it but because that's the way you like to act so you get Glory so people believe in prayer and so I I I hope that that's the way you view prayer I in fact I want to what I want to do now is I want you to pray for yourself um I feel like we hear a lot of things from this stage and and sometimes we hear it we knot our heads and we go home and nothing changes and I want to I want us to pray for ourselves because I think there's some things that we covered the last couple of weeks that uh that we're all convicted by but maybe nothing's happened yet and maybe it's because we haven't prayed enough for ourselves sometimes we we leave here and we just try to must up the courage or the power the energy without first just saying God you know what change this in me cuz I want to be changed you guys are here because you're going I want to be changed I I want to be this man or woman of God and I know I'm not there yet and that's why I'm here I want that instruction but but that's not going to happen from you trying harder it comes from your prayer life it really comes from your belief and prayer and God starts putting these Desires in your heart and the power to overcome the sin in your life and also to EMP you to do the things that you that that are Supernatural that you couldn't have done by your own power so here's what I want you to pray I'm going to put three things on the screen first thing is is pray that you would surrender any unwillingness to love Christians in your neighborhood okay we talked about this a couple of weeks ago how it doesn't really make sense that we call ourselves followers of Jesus yet we're scared or unwilling to go meet other neighbors like that are block from us and actually talk to them and pray pray with them break bread with them share our stuff with them pray for their kids you know whether it's shyness uncomfortability whatever or this independent American attitude we have it's just it's just not biblical and we look at it and we go that doesn't make sense that I have other believers on my block and I don't even know them and I don't really care about them and I don't do anything for them and so let's just pray that we would be able to surrender anything that's keeping us from loving the Neighbors in our neighborhood even if their personalities aren't like yours you don't like their kids whatever it is just say you know what God that's just wrong help me with that secondly pray that you would love your neighbors enough to care for their needs and share with them the good news of Jesus Christ I mean after all isn't this something that bugs all of us that we read in the Bible these people they lived to tell people about Jesus and yet for us it's so uncomfortable it's the scariest thing in the world and you know that biblically it does not make any sense that your next door neighbors you've never even told them about Jesus and here's supposedly the greatest news in your life and there's people on your own block that you've never even spoken about here God calls us to be missionaries you know taking the word of God around the world the good news and I know a lot of us are bugged because we're going man I haven't even done that in my own neighborhood and so pray for that type of boldness and that type of Love More and anything say God help me love my neighbors so much that I just have to tell them how to get to heaven' and then finally pray that you'd be able to surrender all of your possessions to those who are in need in other words just we know that biblically nothing we own belongs to us right this is all God's but do we really live that way and it's very easy to go well this is mine this is mine this is mine and yet we read about how those early Believers said no one claimed that any of their possessions were their own so they didn't claim that that's not my car that's not my bank account that's not my house that's all God's and that's all yours and there was a sense of sharing and giving and caring and and that's really hard that's really hard because that's not the way we were raised we were raised with this is mine you don't touch it and I'm being a good Steward by not letting anyone touch it you know and I'm going to hold on to this this and this and you guys we all know it's not biblical it's just hard it's like these are things we know they're just really difficult and so so we have to pray to God and say God number one I'm so selfish I don't think about the other people in my neighborhood help me with that and help me pray for their kids care for their kids care for their homes whatever help me to have boldness to share with the people in my neighborhood because I I don't want to be this coward and then thirdly pray that I'd let go of my possessions that I wouldn't love my stuff so much that I'm unwilling to share it so let's just spend some time just just bow your head and spend some time praying for yourself welcome back think about this as you did your cooking today can you imagine cooking for 13 people not just on Thanksgiving but every day every single day well at leise parisher found out that is a reality for one local family who is trying to make a difference 276 meals a week are prepared the Garcia's kitchen here and this Thanksgiving they say they're extra grateful for their expanding family just make it all gooey feels like in a household of 13 it's a division of labor and it's always been a tradition season the better over here season the better the girls of the Garcia family prepare the Thanksgiving meal inside their Melia home like you see I'm making a 25 PB turkey we're going to have a big ham and we'll have beef and you think we'd have leftovers but no leftover while outside the boys play you know our lives are very busy but that's that's not even uh my concern here it's just that what this is we're blessed what ever since Domingo Garcia was a child he knew he wanted to adopt I grew up fatherless and I can still recall the hurts of growing up with our parents or our dad and all of that detailed and so I wanted to give these kids a chance most recently Hannah and Abigail were given another chance at life okay you guys you can help step to tricky now getting adopted just days before Thanksgiving I got to be adopted and have lots of brothers and sisters okay come on and as each of the 13 family members come in for their Thanksgiving meal Al together it's clear what they are grateful for this holiday hey everybody in all right I think I'm the luckiest woman in the whole world God has given me these wonderful children and we just need more good people to to rise up make the sacrifice and uh and be there for these kids and the Garcia say if they could take in more kids they would according to government statistics more than 500,000 foster kids are in need of homes this Thanksgiving and the Garcia are doing more than their fair share bless them in addition to their 10 adopted children the Garcia also have two grown biological Sons both of whom adopted kids of their own that cool you guys remember Domingo and Irene she she gave her testimony here before but they actually moved up North for that very reason they'd always been fostering kids here and they felt like they could get a bigger place up north where they could take in more kids and so far they've fostered 32 kids and uh have adopted 16 and uh just just and they've told me stories of about just some of the hardships they went through obviously in having 11 kids um that's not easy you know but but the thing about them is I remember hanging out with them when they lived here and they were the first people that I had met that took James 1: 127 literally where where where God says in James 1 uh 126 he goes if anyone thinks he's religious and doesn't Bridle his tongue but deceives his heart this person's religion is worthless but religion that is pure and undefiled before God the father is this to visit orphans and widows in their Affliction and to keep oneself unstained from the world they the Bible says true religion is not talking he says in fact you need to control your tongue okay we like to talk about how Godly we are he goes True Religion that's acceptable to God okay see maybe you're impressed by people who talk God goes here's what imp resses me when people actually care about widows and orphans and they took that verse so serious and they go how else I remember you know them talking to me and going what else do we do shouldn't we all be out just looking for as many kids to help as possible and so they moved up there and said look I think we can help more up here and so we could build a bigger place and everything else in fact they were telling me this story where she was saying because they wanted to adopt you know these four more kids and and she goes we just didn't have the room and they they require you to have a certain sized house or whatever and so she just started praying she goes we need an additional 1,200 square feet for our place to take in as many kids as we wanted to and so she goes I started praying and when I was done praying she goes I saw this sign for for a contractor you know whether it was a car that drove by or a billboard I forgot what she said but she goes I saw this name and I just thought you know what God is that the answer to my prayer maybe it's this person on the sign CU why else would I see that right after I pray maybe it's that specific contractor but I don't know who she just prayed and pretty soon the word got out in the church that they wanted to take in more kids and um so one of the leaders in the church one of the elders happened to be a contractor and says hey you know I'd love to help you guys out I'll do it all for free I just need the the cost of the materials and that was exactly what they had in the bank and you can guess who that contractor was yeah the one on that sign and everything else it's like no way she goes I prayed for you I didn't even know you I didn't you know and and and I just knew I just knew and and the way God supernaturally has provided for that couple but it's because they live this out see their lives bugged me because their lives made sense biblically you know how when you watch that 18-year-old kid talk you go okay that makes sense that's what you should do with your life if that's all you got left and then I look at at Domingo and Irene in their life I just go ah that that does make sense and and so praise God you know that they're doing it and not only did the church recognize him but even the world said you know what this is pretty amazing I love what they said you know they're doing far more than their share and yet at the same time they talk about how there's a half million kids in America that nobody wants half a million of them and how many millions of Christians are there it just doesn't make sense and uh I just thought you know what we need to be praying you know last last week we talked about Philippians 2 remember Philippians 2 where you do nothing out of vain conceit but in con but but in humility you consider others more significant than yourselves see Domingo and Irene live that out they go you know do I really want 11 kids you know but I'll take as many as I can because I'm not thinking about myself I'm thinking about these kids and it was so great to hear her say what a blessing it was she wasn't up there saying oh this is awful what a drag you know it's like no there's a blessing of the Lord I get to serve him I get to be a mom to all of these kids and and the thing is is sometimes we lift up people you know we go oh you know if I really want to be Godly I'll be a missionary or I'll be a pastor or you guys the beautiful thing is Domingo you guys know he was a mechanic and I I I hated when he left because he he fixed my car for free but uh you know it's just that that's just what he did you know and uh and Irene was a hairdresser you know know and I and my wife hated when she left because she did her hair for free and and mine and uh and so it's just to me it was just so cool you know sometimes we lift up people and say well I'm not called to be a missionary I'm might called to be a pastor well we're all called to care for the widows and the orphans and I don't know what that means or what that looks like one of the Beautiful Things is that I do know a lot of people have been inspired by the garcas when they were here and many of you are foster parents too and that's just an awesome thing that you're you you love these kids you love them like your own and and that is so cool some of you were brought up in the Foster system and you were loved by someone else and you know how good that was and uh some people say well that's not fair to your own kids I'm like are you kidding me you know the beautiful thing about another beautiful thing about the story is how their kids have grown up and they you know they one has two biological kids and two foster kids the other kid of theirs has three biological kids and three foster kids and the kids are growing up and saying you know what this is the way we ought to live life and their parents modeled that type of selflessness for them and now they're growing up and living that same way and um it's funny she she wrote an email to me today and said you know it's kind of weird that I have a I have a 40-year-old son and a three-year-old son and everything in between you know and 32 other ones of them you know but it's just she goes I'll never experience the empty nest syndrome you know and here's just couple that just says I'm just going to give and give and give of my life and you think man what an awesome way to come into the presence of God to say that's what I did with my life because I took the word of God I took it that seriously um you guys this this this morning the point of it was I wanted to go over the things that we've learned because as Christians too often we hear a message not our heads and then we don't do it and I wanted us to remember what we heard about kids and how to raise our kids I want us to remember the message we heard about for me to live as Christ and to die as gain and to really pray that we would surrender our lives and live like New Testament Christians and then last week we talked about humility and I wanted us to rethink that and go okay am I really living a selfless life and then the one other thing the last thing I want to leave you with is is what we talked about last week as well and that's a reverence for Jesus Christ um we can't just move on from that every week we need to be reminded of who God is and who we are in relation to him remember that holy God that I talked about last week I don't know if that affected you during the week but even this morning I'm just on my face again just on my knees on my face and I'm thinking about those angels covering themselves up and screaming out his Holiness and thinking wow God you deserve that type of respect for me and just to close our service I thought it would be just a a great time for us again just to recognize who we're talking about cuz I don't want to say his name throughout the service Jesus Jesus Jesus without a sense of sacredness a sense of remembering who we're talking about that he's the one we fear he's the one that we love and he's the one we came in here to worship and uh some of you maybe you need some prayer maybe you need to you know maybe you you you know that life is short you've never made your peace with God like one of those people that Clayton was talking about where you don't know where you'd go if you died today and you need someone to pray with you there'll be people up in the prayer room you can get baptized today if you want to get baptized come up to the prayer room we'll baptize you but for the rest of us I just wanted some time where we just bow our heads again and just recognize God for who he is and you may want to Bow your heads you may eventually want to get on your knees you you do whatever you're led to do but right now let's just close our eyes and forget about the people in the room just think about God in heaven just know that there's a being in heaven right now sitting on his throne and he's in absolute control angels are worshiping him screaming out his holiness and he determines whether or not we live through this service everything's in his hands so if you would just bow to him and recognize him" [01:04:39]