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To Be After God’s Heart

David committed adultery with Bathsheba, murdered Uriah, and cost Israel thousands of lives by pridefully numbering the fighting men. Yet God calls him a man after His own heart. What is the meaning of this? Most teachers I’ve heard on this subject have taught that repentance is what’s needed. They are not wrong. Psalm 51 is David’s song of repentance. It drives right to the heart of the matter, describing the repentant “heart” in verses 6, 10, and 17. After he sins, the man after God’s heart comes to God in heartfelt repentance. But the key to understanding more fully [...]

By Cornerstone Admin|2023-01-17T20:41:31-05:00January 17, 2023|

Against Fear

Fear gripped the heart of the King. News reached King Ahaz that the Northern Kingdom of Israel was in league with Syria to make war against Jerusalem. Israel was Judah's brother, but now they were attacking with the enemy. Isaiah reports that "the heart of Ahaz and the heart of his people shook as the trees of the forest shake before the wind" (Isaiah 7:2). Have you ever felt your heart shake like a leaf? Fear grips the heart when intimidating circumstances lay just over the horizon. Sometimes fear takes the strongest grip in a time a peace, because we have time [...]

By Pastor Jeff Kliewer|2022-10-09T07:48:05-04:00September 8, 2022|

Stop Judging

Stop judging. Jesus taught that, so it’s really important to stop judging. Judge. Jesus said we should judge right after He said not to judge, so it's really important to judge. How can these things be? It turns out that the Lord means for us to stop judging “by mere appearances” and, instead, “judge with right judgment” (John 7:24). That makes sense. We’ll make wrong judgments if we jump to conclusions, but we’re going to need to make a lot of judgments just to exist in this world, so the real issue is our moral obligation to make right judgments. So, [...]

By Pastor Jeff Kliewer|2019-07-19T20:46:51-04:00July 17, 2019|

The Religion of Social Justice

Andrew Cuomo, Governor of New York, identifies his religion as Roman Catholicism, but Andrew Cuomo’s real religion is Social Justice. If his religion were Roman Catholicism, then he would sit on the three-legged stool of Scripture, Church Tradition, and the Pope’s Decrees and form his opinions from there. The sources of authority recognized by Roman Catholics would be authoritative to him. Protestants outright reject Rome's three-legged stool, finding it unstable because two of the three legs can’t bear weight. We say, “Sola Scriptura—Scripture alone.” But if Cuomo were truly Roman Catholic, he would fight passionately to uphold the tenets [...]

By Pastor Jeff Kliewer|2019-02-01T16:57:10-05:00February 1, 2019|

The Red Tsunami

Mark Taylor captured the imaginations of many a believer in modern-day prophecy with his folksy down-to-earth style and his optimistic please-let-this-be-true political prophecies. Leading into the 2018 midterms, Taylor prophesied “a red tsunami”. Republicans would not only hold the House and Senate but would dominate the Democrats. Two days after the dust of the election has settled, what are we to make of the Taylor prophecies? When my kids demand my attention and then show me something ridiculous or silly, I like to watch and respond with a little deadpan humor, simply saying “not impressed” as I turn back to [...]

By Pastor Jeff Kliewer|2018-11-08T12:37:51-05:00November 8, 2018|

The Gospel in 60 Seconds

A clear Gospel message, like the one Peter preached in Acts 2, includes 5 points. First, the Person of Christ. Jesus of Nazareth is more than a mere man. He is God in flesh, the Son of God, the Messiah, the great and final Prophet, Priest, and King. Second, the work of Christ. Jesus died on a cross, was buried, and rose from the dead. In so doing, He exchanged His life for guilty sinners, taking away our sin, giving us His righteousness. Third, according to the Scriptures. All of this was prophesied ahead of time! Fourth, forgiveness of sin [...]

By Pastor Jeff Kliewer|2018-06-06T10:36:17-04:00June 6, 2018|

Marx in Sheep’s Clothing

False teaching has entered the Church like a wolf in sheep’s clothing, masquerading as “Social Justice”, but bearing sharp teeth of division concealed behind puckered up lips. The wolf is intent to tear the Church apart, ripping and pulling wherever it can. It finds especially vulnerable tissue wherever worldly culture has Christians thinking wrongly. Those sensitive places will open up deadly wounds and sharp divides in the Church unless someone kicks the teeth out of the wolf. That’s what pastors need to do. Call us shepherds. This article is one pastor’s attempt to neutralize a wolf that has been [...]

By Pastor Jeff Kliewer|2018-05-23T17:28:30-04:00May 23, 2018|

God’s Order In Our Families

I’ve yet to meet a parent who doesn’t say they want the best for their kids. In twelve years of inner-city mission work, we saw a thousand problems stem from one bad root—the breakdown of the family, yet even so, every parent we met would say they wanted the best for their kids. Suburban parents say the same. Go to a suburban soccer field on a Saturday in the Fall and you’ll see hundreds of involved parents, every one of which would say they want the best for their kids. Go anywhere in the world—Muslim countries, Hindu, wherever—and you’ll hear [...]

By Pastor Jeff Kliewer|2017-12-05T10:46:12-05:00November 21, 2017|

Practical Evangelism

All genuine Christians want to be fishers of men, ambassadors for Christ, messengers of the Kingdom, witnesses, heralds of the truth, soul winners, and runners with beautiful feet. We want to be effective evangelists. But there seems to be a bit of a gap between what we desire to be and what we see happening in real life. When we imagine ourselves in the heavenly Kingdom, we want to see ourselves in the midst of a great assembly, many of whom arrived there after hearing the gospel fall from our lips. But when we assess ourselves by looking at our [...]

By Pastor Jeff Kliewer|2018-03-22T16:37:20-04:00June 12, 2017|

Prayer and God’s Decree

Why do Christians pray? If God is sovereign, and He is executing His plan according to His Kingly freedom, then why does it matter if we pray? After all, God’s ways are higher than our ways (Isaiah 55:8), so it’s not as if He needs us to instruct Him as to what He should do. When we pray, we are bringing our tiny perspective to a God that knows everything about every inch of the Universe (Job 38). If I’m praying that my kid will win his basketball game and a Christian parent in the opposite bleacher is praying the [...]

By Pastor Jeff Kliewer|2018-03-22T16:37:20-04:00February 24, 2017|