SPIRITUAL JOURNEY

Spiritual Journey is a person’s journey of life starting from he knows Lord Jesus, takes the decision to be born again like an infant that in his growing process must be pass through all the living stages where those stages are made to form a life style that direct him to the spiritual maturity and Christ-likeness, so that the person is worthy to be Christ’s Bride and govern together with Him on spiritual Mount Zion.

The Journey of Israel out from Egypt until finally conquered Mount Zion is the spiritual journey of all Lord Jesus’ believers (1 Corinthian 10:11). All people who join with Cornerstone Apostolic Community will know their ultimate goal, that is up to Mount Zion. Therefore, all believers must go through the following stages :

First Stage : Going out from Egypt (Exodus15:1).

Egypt is the symbol of  old sinful human life. When someone realizes that he is under the slavery of sin and understands that his future is DEATH, and takes the decision to repent, turns from the sinful life, and receives Jesus as the only Savior is same as the journey of Israel when they were out from Egypt (1 Corinthian 10:1-2). It means that this man commits himself to God to leave his old life and hates sin forever and start the new life in God.

Second Stage: Crossing over the Red Sea (1 Corinthian 10:11).

When Israelites went out from Egypt under the leadership of Moses, Pharaoh and his armies were mad and ran after them. And when they got to Red Sea, Moses raised his hands and God divided Red Sea, so that His chosen people could cross and free from Pharaoh’s pursuit. This stage is when someone takes decision to be WATER-BAPTIZED. When someone is water-baptized, the old man will be buried forever and then be born again by the power of Holy Spirit (Colossian 2:12 “buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead”.

Therefore he is born again, then this man is same as spiritual infant that must be fed by fresh pure milk that could make the spiritual baby in Christ could grow healthy spiritually. (1 Peter 2:2 “ as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby”). A spiritual baby need the special care and must be protected. Therefore, Cornerstone prepare a very good place for a new spiritual born baby to get the comfortable and condusive environment to grow. We prepare a small spiritual family that we call it as Cornerstone Community (CSC) which is a place to grow well together, a cell group that designed for believers to have fellowship, pray for each other, love each other,  support each other, learn from each other, and give the opportunity to all the members. Cornerstone also gives the pure milk which is the Biblical Teaching of God’s Words, either in every Sunday Services, or in Mid-week Services. Cornerstone prepares tools and infrastructure for all belivers to grow into maturity until become alike Jesus Christ with the Training and Equipping Classes. In the Training and Equipping Classes, believers will be equipped and educated to be the servants of God and leaders in the Local Church that will bring forth the fruits of ministries. (John 15:1-8).

Third Stage : Encountering with God on Mount Sinai (Exodus 19:1).

In the middle of the journey to go to the Promised  Land, God brought Israelites to Mount Sinai where Israelites received God’s Ten Commandments there. At that moment, God came down and showed Himself to Moses and Israelites. This stage is same as the BAPTISM OF HOLY SPIRIT for believers in New Testament (Act 2). God gives Holy Spirit to believers to prepare His people to enter to the next stage which is the stage of WILDERNESS.

Forth Stage: The Journey in the Wilderness (Deuteronomy 8:2).

Israelites ought to undergo this wilderness journey for 40 years until they got to Promised Land because of their stiff-neckedness and rebellion towards God’s commandments. But the wilderness journey was made by God to purify His people and cut off all the “Egypt” from the life of Israelites. Wilderness speaks about the test and trial that God allows in order to purify belivers to have the right motivation in following God, cut off all the old man’s characters and habits, sinful habits, childish nature that are still left behind.( Hebrew 5 : 8 )

We all must learn from Israelites so that we don’t have to spend so long time to get to God’s promise fulfillment in our life because of our stiff-neckedness and our rebellion to God.

Fifth Stage: Crossing the Jordan River (Joshua: 5 : 9). +

To get to the Promised Land, Israelites ought to cross the Jordan River. At the time when Israelites crossed over the Jordan, they did not want to go back again to Egypt. After they got to the other side of Jordan, Israelites were physically circumcised. Crossing the Jordan River is the symbol of heart circumcision where someone has got to the decision to HATE SIN AND LIVE IN LOVE AND FEAR OF GOD. His purpose of life is to get to Mount Zion (Exodus 5:1; Psalm 87; Psalm 132:13), reign and govern together with Jesus Christ. He does not want to be just average Christian, but he will strife eagerly to please God’s heart,  grow to be matured in God, and prepare himself so that he is worthy to be Christ’s Bride. In this stage, believer has got to one growth level to leave his CHILDISH nature and become the YOUNG PEOPLE in faith and start to be able to receive responsibility to handle the work of ministry. As the believer who experience the growth in the knowledge of God and world, they learn more to take action and how to connect with the world (Titus 2:6-8)

Sixth Stage: Conquering the Promised Land (Joshua 1:2).  

Under the leadership of Joshua, Israelites started to conquer the Promised Land. But when the Israelites enter the Promised Land, they had to face 31 kings who reigned in the Promised Land. The Promised Land is the symbol of the fulfillment of God’s promises. And the 31 kings are the symbol of old man characters that must be conquered before we could get the fulfillment of God’s promises in our life. These 31 kings are talking about the following characters : arrogance, haughtiness, greediness, lust, adultery, impurity, fleshiness, strife, etc. A man who can conquer his old man that is symbolized by these 31 kings is a man who has gained the full maturity. If someone can receive this level, then this man is ready to be entrusted more and can be involved to get into leadership level in the Local Church. To get to this stage, he must have already proven his loyalty, commitment, dedication, character of Christ, and servant heart like Jesus who lives in him.

Seventh Stage: Conquering Mount Zion (Revelation14:1).

Mount Zion is THE LAST STRONGHOLD that was conquered by Israelites. Jebusite people is the rulers of Zion that symbolizes the spirit of conflict. To get into Zion, believer must be able to prevail over all conflicts and disunity that are released by the devil whose purpose is to destroy the unity in the Body of Christ. On Mount Zion, the place where Jesus Christ will reign is the ultimate goal of Cornerstone Church who wants to bring all believers to be matured people, without spot and blameless and reign together with Jesus Christ on Mount Zion (Revelation 5:10; 14:1-5).