Cornerstone's Ten Year Anniversary

On May 23, 2014, Ridgecrest Reformed Baptist Church/Cornerstone Bible Church celebrated its ten year anniversary. As we look back over those ten years, we see the Lord Jesus Christ doing what He promised to do in Matthew 16:18, when He said, “I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” From this passage we see that it is the Lord who builds the church. Many people in the ten year history of our church have labored in various ways including teaching, preaching, serving, caring, evangelizing, counseling, comforting, bookkeeping, administering, cleaning, inviting, singing, and playing musical instruments. But it would have all been for nothing unless Christ built His church. Indeed, the Psalmist assures us, “Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain” (Psalm 127:1).

But the passage also teaches us that the Lord builds the church through people. Jesus said, “You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church.” He went on to say in the next verse, “I give you the keys of the kingdom.” The New Testament does not support the claims made by the Roman Catholic Church regarding Peter as the first pope, apostolic succession and papal authority and infallibility. But still, Peter cannot be removed from this promise of our Lord. The reality is that the Lord promised to build His church through imperfect, fallible, broken, redeemed sinners like Peter and like you and me. How encouraging this is! We don’t have to wait to reach some unattainable level of perfection before we can be useful to the Lord in the church. If Jesus used Peter, who had to be corrected by the Lord several times (Matt. 16:23), who denied the Lord three times (Mark 14:71-72), and who had to be confronted by the apostle Paul in Antioch (Gal. 2:11), then Jesus can use us. And he has used redeemed sinners like us for the last ten years. May the Lord continue to sanctify and mature us so that we will be even more useful to Him in the next ten years and beyond!