Cornerstone Chapel - Young Adults Ministry Podcast

The Apostle Paul faced opposition from all sides when he was on trial in Acts 24-26. In spite of this, Paul set an example of how to approach opposition: with patience, humility and boldness.

As we near the end of the study of Acts, Chapters 21-23 contain the narrative of Paul’s opportunities to interact with and share the Gospel with a few large groups of people. As he speaks to Jewish believers, Orthodox Jews, and even the Sanhedrin in Jerusalem, he encounters all kinds of opposition. He is attacked, beaten, has his life threatened, and narrowly escapes scourging. In a time of probable discouragement at his seemingly fruitless attempts to evangelize, God lifts him up and encourages him that there will be more opportunities to share the Gospel, and God is not finished with him yet.

Sometimes God will put us in uncomfortable situations for a season for two reasons: to win souls for Jesus and to grow us in our faith. This is Paul’s situation in Ephesus, a spiritually dark city. Many rejected Paul’s message of the Gospel, but many became believers and we see a great revival in Acts 19. What takeaways can we learn from this passage as we live in a modern day Ephesus?

Paul encounters two different popular schools of thought in the city of Athens: Epicureans and Stoics. What did they believe, how did Paul share Christ with them, and how have we as believers unknowingly adopted some of their false ways of thinking about God?

The Bible is a book about two kingdoms – the Kingdom of Light and the Kingdom of Darkness. We see the Kingdom of Darkness interact with the Kingdom of Light throughout the book of Acts as Satan opposes the work the Lord does through His followers. How should we approach the topic of spiritual warfare, Satan, demons and occult practices? Some have an unhealthy interest in these things and others dismiss them altogether. Join us as we comb through four passages in the book of Acts to learn more.

Because of persecution against the early church, the church was forced to move outside Jerusalem and scatter to other regions, and many more came to believe in Christ. God was able to use their persecution for His glory. The same goes for us. God can use the difficult, challenging experiences we face to do an awesome work in and through our lives. Join our Bible study today in Acts 11 & 12 to learn more.

Luke records the conversions of three very different individuals, but they all share one very crucial thing in common: They each have a form of religion but no relationship with Jesus. They each were resting on and trusting in their religion to gain acceptance by God. Do you know people like this? Is this you? In today’s study, Pastor Austin addresses how relationship and religion function together and presents four important questions we should ask ourselves to determine if we have been relying too much on religion.

Do you feel ill-equipped and underprepared to share Jesus with unsaved family members and friends? We would all love a little more boldness in our lives. How is boldness acquired? And what does biblical boldness look like in a culture of political correctness? Grab your Bible and join us as Pastor Austin draws from Stephen’s example of boldness in Acts 7.

In Acts 3, we see Peter, by the power of the Holy Spirit, heal a man paralyzed from birth. What’s so challenging to us is that Peter and John weren’t seeking out ministry, but when the Lord brought ministry to them, they were willing to be interrupted. Are we willing to be interrupted when God inserts ministry opportunities into our busy lives? Join us as we unpack Acts 3 together.

In today’s message, Pastor Austin addresses questions like – Why is it important to study the book of Acts? How did the Church begin and what did the early church look like? Who or what is the Holy Spirit? This message begins a summer-long series in the book of Acts. Join us!

As we gear up for our 1:10 Conference this weekend, Pastor Austin expounds upon the meaning of Philippians 1:10. Paul’s desire is that believers understand what really matters in life. But what does that all encompass? How do we learn to understand what really matters so that we live life with purpose? Join our Bible study in Philippians 1 to learn more.

This week we looked at an overview of the minor prophet book of Hosea. God gave a prophet the very unusual instruction to marry a prostitute, through which we learned of God's incredible love and faithfulness to us, even when we are unfaithful to Him.

Do you wrestle with doubt? Do you struggle with doubting your faith, doubting God, doubting your relationship with Him? You’re in good company. Even Jesus’ closest friends doubted when He appeared to them after the resurrection. But why do we doubt? When we better understand why doubts arise, we’ll be able to better deal with the doubts that can so often plague our thoughts.

What’s the first thing you do after a long, hard day? Put in your AirPods, check out, and pass out? Mark chapter 1 describes for us an exhausting day in the life of Jesus and how He still prioritized prayer after the demands and busyness of His day. In today’s message, Pastor Austin reviews what prayer actually is and gives us four important reasons why we should mirror Jesus’ example and pray every single day.

Are we too self-reliant in life or have we learned what it means to fully rely on the Lord? In Acts 13 on Paul’s first missionary journey, we see the example of the difference between self-reliance and relying solely on the grace of God. Even with the distortion and the pushback of the truth, it did not stop the Gospel spreading and lives transformed. As Paul says in 2 Corinthians 1:9 – he stopped relying on self and learned to rely on God alone.

Paul tells the church to “put off” some things that don’t properly reflect their relationship with Jesus, and to “put on” or “clothe” themselves with other things that better fit their walk with the Lord. Turn to Colossians 3 with us and dive in to today’s message to see which “outfit” you’ve been wearing.

Did you know that Jesus spent more time warning people about the dangers of hell than He did in comforting them with the hope of heaven? Matthew 13:47-52 is one of those passages where Jesus speaks about the end of the age, and how the angels will be used as instruments of God’s judgment to sift through the wicked from the righteous, and those who have rejected Christ will be cast away. But is hell a real, physical place or just a symbol of evil? How can one escape this coming judgment? Join us today as Pastor Austin closes out this series on the Kingdom of Heaven and its practical role in our lives.

In Ephesians 5 the Apostle Paul offers some practical insight on how to be imitators of Jesus. These directives center around the idea of how the Christian should walk. Rather than imitating the world, followers of Christ are challenged to pattern their life after the example of Christ.

There are two parables that Jesus uses to describe the concept of the Kingdom of Heaven by emphasizing God’s constant pursuit of mankind. Why do we experience dry seasons in our walks with the Lord where we don’t feel like cracking open our Bibles? It’s because we have a “response” problem. At times, we take on the role of the initiator when it comes to our relationship with the Lord, but when we do this, it is biblically out of order. God is the initiator, and all He asks of us is to respond. Dive in to today’s message to hear more.

Jesus uses another parable to describe the potential corruption that can infiltrate the Kingdom community, but this time the evil doesn’t come from without, but from within. In today’s Bible study, Pastor Austin discusses 4 ways we can pursue purity in our lives in the midst of our struggle with sin.