Capstone Church

And the LORD God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  Genesis 2:9

We have received numerous questions from Sunday’s message “The Terrible Lie” asking - “Why did God make and place the Tree in the Garden?” We wanted to start in Genesis and work our way through the Old Testament for people to ask these types of questions.  We think it is essential to process the stories of the OT going all the way back to the very begining.  It makes us excited to hear that people are asking “why” which means people are wrestling and growing.

Answer: God put the tree of knowledge of good and evil in the Garden of Eden to give Adam and Eve a choice to obey Him or disobey Him. Adam and Eve were free to do anything they wanted, except eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Genesis 2:16-17, “And the LORD God commanded the man, ‘You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.’”

If God had not given Adam and Eve the choice, they would have essentially been robots, simply doing what they were programmed to do. God created Adam and Eve to be “free” beings, able to make decisions, able to choose between good and evil. In order for Adam and Eve to truly be free, they had to have a choice.

The ability to choose is what separated us from the rest of creation.  God created humans in his image with a special gift to reflect his Majesty and Glory.  But unlike the rest of creation who automatically reflect God (Psalm 19:1 and Romans 1:20) we have a choice to obey the Creator or long for created things.

Would it been of easier to not place that one item in the garden?  Yes. But then Adam and Eve would of been just a part of creation as opposed to the pinnacle that made Him say “It was very good.” The good news is that there is Genesis 4! He didn’t just throw in the towel on mankind, but gave us hope in the coming of a Messiah who would make it possible again to Reflect God’s glory through the cross.

I apologize for the delay in getting a recap of the sermon on the blog. I usually take care of these things on Sunday afternoons, but it didn’t happen and I was working on the holiday. So I am putting it up finally on Tuesday.

This past Sunday in Pebble Beachers, Camp Rockers, and the adults explored the Terrible Lie found in chapter 3 of Genesis. Following up from last week’s message, we were created to be the image of God. When sin entered the world we destroyed the image (broken mirror). Adam and Eve bought into the lie that God was not enough and that they could be and should be like God. Sin came in and marred all of creation. That is not an element of creation that has not been affected by sin.

Still today we struggle with the desire to worship the created over the creator. We take all that God has made and see it as an end in itself instead of seeing it as something that points to him. Everything was given so that attention and worship would be pointed towards God and not ourselves or creation. What are you emphasizing? Do you put more attention on the created or the Creator?

I hope and pray that you are discussing these truths with your children, husband/wife, mom/dad, friend, coworker, roommate etc. Let’s not leave the Story behind on Sunday morning, but talk about it through the week as we grow closer to Jesus.

It has been a long time coming, but we have arrived to our new series called the Story. We have been praying about and thinking about and working on this series for a long time. I have been eagerly awaiting this Sunday for a while. We started the Story where all good stories start: The Beginning.

God is eternal. No one created God. This is fundamental because if God was created then there is something else out there that is greater than God. if God is not the ultimate/greatest being out there, then he is not worthy of our worship. Our worship belongs to something or someone who is worthy. God is the only one worthy of us giving our lives.

From there we move to a truth that for American Christianity is hard to grasp. God did NOT create all of this for YOU. Sin has instead put our focus on ourselves and satisfied our selfish nature. Sin has taken the emphasis off of the Creator and put it on the created. So why did God create everything? I am so glad you asked. God created everything for his glory and his happiness. He does not revolve himself around you and I. God knows that he is ultimate and he alone is worthy of worship.

So this week, how you will you worship? How will you live in a way that will make God smile? Is there a sin that you need to repent and cast off? How can you worship God through your job, or through school? Maybe your first step is to just reset your mind to meditate on the fact that God is point of creation and not us.

We Worshiped with These Songs:

• Like a Lion
• Our God
• How Great is Our God
• Let Your Kingdom Reign

Today Walt introduced our plans for this Fall. We are going to be starting at the beginning of the OT and preaching through from September to January. We will get from the beginning of creation through King David.

The important part of this series called “The Story” is the emphasis of Jesus in the Old Testament. Most people miss that point. Most people read the Old Testament and never see the connection to Jesus Christ. We separate the Bible into two parts. Those two testaments are still ONE story. They connect. They are not two different stories.

This week I am hoping to drop some more details about this Fall and the tools that will be coming out. I can’t wait. I hope you guys are excited and ready for this new season. Our prayer is that God will strengthen marriages, families, relationships with the truth of the Scripture this Fall. This is an excellent opportunity to examine yourself and put Jesus at the center of your life. Put Jesus at the center of your family. Put Jesus in the center of your marriage.

Let this opportunity stretch you. Don’t back down because you don’t know what is going to happen or because you are scared. Men this could be a great tool to train you in leading your family. I CAN’T WAIT!! It is going to be awesome. Let’s get to it Capstone.

Songs We Used to Worship:

• We Unite (Elevation Worship)
• Like a Lion (Crowder Version)
• Our God (Tomlin)
• Majesty (Delirious)
• Say Say (Stanfill)

Today was a great day. It thrills my heart to hear you singing on Sunday morning. I love it how it sounds like one voice giving honor and worship to the King of Kings.

Walt made a number of statements in his message today. Instead of recapping his message here, we are going to putting those statements up this week on the blog. So please come back this week to the Capstone Blog to continue our focus on the Gospel.

Songs We Used for Worship:

• Stir Our Hearts (Dukes)
• I Stand Amazed (Traditional)
• It is Well (Fields’ version)
• I Surrender All (Capstone Arrangement)
• All Because of Jesus (Fee)

Things looked really different today. We stripped a lot down today in outward demonstration that our church is built on the cross and the cross alone. The front page of the paper today declared the use of music that some of the other churches in our city. We always seem to put more focus on the music or dress or seats, etc. Many people in all the church buildings around our city don’t understand the “why” of church. So for next few weeks we are just going to walk through a few things that have been foundational in how God has shaped Capstone Church.

We are a reflection of God’s reconciliation. We have been reconciled to God so that we can join into the ministry of reconciliation. Let’s just take time to reflect on the passage again. 2 Corinthians 5:10-21

^{10 For we must all stand before Christ to be judged. We will each receive whatever we deserve for the good or evil we have done in this earthly body.11} Because we understand our fearful responsibility to the Lord, we work hard to persuade others. God knows we are sincere, and I hope you know this, too. ¹² Are we commending ourselves to you again? No, we are giving you a reason to be proud of us, so you can answer those who brag about having a spectacular ministry rather than having a sincere heart. ¹³ If it seems we are crazy, it is to bring glory to God. And if we are in our right minds, it is for your benefit. ¹⁴ Either way, Christ’s love controls us. Since we believe that Christ died for all, we also believe that we have all died to our old life. ¹⁵ He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them. ¹⁶ So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know him now! ¹⁷This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!

¹⁸ And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. ¹⁹ For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. ²⁰ So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!” ²¹ For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.

Yesterday we finished up our GENEROUS series. I am grateful for the opportunity to have a hand in teaching during this series. So many times we are looking for an amount to give, when God is looking at our hearts. We walked through 2 Corinthians 9:6-15. I know I talked really fast but here is the basic outline of the message yesterday.

The Christian’s generosity is

• Built on the foundation of the grace of God. God has lavishly given to us freely. So we respond with cheerful hearts and not begrudging submission.
• That foundation allows us to stand on the fact that we are STEWARDS and not OWNERS. Instead we use our talents, skills, possessions for the ministry of reconciliation.
• We live in that way so that we may live ENRICHED lives.

The one and only Chris Barrineau delivered the second part of our Generous series yesterday. I thought he did an excellent job. I am not a numbers person, but I was getting excited about some of the things that were being put on the board. Here are a few numbers that stuck out to me:

• $70,000 - That is how much money we have given away at Capstone Church. You have been so generous. Keep it up.
• 32% - That is percentage of our budget that we have given away. That is just an amazing thought.
• 30 - That is how many people in a year and a half have walked through the waters of baptism. That is a number that must continue to grow. Stay focused on the mission Stoners.

Today we began a new series at the Gathering. Generosity is something that we tend to emphasize around Christmas time. A lot of time, we will be a little more generous during those times, but generosity does not become a trait that marks us.

Walt preached from 2 Corinthians 8. Our generosity is to be based on the Gospel. I know there are many times when we don’t think we have been blessed. We look around at the people that are near to us, and we compare nickels and noses. The problem is we think that all the stuff that God has given us is meant supremely for us. Instead, we are stewards of the gifts and not owners.

Walt said, “Our joy is NOT found in our situation, but in our Savior.” Let that statement sit with you the rest of the day. We we find our contentment in Jesus and not our stuff, then our lives will be more generous.

Set List:

• Happy Day - Tim Hughes
• You Reign - Capstone Band
• Revelation Song - Kari Jobe
• God of this City - Chris Tomlin
• Solution - Hillsong United

Can you tell that Walt is passionate about the Harvest? Man he was on today. Such great truth faithfully taught from the Word. I am extremely grateful for the passion and abilities of Walt and Chris as they long to reach our community with the Gospel.

Today we focused on our connection with Jesus and the fruit that will come from that relationship. I love what Walt said today: “The fruit comes from our relationship with Jesus, we don’t go bear the fruit and then come to Jesus.” That sounds so simple, and yet that seems to be our tendency as we try to come to Jesus. For some reason we believe that we have to clean ourselves before we come to God. Hello, God sent his Son to die while we were still NASTY. So if he is willing to send his Son at that point, why would you try to clean yourself before submitting to him.

I pray that you will continue to grow on the vine. That you would set your hearts and minds on things above and not on earthly things. That you would preach the Gospel to yourself each day. I pray that as you grow in love with Christ that you would grow in your love for the lost.

Just a reminder, you can go to ITunes later this week and check ou the Capstone Podcast if you were not able to join us this morning. I would definitely say that you need to hear this message. Follow the link here.

Here Are the Songs We Sang Together Today:

• The Time Has Come - Hillsong United
• Rise and Sing - Fee
• Salvation is Here - Hillsong United
• I Surrender All - Capstone Version
• You Reign - Capstone Band