Cornerstone Church

Scott Savage

Cornerstone in Prescott, AZ, exists to glorify God and make disciples of Jesus. Scott Savage serves as our primary teaching pastor. Learn more: PrescottCornerstone.com

  1. 13 Sept

    Why trying harder doesn’t work

    Why do the same struggles keep coming back, no matter how disciplined you try to be? What if the behavior you are fighting is only a symptom of something deeper? In Week 1 of Kill the Spider, Scott Savage opens Genesis 3:1-7 to explain why trying harder doesn’t work. Beginning with a moldy loaf of bread hidden in a college apartment and the story behind Carlos Whittaker’s Kill the Spider, Scott shows how easily we can spend our lives covering a smell without ever confronting its source. In Genesis 3, the serpent begins by questioning God’s words and character. Eve’s agreement with that lie shapes her behavior, and fear, shame, covering, and hiding follow. The passage reveals a pattern that still affects us: the enemy begins with belief, his lies become our agreements, and our behavior follows what we believe. A spider is an agreement we make with a lie. Cobwebs are the habits and medicators we reach for to find temporary comfort. Anxiety, people pleasing, control, overwork, isolation, achievement, and endless distraction may be visible struggles that point toward something deeper. Jesus offers more than symptom management. He offers real freedom. Whether you keep circling the same struggle, feel exhausted from trying harder, or wonder why change never seems to last, this message invites you to become curious about what is happening beneath the surface. What keeps happening? When does it show up? What are you hoping it will give you? This week, the goal is not to fix everything. It is to pay attention and begin looking for the source. Scripture: Genesis 3:1-7 Speaker: Scott Savage Cornerstone Church, Prescott, AZ Yavapai County | Evangelical Free Church of America Series: Kill the Spider Week Number: Week 1 September 13, 2026 Learn more or plan a visit: https://prescottcornerstone.com

  2. 30 Aug

    What Is Your Anxiety Trying to Tell You?

    What is your anxiety trying to tell you? Is it the problem itself, or is it a warning light pointing toward something deeper? In this follow-up conversation from Week 3 of At The Movies, Lead Pastor Scott Savage and Jake Downing discuss what Inside Out 2 gets right about anxiety, identity, emotional health, and the pressure to fit in. The film gives memorable imagery to experiences that can be difficult to explain, including panic, grounding, performance pressure, and emotions that feel impossible to stop. Scott and Jake also talk honestly about the church’s changing relationship with mental health, the roles of therapy and medication, and why asking for appropriate help is not a source of shame. Anxiety can be a warning light rather than the root problem. It may be pointing toward fear, insecurity, woundedness, or an identity built on performance and approval. God created our emotions, and they have a place in our lives, but they were never meant to control us. Our emotions can ride in the car, but they cannot drive. Scripture: Mark 12:30; Romans 12:2; Romans 3:23-24; Philippians 4:6-7 Speakers: Scott Savage and Jake Downing’ Cornerstone Church, Prescott, AZ Yavapai County | Evangelical Free Church of America Series: At The Movies Week Number: 3 August 30, 2026 Learn more or plan a visit: https://prescottcornerstone.com Chapters: 0:00 Why Scott Chose Inside Out 2 1:10 Why This Movie Feels Personal 2:58 From Sadness to Anxiety 5:24 What the Movie and Church Get Right 5:52 Loving God with Heart, Soul, Mind, and Strength 7:15 Mental Health, Therapy, and Trust 9:46 Anxiety as a Warning System 10:29 Looking Beneath Anxiety 12:38 Medication and Deeper Healing 13:37 Keeping Emotions Out of the Driver’s Seat 17:53 Looking Back at At The Movies 2026

  3. 23 Aug

    Marriage, Broken Promises, and Starting Again

    What happens when feelings change after a promise has been made? How do we begin again when a vow has been broken? In this follow-up conversation from Week 2 of At The Movies, Lead Pastor Scott Savage and Jake Downing discuss what The Vow reveals about marriage, commitment, broken promises, and the grace to start again.. After Paige loses her memory, Leo tries to rebuild their relationship and honor the life they chose together. His pursuit shows the importance of commitment, sacrifice, and perseverance. But the real story behind the movie did not end where Hollywood left it, raising honest questions about why marriage is hard and what our promises mean when feelings and circumstances change. Human beings do not keep every promise perfectly. Hebrews 12:1-2 calls us to keep our eyes on Jesus, while 2 Corinthians 12 reminds us that God’s grace is sufficient and his power is made perfect in weakness. Our hope is not in becoming the hero of our own story, but in trusting the God who does not abandon his promises. Whether someone has broken a vow to you, you are carrying regret over a promise you broke, or you recognize a gap between what you say and how you live, this conversation offers a practical next step: confess honestly, refuse shame, and depend on God’s grace to heal, transform, and help you begin again. Scripture: Hebrews 12:1-2; 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 Speakers: Scott Savage and Jake Downing Cornerstone Church, Prescott, AZ Yavapai County | Evangelical Free Church of America Series: At The Movies Week Number: 2 August 23, 2026 Learn more or plan a visit: https://prescottcornerstone.com Chapters: 0:00 Why Scott Chose The Vow 2:03 How The Vow Changed Scott’s View of Promises 4:41 Why Leo Is Not the Hero 6:03 The True Story Behind The Vow 7:45 What Happened After the Movie 8:31 Why Marriage Is So Hard 11:17 Can Good Lessons Come From Broken People? 14:54 When It Is Time to Let Go 16:06 Confession After a Broken Promise 19:01 Finding Support and Looking Ahead

  4. 16 Aug

    What True Grit Teaches About Revenge

    What does revenge cost us when we refuse to let go? Can forgiveness set us free without excusing the person who hurt us? In this follow-up conversation from Week 1 of At The Movies, Lead Pastor Scott Savage and Jake Downing discuss what True Grit reveals about revenge, bitterness, grace, and the difficult work of forgiveness. The film follows 14-year-old Maddie Ross as she pursues the man who murdered her father. What begins as a desire for justice becomes a consuming quest for vengeance. Drawing from Hebrews 12:14-15 and Ephesians 4:31-32, Scott explains how bitterness takes root, poisons our relationships, and often costs us more than we expected to pay. Forgiveness does not mean pretending the wrong never happened. It does not remove accountability, guarantee reconciliation, or immediately restore trust. Forgiveness means abandoning revenge, absorbing the cost of the wound, and choosing freedom through the grace Jesus has given us. Whether you are carrying an old wound, struggling to trust again, or finding it impossible to stop replaying what someone did, this conversation will help you understand the difference between forgiveness, reconciliation, and trust while identifying a practical next step toward healing. Scripture: Hebrews 12:14-15 Speakers: Scott Savage and Jake Downing Cornerstone Church, Prescott, AZ Yavapai County | Evangelical Free Church of America Series: At The Movies Week Number: 1 August 16, 2026 Learn more or plan a visit: https://prescottcornerstone.com

  5. 9 Aug

    Why People Justify Bad Decisions

    Why do people defend choices that cause obvious harm? How can something feel right to us while leading us farther from God? In Week 11 of In Their Own Eyes, Scott Savage concludes the series by teaching through Judges 19–21, one of the darkest passages in the Bible. A Levite refuses responsibility for his actions, the tribe of Benjamin protects guilty men, and Israel’s pursuit of justice becomes an escalating cycle of vengeance, violence, and destructive decisions. The final chapters of Judges show what happens when people repeatedly ignore God’s warnings and do whatever seems right in their own eyes. The deepest problem is not simply that Israel is missing a human king. The people have forgotten God, lost the standard that limits vengeance, and become unable to recognize how far they have fallen. Judges leaves us in a dark and seemingly hopeless place. But the Bible does not leave us there. As the story of Scripture continues, every human king eventually fails, revealing our need for Jesus, the true King and the only hero who can answer the darkness exposed in Judges. Unlike the Levite who sacrifices someone else to save himself, Jesus sacrifices himself to rescue and forgive unfaithful people. Whether you are struggling to admit a wrong decision, watching conflict spiral out of control, or realizing that your faith has begun to coast, this message will challenge you to stop justifying what merely feels right, return to God, and choose what is right in his eyes. Scripture: Judges 19–21 Speaker: Scott Savage Cornerstone Church, Prescott, AZ Yavapai County | Evangelical Free Church of America Series: In Their Own Eyes Week Number: 11 August 9, 2026 Learn more or plan a visit: https://prescottcornerstone.com

  6. 2 Aug

    What Are You Afraid to Lose?

    What are you afraid to lose? If the person, possession, achievement, or plan that makes you feel secure disappeared, what would you have left? In Week 10 of In Their Own Eyes, Scott Savage teaches from Judges 17–18, where Micah builds a religion designed to give him security and control. Using stolen silver, household idols, an ephod, and a hired Levite, Micah convinces himself that God must bless him because he has assembled the right religious pieces. Meanwhile, the tribe of Dan avoids the land God gave them and searches for an easier path. They take Micah’s idols and priest, conquer a vulnerable city, and call their compromise God’s approval. When Micah watches everything he trusted disappear, he asks the question at the heart of this message: “What do I have left?” These chapters show what happens when people seek God’s gifts without seeking God himself. Idolatry builds a god we can control, small compromises move us farther from God, and the things we trust for protection can eventually destroy us. Whether your security comes from a relationship, career, home, achievement, bank account, or carefully controlled plan, this message will help you honestly name what you are depending on, turn from compromise, and return to the Lord before loss exposes what your life was built upon. Scripture: Judges 17–18 Speaker: Scott Savage Cornerstone Church, Prescott, AZ Yavapai County | Evangelical Free Church of America Series: In Their Own Eyes Week Number: 10 August 2, 2026 Learn more or plan a visit: https://prescottcornerstone.com

  7. 26 Jul

    When Strength Becomes a Weakness

    What happens when a God-given strength becomes the place where you stop depending on God? Could you keep succeeding and never realize that you are operating on autopilot? In Week 9 of In Their Own Eyes, Jake Downing teaches from Judges 16 and the final chapter of Samson's life. Samson had been set apart by God and given extraordinary strength, but years of compromise taught him to treat that gift as if it belonged to him. After carrying away the gates of Gaza and repeatedly escaping Delilah's traps, Samson became convinced that he could always shake himself free. When Delilah finally learned the truth and Samson's hair was cut, the tragedy was deeper than the loss of his strength. Samson did not know that the Lord had left him. Captured, blinded, and forced to grind grain for the Philistines, Samson had to become blind before he could finally see that his strength had never come from his hair or from himself. Standing between the pillars of Dagon's temple, he humbled himself and asked God to strengthen him once more. Samson's story warns us that one of the most dangerous places to live is in God's gifting without dependence on God's Spirit. The problem begins when we trust the strength instead of the God who gives it. Samson died with his enemies, but Jesus died for his enemies and completed the rescue Samson could only begin. Whether you are relying on natural ability, past experience, professional success, or a gift that has always come easily, this message will help you identify where strength has become self-reliance, ask God to help you see clearly, tell someone where you have been trying to do it alone, and take one concrete step of obedience. Scripture: Judges 16 Speaker: Jake Downing Cornerstone Church, Prescott, AZ Yavapai County | Evangelical Free Church of America Series: In Their Own Eyes Week Number: 9 July 26, 2026 Learn more or plan a visit: https://prescottcornerstone.com

About

Cornerstone in Prescott, AZ, exists to glorify God and make disciples of Jesus. Scott Savage serves as our primary teaching pastor. Learn more: PrescottCornerstone.com

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