Cities Church Exhortations

In this exhortation, Josiah Bennett challenges us to pray bold prayers to our Father, standing on this promise from Jesus in John 15: “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done.”

In this exhortation, Pastor Ryan Griffith gives us two simple ways to make 10 minutes of meditation count: speak scripture and pray scripture. Feast on the riches of God’s works and ways this week by meditating on his Word.

In this exhortation, Pastor Joe Rigney reminds us of the danger of letting sinful desires lurk. If the monster is still crouching on your porch, beware. Don’t make peace with it. Don’t coddle your sinful desires. Don’t nurse it and try to befriend it. Don’t secretly feed it scraps under the table. You can’t carry fire next to your chest and expect not to get burned. You can’t raise a dragon in you...

In this exhortation, Mike Schumann encourages us to seek out deep friendships built on the foundation of the gospel so that we might one day see one another in glory, and say, “Did not our hearts burn within us as we walked with him on the road of life?”

In this exhortation, Marshall Segal encourages us to set our minds on our true home, heaven — being with Jesus forever – is our future, and that is worth thinking about more than we do.

Manuscript forthcoming.

In this exhortation, Pastor Joshua Foster exhorts us during this Black History Month by highlighting the historical impact the African American community has had on American churches. He reminds us that all people were created by God and that we have all received the gift of Jesus.

In this exhortation, Pastor David Mathis challenges us to the test of asking ourselves: Where do I turn first in the morning? Once I’m awake, and have my best attention and full focus ready, where does it go?

In this exhortation, Pastor Josh Foster encourages us that we need the Son of God as revealed by the Spirit of God in the word of God.

One way to think about the Christian life is that it’s a rhythm of both remembrance and hope: We remember what God has done (most importantly when Jesus died for us) and we hope for what God will do (most importantly when Jesus returns). And this rhythm of remembrance and hope is especially felt at Advent when we say each week: “Christ has come, Christ will come again.” We remember Jesus’s First A...

With Thanksgiving this week, I wanted to remind us of the spiritual power — the focusing, strengthening, and purifying power — of gratitude. Thanksgiving, of course, is not a Christian holiday, but it can be an especially sweet and meaningful holiday for Christians. So what word from God might help us get ready to celebrate well — to honor God while our whole nation stops to give thanks? As we hea...

On October 31, 1517, Martin Luther did something remarkably un-revolutionary: he posted a list of propositions on the door of the chapel at the University of Wittenberg. Posting “theses” of this sort was common practice in sixteenth-century—it notified the academic community of matters to be disputed in a formal debate. Even the content of these ninety-five theses was not, on its face, particularl...

Manuscript forthcoming.

Manuscript forthcoming.

I want to talk about framing. Not framing a house. Framing reality. Framing refers to how we see things. Because we don’t just see things; we see things as. If you see a bear, you don’t just see a bear. You see the bear as dangerous. If you’re on a walk and see a sunset, you don’t just see the sunset; you see the sunset as beautiful. That’s what I mean by framing. We see things as. And not just si...

“I knew I was special.” Those were the words a young Tom Riddle, eventually the horrible Lord Voldemort, whispered to his own quivering fingers he learned that he had magical powers. The great wizard Albus Dumbledore heard it, and later told the story to Harry Potter, with the commentary, “Yes, Riddle was perfectly ready to believe that he was—to use his word—special.” All of us have a similar itc...

Manuscript forthcoming.

Manuscript forthcoming.