Pastor Alberta:
- born and raised in New Jersey
- undergraduate degree in pre-law from Rutgers-The State University
- Married in 1969 to high school sweetheart Donna
- began a career in banking and finance
- A former atheist who received Jesus as Savior and Lord of his life in 1977
- earned his Master of Divinity degree in 1982
- completed his Doctor of Ministry degree in marriage and family counseling in 1989
- Joining the Cornerstone staff in 1992 as Senior Pastor
- resides with his wife in Brighton and
- has four sons and seven grandchildren
- enjoys reading (particularly history), playing golf, and carpentry
Their senior pastor is Dr. Alberta who spoke today. I've included a brief bio.
Today's message was about holiness. I took a few notes.
God wants His children, like any father, to be like Him.
In wax museums, wax artists spend thousands of hours studying the likeness of the person they wish to copy. We should be as passionate about mimicking our Heavenly Father.
When mimicking Christ, we naturally move to a list of do's and don'ts and then to legalism.
Questions: Why do people insist on making up rules? Why do they worry that salvation may be lost?
Answer: They don't believe in grace. They don't trust God to keep them.
Philippians 2:12-13 The New Living Testament (a translation) Work hard to show the results of your salvation, obeying God with deep reverence and fear.
In the Kingdom of Chocolate, the King loves chocolate, but all his subjects love black licorice. This could lead to serious conflicts. But what if the King could magically go into the bedroom of his subjects, and zap them with his wand so they would love chocolate? (Dr Alberta, if you haven't guessed, loves chocolate.)
We don't naturally love holiness, but God can transform our hearts with the Word of God to place a desire for God's Holiness in our heart.
Four keys to becoming holy:
1. We are helpless to become holy. It is God's Word that transforms us. And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
2. Pursue holiness by making God's Word the highest priority. Jesus replied, “Are you not in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God?
3. We will find at times we still desire the world. For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.
4. To study God, study Jesus! Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.
