Capital City Christian Church | Podcast

"We are calling this little series, “First comes love, then comes …” And it’s all about the kind of love we’re talking about. If we’re talking about agape, first comes love, then comes … sacrifice. First comes agape, then comes … gentleness. Of course, it does! First comes agape, then comes … humility. First comes agape, then comes faithfulness. And if you’re talking about an agape kind of lo...

"Guys, we have a God who is not a God of less than the best. He is not one to give us the minimum expectation. We have a God who is a God of excellence. And when He became man, it was nowhere near the least that God could do; it was His best. I said this last week, but God becoming man was accomplishing excellence in the same way He made mountains, beaches, and sunsets. So, can we see why thi...

"In the first two weeks of this sermon series starting out the year, we’ve talked about reading the Bible and setting new patterns for growth within us. For the next two weeks — today and next week — we will discuss pursuing excellence in our worship. Because there are real implications when we give less than our best. If we give less than our best in our marriage, our work, or our extra resp...

"So, there are all these different “Bibles” out there, and all these spiritual gurus, motivational “life coaches,” all telling you how to live. And you pile on top of these the advice you are getting every day from TV and the internet, from TV stars and athletes who think that because they are talented and rich, you need to listen to them as they tell you what to think and how to live; and po...

Listen, guys: If you have tried reading your Bible before and failed, try again. We have an incredibly gracious God, and I think he loves it when we try again. If you miss a day, a week, a month … try again. Start again … that’s so cool! It’ll make a difference, guys. It’ll make a difference in your life with God. It’ll make a difference in how you see yourself, the people around you, and your wor...

"Some of you guys came in here this morning pretty skeptical about Jesus. And when you hear his words, “I am The Way, The Truth, The Life, and no one gets to the Father without going through me,” you bristle. You want your own truth. You want your own way. … But … what if Jesus really was God, in a bod, stepping into our world to eradicate the barriers between us and God … barriers we are pow...

When Jesus offered an invitation to participate in this way, it wasn’t an invitation for you to believe — it was an invitation for you to follow. It was an invitation to experience him. An invitation to participate. Because Jesus believes that following him will make your life better, and it will make you better at life. And it’s why I think the best time to talk about the resurrection of Jesus is...

See, that’s what Christmas is actually all about. At Christmas, we celebrate God becoming one of us to show us the way to the Father. Because we are lost and we don’t know it. We need to know the way. We are wrong, and we don’t know it. We need to know the truth. What moves you from being lost to no longer being lost? What is it that moves you from being wrong to now being right? Something has to...

"Bottom line, relatively speaking … we are blessed, right? We’re … rich even, right? The apostle Paul says, “Command those who are rich (This is a command for those of us who are Jesus followers; command those who are rich) in the things of this life not to be proud, but to place their hope, not in such an uncertain thing as riches, but in God, who generously gives us everything for our enjoy...

"Money and stuff are needed in this world — they're a required part of our lives. But don't let them become what your life revolves around. Paul warns Timothy in the NT, "The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil.” Don't let your pursuit of money and the stuff it can get you become your first pursuit — your central pursuit. Because money has the potential to becom...

"So, 3 myths, 3 misconceptions, mistakes, and misunderstandings about money that mess us up. Here’s mistake #1: We live as though it’s ours. We’re like, I earned it, it’s mine. And I can do whatever I want with what is mine, right? And we, Jesus' followers, just tweak it a little. As long as I give God his cut, the rest is mine. God gets his 10%, or whatever, and the rest is mine. But gu...

Sometimes, persecution is physical. The church’s history is full of stories of men and women who have been imprisoned, beaten, and even killed for their faith. Even now, there are brothers and sisters around the world who still face these dangers. The church has always lived in a world that fights against it, but our mission has never shifted. Our response is not to fight back; instead, it is to b...

So, check your heart. Who are you following? Who do you put your hope in? What team are you on first? Be careful following any person who claims to be a savior, because they can sound like Jesus and they can try to look like Jesus, but that’s one of the ways we accidentally find ourselves on the wrong team. Remember, Jesus is speaking to His disciples here. He’s speaking to people who are already...

He came to build a different kind of kingdom and thought it was way more important than what we obsess over. " A God in a Bod thinks that there are things more important than healing our bodies, feeding our bellies, and defeating our enemies. What good is all that if your heart is still twisted, broken, and alienated from God?

Jesus claims that everything … everything you can think of … every ounce of authority we can find strewn throughout this world … is subject to Him. Jesus says, "ALL authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me." How much is … ALL? And what do we do about it? What’s the appropriate response? What am I supposed to do with that information? What does Jesus deserve from me? Since He...

So, Jesus looks at these 11 guys and says, “All authority … ALL authority … both in heaven and on earth … all authority has been given to me.” … So … How much is “all”? Seriously, how much is “all”? We use that word so flippantly. Do you think Jesus was using the word flippantly, or do you think he meant it? And if Jesus has “all” authority, how much does that leave you, or me, or anyone else?

That idea may challenge you. Maybe you've always thought of religion as being restrictive, full of extra rules, tying you down with all these ways you have to live. Maybe you've thought of church as being like that. According to Paul, if you're a follower of Jesus, you should have … more freedom. Paul suggests our freest self is when we live most like Jesus because it's not abo...

Our relationship with God is based on our willingness to submit to Him. But our relationship with God is built on the fact that God was willing to submit to us, that God became man, and that He submitted to His creation for our benefit because our needs were more important than His needs. Jesus chose self-imposed limitations. God became man—and lived like a man—and died like a man—for us. So, can...

"Do you know why Jesus washed our feet? Do you know why he died for us? He thinks we’re special. He really does. For some crazy reason, your Creator God thinks you are special. And if someone is that special to you, you’ll figure out a way to serve them, right? If you love someone as much as you love yourself, you’ll figure out a way to serve them, right? Do you remember the two great command...

You see, we have a faulty view of what it means to teach our “one another’s.” We make it into something it doesn’t have to be, and I believe those verses that we started with really, truly do apply to all of us. We are all responsible to teach our “one another’s.” So, I want to reset us to an appropriate perspective of what it means to teach. I want to break down what we think it is – the lies we’...

So, what do you think God thinks about words that kill? Proverbs says, “Words kill, words give life; they’re either poison or fruit—you choose.” (Proverbs 18.21) Does that mean God sees them as equal choices? What do you think God thinks about destructive criticism, gossip, sarcasm, gaslighting, broken confidences, bullying, or other … discouraging words? How big a deal do you suppose this stuff i...

The word "burden" shows up a few different times in the New Testament, and it starts with this one moment with Jesus in Matthew Chapter 11. Jesus is teaching to a community that hasn’t accepted him; they’ve pushed back against him, and Jesus decides to challenge them. But he also reaches the point where he softens. He looks to this crowd and knows there are individuals who may be interes...

"Peace and unity are connected. Unity exists around a big idea — something significant and powerful that pulls us together. And it exists in all sorts of contexts and organizations. We could be talking about the church, but we could also talk about your school, your family, your community, your town, your state, or your country. We could talk about all sorts of different groups that exist. Th...

This kind of hospitality, this offering of a friendship-love to strangers was kind of a big deal in a culture with all these nomads. A lot of people kind of moved around, they weren’t citizens of a town, or a country, and hospitality was a really big deal. And then there were the widows and the orphans, and others who were flat-out poor. And there were no governmental safety nets in that world. Wi...

"Now, that word in Romans 12, where we started—that word "honor"—it's a Greek word. It looks like the word "time," but what it means is "prize." It can mean "value," it can mean "respect." It can mean "honor," and it can mean "recognition." I really like that word recognition because I think that gives us a good perspe...