Cities Church Exhortations

Manuscript forthcoming.

Manuscript forthcoming.

Manuscript forthcoming.

Throughout the month of August, we’ve been utilizing these exhortations to explain our liturgy (our order of service for our Sunday morning worship gatherings). Our liturgy each Sunday morning is crafted around the five C’s: Call to Worship Confession Consecration Communion Commission Two weeks ago Pastor Mike kicked us off by talking about the first “C”… Call to worship. And then last Sunday, one...

Have you ever been part of a small group that has been “stuck”? The kind of “stuck” where conversation never penetrates much beyond the surface of things? You might worship together, pray together, serve together, study the bible together—you may have even been meeting for years—and yet still feel like you don’t really “know” each other. A twentieth-century German pastor named Dietrich Bonhoeffer...

First we must look at Biblical prescriptions for worship. The Bible assumes that we will regularly meet together and that we should not neglect this practice. Christians are to come and worship together and to hear and be taught from God’s infallible word. That’s why pastor must be able to teach, because they are teachers. Ephesians says we are to “be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another...

It seems an unwritten rule in evangelism that when you, a Christian, are forming a friendship with a non-Christian, you ought to spend a good chunk of time with that person, build up some relational collateral with that person, before you start talking about Jesus with that person. Like, you don’t just up and start talking about Jesus with someone you just met, right? You talk about these things,...

Proverbs says that the sweetness, the richness of a friendship comes from wise, sincere counsel that will gladden and help the person who receives it. A core worth of a friendship comes with ones ability to speak Godly help into any situation. This is the crown jewel of a friend. A friend who loves with grace and truth. A friend who sticks closer than a brother. Who is faithful to encourage when n...

“Where Christians live together the time must inevitably come when in some crisis one person will have to declare God’s word and will to another.” D. Bonhoeffer said this in his book “Life Together.” This is certainly true. One of God’s great gifts to his people is his people. As Christians, we are in Christ, and since we are in Christ, we are united to others who are also in Christ. As Christians...

Fathers, we must model, for our children, what the life of a Jesus-worshipping man looks like. We desire our boys to grow up to be one, we desire our girls, if they marry, to grow up to marry one. And so we must model, for them, what the life of a Jesus-worshipping man looks like. We want our children to be able to say, “I know that a Jesus-worshipping man reads the Bible, because my daddy worship...

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...

Manuscript forthcoming.

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...