Cities Church Exhortations

In this exhortation, Dan Helstrom references Psalm 46:10 to exhorts us – especially the mothers – to stop and listen to God. As we consistently practice this “stopping and listening,” more and more we’ll be able to do it even in the midst of chaos — as God’s peace and rest become more real than the noise around us.

In this exhortation, Pastor Jonathan Parnell reads from the 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith which clarifies that there is no such thing as any creature “giving” God glory. When we talk about giving God the glory let’s remember that the Bible teaches we do not add to God’s glory, but instead God manifests his own glory in, by, unto, and upon us.

In this sermon, Marshall Segal exhorts husbands to love their wives as Christ loved the church, women to seek out Ephesians 5 men, single men to aspire to be an Ephesians 5 man, and the wives to honor and celebrate these men that pursue her, lead her, cherish her, die for her.

In this exhortation, Jon Hoglund refers to the “day by day” renewal that the Apostle Paul explains in 2 Corinthians 4:16. Our temptation is to look at the slowness of our progress and ask, “Is God really at work?” But we should remember that sanctification is a slow and patient work in which God acquaints us with the new creation.

In this exhortation, Pastor Mike Polley compares the incomprehensible depths of the Grand Canyon with the even grander incomprehensibility of the new heavens and earth. We may not know what heaven will be like in full, but God has given us glimpses of it here on earth now when he reveals himself to us. Let’s recognize and appreciate the new creation God has started in our hearts so that when we do...

In this exhortation, Pastor Mike Schumann reminds us that even now that Jesus has ascended into heaven, and it is so much greater up there than down here, we should remember that the King keeps caring for his people, it is his citizens who stop caring for their king. Jesus has ascended into heaven. Even still, we are not out of his sight, nor his mind. Jesus has ascended into heaven, out of our si...

In this Easter Sunday exhortation, Pastor David Easterwood reads from Luke 24:1-6. If a man in dazzling apparel observed our lives today and saw the places we went to seek comfort or value or security or satisfaction or belonging or joy or love — would he have to ask “Why do you seek the living among the dead?”

In this exhortation, on Palm Sunday, Jon Hoglund reflects upon the triumphal entry of Jesus and what it tells us about our current reality. Could we surrender to Jesus today that plan of ours that we really treasure, and that if it didn’t come about, we would be upset with our creator and Lord?

In this exhortation, Pastor Jonathan Parnell exhorts: As Jesus worshipers, know what it is in your life that fuels and drains the purpose for which God made you. What distracts you from Jesus? What helps you to see and savor him, to glorify and enjoy him?

In this exhortation, Pastor Mike Schumann draws from the exhortation in Romans 13 to cast out all darkness and put on the light of Christ. It can be too easy for us to return to our sin, hanging on to a piece of the darkness. Rather, let’s fully trust that Jesus is enough.

In this exhortation, Deacon Clint Manley looks to Paul's frequent thoughts about heaven in the book of Philippians. Paul thought much of heaven. And as citizens of heaven, we too should hope and desire and imagine well about heaven – for it will be far better.

In this exhortation, Marshall Segal reminds us what Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 2 on how to guard against the lies of the devil – forgiveness. Let’s not withhold forgiveness, but rather “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you” (Ephesians 4:32).

In this exhortation, Pastor Mike Polley imagines how our hearts would honestly describe the commandments of God. Would they say burdensome? Or would they say pure, perfect, reviving? By our selfishness and pride, we might think God’s commands are burdensome, but the burden we bear is actually the weight of our own sin. Let’s remember and really, truly believe that God’s Word leads us to life!

In this exhortation, Pastor David Mathis exhorts families to make our weekly life together as a church a top priority when it comes to our time-management because if Jesus is our Lord, then his church is our single most important human association.

In this exhortation, Pastor Mike Schumann reads Proverbs 22:6 which is an encouragement to parents to train their children in the ways they should go, so that even when they are old, they might continue in those ways. Therefore, we should examine how we are training our children with the words we say, the things we do, the demeanor and tone we present, and the way we choose to spend our time, mone...

In this exhortation, Pastor David Easterwood exhorts us from Psalm 121 that the only way to get the right perspective on our disappointment is to “lift our eyes” to the Lord, from where our help comes. We would do well to remember the old hymn: “Judge not the Lord by feeble sense, but trust him for his grace; behind a frowning providence, he hides a smiling face.”

In this exhortation, Jon Hoglund retells a story from Ambrose, the bishop of Milan and mentor to Augustine, about a 12-year-old girl named Agnes that defied the Roman empire around 304 AD by her bold confession of Jesus Christ as Lord. This Christian martyr, Saint Agnes, was faithful unto death because she understood that our confession of Jesus as our Savior has more significance in reality than...

In this exhortation, Pastor Mike Polley exhorts us to trust God’s love for us. The Father was well pleased with the Son and because Jesus brought us into that same love by clothing us in righteousness, we can confidently say “if God loves Jesus, then God loves me.”

In this exhortation, Clint Manley provides us with two questions to ponder on this final Sunday of Christmastide: “Have you marveled at Jesus?” and “Have you made Jesus known?” The exhortation then is this: Let us marvel at Jesus and make his glory known.

In this exhortation, Pastor Kevin Kleiman looks to the letter of James to provide an answer to the question: ‘How can we think about the possibility of trials and their effect as we look ahead to 2024?’ James shows us that no matter what the Lord has in store for us this year, we can look ahead with fortified hope knowing that he promises to use even the worst things for our good and for our growt...

In this exhortation, on the fourth and final Sunday of Advent, Marshall Segal draws us back out into the field on the night Christ was born. The night God sent down the frightening forces of his heavenly armies to sing of peace. The exhortation is this: Listen to the blazing, dangerous choir in the sky and savor our harmony with heaven, a gift which Jesus bled and died for.

In this exhortation, on the third Sunday of Advent, Jon Hoglund points to God’s promise to Zechariah that he would have a son in Luke 1 and Zechariah’s doubting response to that promise. Which of God’s promises are you tempted to doubt, or to give up on? How are you doing in waiting for God’s promises without losing hope in their fulfillment?

In this exhortation, Pastor Mike Schumann shows some perspective of the wise men introduced in Matthew 2 in an effort to highlight the peculiarity of the Christmas story. Their faith and willingness to leave everything to go and be with baby Jesus contrasts our own unbelief, and our own unwillingness to lay down any of our comforts for him.

In this exhortation, on the first Sunday of this Advent season, Pastor Max Kozak looks back to Simeon’s Advent waiting in the gospel of Luke and then looks forward as we too wait for Jesus to come – but we wait with a New Covenant perspective. We know “Christ has come ...” and now we wait for the day when “... Christ will come again.”

In this exhortation, Pastor Mike Polley reflects on the reality that in this holiday season of thanksgiving: Our daily struggles often don’t take a break. Your heart may just feel stuck, or dull, or weary. But one way the Lord can restore the joy of our salvation, and awaken love and gratitude in our hearts, is for us to remember our salvation.