The Paradox Church

The Bible says virtually nothing about dating. It has three categories for relationships — brothers and sisters in Christ, the betrothed, and the married — and dating isn't one of them. So Pastor Jim Essian starts somewhere else: being single is good, being married is good, but Jesus is better. Preaching from 1 Corinthians 7:7-9, Jim walks through Paul's surprising claim that singleness is a gift,...

Wanting less isn't the same as being holy. In week 9 of our 1 Corinthians series, Pastor Jim Essian teaches from 1 Corinthians 7:1-6 on intimacy in marriage. The Corinthians had a surprising problem. Not too much desire. Too little. They believed the body was lower than the spirit, so the truly holy thing was to want less. Paul says the opposite. God made the pleasures. God decides what is holy. D...

Your body was God's idea. The nerve endings, the desires, your DNA. All of it was his idea. In week 8 of our 1 Corinthians series, Pastor Jim Essian teaches from 1 Corinthians 6:12-20 on what Christians actually believe about the body. The Corinthians had a slogan: "All things are lawful for me." Underneath it was a cheap view of grace and an even cheaper view of themselves. Paul takes that apart...

In 1861 a retired grocer named Wilmer McLean watched the first major battle of the Civil War start on his land near Bull Run. So he packed up his family and moved 120 miles south to a quiet crossroads called Appomattox Courthouse. Four years later, Robert E. Lee surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant in McLean's front parlor. "The war began in my front yard and ended in my parlor." He spent four years tr...

In 1861 a retired grocer named Wilmer McLean watched the first major battle of the Civil War start on his land near Bull Run. So he packed up his family and moved 120 miles south to a quiet crossroads called Appomattox Courthouse. Four years later, Robert E. Lee surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant in McLean's front parlor. "The war began in my front yard and ended in my parlor." He spent four years tr...

Twenty years ago a man cleared out Pastor Nathan's savings account, and there was no way to recover it — no case the police could take, and no church to bring it to, because the man wasn't a believer. The Corinthians had what he didn't: a brotherhood. They went to the courthouse instead. Preaching from 1 Corinthians 6:1-11, Nathan walks through three things that church forgot. Their future, since...

Twenty years ago a man cleared out Pastor Nathan's savings account, and there was no way to recover it — no case the police could take, and no church to bring it to, because the man wasn't a believer. The Corinthians had what he didn't: a brotherhood. They went to the courthouse instead. Preaching from 1 Corinthians 6:1-11, Nathan walks through three things that church forgot. Their future, since...

In week six of our 1 Corinthians series, Pastor Jim Essian teaches from 1 Corinthians 5 on taking sin seriously — and on why the church’s response to sin troubled Paul more than the sin itself. We don’t kill sin in order to get free. We kill sin because we already are. Scripture: 1 Corinthians 5:1-13 Preached by Jim Essian in Fort Worth, TX We saturate Fort Worth and beyond with the glory and grac...

In week six of our 1 Corinthians series, Pastor Jim Essian teaches from 1 Corinthians 5 on taking sin seriously — and on why the church’s response to sin troubled Paul more than the sin itself. We don’t kill sin in order to get free. We kill sin because we already are. Scripture: 1 Corinthians 5:1-13 Preached by Jim Essian in Fort Worth, TX We saturate Fort Worth and beyond with the glory and grac...

Pastor James Lepine and Pastor Jim Essian host longtime Paradox Partner and TCU Chaplin Coleman Maxwell to the podcast as they recap the first mini-series of our 1 Corinthians Sermon Series and look ahead at what's next.

In week five of our 1 Corinthians series, Pastor Jim Essian teaches from 1 Corinthians 4:14-21 on toxic shame and spiritual fathers. Guilt says I was wrong. Shame goes a level deeper and says you are wrong — it assaults your identity. But there's a good shame too, the kind that says that's not you, and a toxic shame that insists that is exactly who you are. Shame makes you compare yourself to ever...

In week five of our 1 Corinthians series, Pastor Jim Essian teaches from 1 Corinthians 4:14-21 on toxic shame and spiritual fathers. Guilt says I was wrong. Shame goes a level deeper and says you are wrong — it assaults your identity. But there's a good shame too, the kind that says that's not you, and a toxic shame that insists that is exactly who you are. Shame makes you compare yourself to ever...

An infant in Christ isn't a new Christian who hasn't been to enough Bible studies. An infant in Christ is someone who's been to a dozen and they haven't changed you. In week four of our 1 Corinthians series, Jim Essian preaches from 1 Corinthians 3 on two words in verse 2 that he says everything has to orbit around: even now. Paul tells a church full of spiritual people that he can't address them...

An infant in Christ isn't a new Christian who hasn't been to enough Bible studies. An infant in Christ is someone who's been to a dozen and they haven't changed you. In week four of our 1 Corinthians series, Jim Essian preaches from 1 Corinthians 3 on two words in verse 2 that he says everything has to orbit around: even now. Paul tells a church full of spiritual people that he can't address them...

AI knows everything ever written about God. It doesn't know God, and it doesn't know you. In week three of our 1 Corinthians series, Pastor Jim Essian teaches from 1 Corinthians 2:6-16 on knowledge, artificial intelligence, and the Holy Spirit. John Calvin opened the Institutes by saying true wisdom is the knowledge of God and the knowledge of yourself. Every generation has asked the first questio...

AI knows everything ever written about God. It doesn't know God, and it doesn't know you. In week three of our 1 Corinthians series, Pastor Jim Essian teaches from 1 Corinthians 2:6-16 on knowledge, artificial intelligence, and the Holy Spirit. John Calvin opened the Institutes by saying true wisdom is the knowledge of God and the knowledge of yourself. Every generation has asked the first questio...

Lecrae went to his first Grammy party — a mansion, famous people everywhere, and in the middle a gazebo where the really famous people were, with everyone else edging closer hoping for a photo. His read on it: this is high school in a bigger house. In week two of our 1 Corinthians series, Pastor Jim Essian teaches from 1 Corinthians 1:18-2:5 on the heart issue underneath every division — and the t...

Lecrae went to his first Grammy party — a mansion, famous people everywhere, and in the middle a gazebo where the really famous people were, with everyone else edging closer hoping for a photo. His read on it: this is high school in a bigger house. In week two of our 1 Corinthians series, Pastor Jim Essian teaches from 1 Corinthians 1:18-2:5 on the heart issue underneath every division — and the t...

We are discipled by Christian influencers who don't know our name, and it makes us disagree with people in our own church who do. We're beginning a seven-month series in 1 Corinthians, and Pastor Jim Essian opens with the letter's central diagnosis: the church in Corinth looked too much like Corinth and not enough like the cross. Paul doesn't start with their mess — and there was plenty of it. He...

We are discipled by Christian influencers who don't know our name, and it makes us disagree with people in our own church who do. We're beginning a seven-month series in 1 Corinthians, and Pastor Jim Essian opens with the letter's central diagnosis: the church in Corinth looked too much like Corinth and not enough like the cross. Paul doesn't start with their mess — and there was plenty of it. He...

Pastors Jim Essian and James Lepine discuss the wild range of topics that Paul addresses throughout the book of 1 Corinthians and why it matters for the church today.

Pastors Jim Essian and James Lepine discuss the wild range of topics that Paul addresses throughout the book of 1 Corinthians and why it matters for the church today.

In the final week of our Multiplying Church series, Pastor Jim Essian teaches from 1 John 1:5-10 on the fourth play we run as a church — pushing back darkness. But before the church can push back darkness in the city, it has to push back the darkness in its own heart. Otherwise we're just hypocrites who help. God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. That purity is what frightens us — and it...

In the final week of our Multiplying Church series, Pastor Jim Essian teaches from 1 John 1:5-10 on the fourth play we run as a church — pushing back darkness. But before the church can push back darkness in the city, it has to push back the darkness in its own heart. Otherwise we're just hypocrites who help. God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. That purity is what frightens us — and it...