Cities Church Exhortations

In Luke 18, Jesus says, “anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” “…For the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.” Many of us have heard this before. But have you ever really thought about what Jesus means here? We can’t get this wrong, or we risk not entering the kingdom of God, and that is what all of us were made for. So the eternally important...

As we begin a return to normalcy after the last 14 months of COVID, we should be aware of various challenges that we face. Some of those may be out there in the world, such as the differing expectations of different locations on opening up. But the more relevant challenges for us will be internal, in our heart and in the church. One particular challenge is the way that COVID and the global reactio...

It had been 40 days since Jesus had raised from the dead. He had spent time with the disciples and many other people, presenting himself alive with many proofs, and continued to speak about the kingdom of God. Upwards of 500 people had seen Jesus in his physically resurrected body since his death. The disciples were back again with Jesus, listening to him, learning from him, and wondering what was...

Psalm 46:10 The Lord says, "Be still, and know that I am God.” And so my exhortation to you right now is “Be still and know that he is God.” No matter what you’re going through. No matter what you’re circumstances are. No matter what your heart feels. Be still and know that he is God. In 2 Corinthians 12 Paul was describing a situation of tremendous hardship, he was going through deep affliction a...

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Manuscript forthcoming.

Manuscript forthcoming.

What do you do when crisis comes? Do you call a friend? A parent? Your brother or sister? Undoubtedly, you reach out to someone trusted. Someone resourceful, someone knowledgeable, someone wise—who knows how to patiently listen, carefully sort you out, and take action. And (of course) good friends do this for one another, too. We consider our network of contacts and ponder who might be most benefi...

The gospel was preached; you heard it; the Spirit was at work; you believed. For everyone of us who has been born again by faith in Jesus, that is our story. The details are different, but one way or another we all have that in common.  We were lost, now we are found. We were guilty, now we are declared righteous. We were dead, now we are alive. And through baptism we display that spiritual realit...

“Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love. according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin! For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment. Behol...

My aim with these next several minutes is to open our eyes again to the grace of God, especially the grace of God in our church, through just one verse in Acts 11. In Acts 11, a church has sprung up in Antioch, and so the apostles send Barnabas to visit the church there and to report back. Verse 23 says, “When he came and saw the grace of God, he was glad, and he exhorted them all to remain faithf...

We are in the middle of this Rooted initiative. And, as many of you know, we want to raise a significant amount of monies… and apx. $3 million dollars of those monies, God willing, will go to renovations for this building. But it’s not about the building. We don’t want to raise a bunch of money to make this building look beautiful. That’s not the goal. We want to raise monies to ensure that this b...

For this mornings exhortation I want to remind us of our need for God. There’s so much brokenness in the world. There’s so much sin, so much confusion, and so much need. And yet Humanity’s greatest need is for the Triune glory of God, revealed in who God is and what God has done. Even as believers we need to continuously have a renewed vision of His glory as shown through all of His Word especiall...

In Luke 14 we’re given the picture of a man standing at the entrance of a grand banquet hall. It’s been filled row upon row of finely dressed tables — each one overflowing with roasted meat, fine wine, and freshly baked bread. And around those tables are many, many chairs — most of which have yet to be occupied. This man’s servants, those who’d been sent out to spread the message that everything w...

Jesus forgives sinners. This is the good news that we call the Gospel. And it is good news! But, the Gospel isn’t just that Jesus forgives sinners, but that he changes sinners. In other words, Jesus doesn’t just forgive us of our sins and leave us as we are, but he changes us, so that we may walk in the newness of life and not in our old patterns that were producing death in us. This is grace upon...

We have been going through the letters to the 7 churches in Revelation for our sermon series and one pattern you might have noticed is that some of the churches faced different types of persecution. As Christians there is sometimes talk about different forms of persecution in America as orthodox Christian beliefs get met with increasing antagonism and hostility. And sometimes we use church history...

What I want to do in the next few moments is to remind us of another subtle but dangerous enemy of our souls. An enemy we often overlook. An enemy that robs some of us of sleep. An enemy that can paralyze us, and keep us from making important decisions. An enemy that spoils friendships, and plagues relationships, and sabotages ministry. An enemy that corrupts motives and inflames insecurities. An...

Political extremists are vying to control the center of the country. Protests sparked by calls for justice devolve into riots across the nation’s cities. Cultural and counter- cultural forces are pulling in opposite directions. Racial tensions are thick in the air and American life is fractured, assuming it was ever whole. Early in the tumult of the decade, a pastor stood on the National Mall in W...

Happy Epiphany! Watch this short video from Pastor Jonathan about this past Sunday’s sermon.

Happy New Year! Figured I would start this morning talking about Twitter. It’s my favorite social media platform. Well, I sometimes take mental notes about what’s trending on the platform. I was on Twitter a few months ago and I saw a lot of Christians complaining about their churches. People were complaining about masks, and mandates, and vaccines, and whether their church was open or not open, a...

Prince Rillian had seen the night sky bursting with stars. He’d seen the morning sun rise in brilliant light and warmth. He’d been there, felt the wind of that place on his skin, felt the ground beneath his feet… but that was ten years before — ten years before he’d fallen down into the darkness of Underland, fallen where few return to the sunlit lands. “There is no overworld,” the queen whispered...