Cities Church Exhortations

In 1988, a former Air Force pilot-turned-art-dealer named Forrest Fenn was diagnosed with cancer. The prognosis looked grim, and Forrest began to dream up some ways that he could leave behind a “legacy” of sorts. He decided to take some of his favorite & most valuable artifacts and hide them in a literal bronze treasure chest, which he proceeded to bury somewhere in the Rocky Mountains north of Sa...

Suffering is not a foreign concept to the Bible. We have been studying the book of Exodus here at Cities Church and we have seen that the Israelites have suffered under intense slavery in Egypt. They have had no freedom. They have been forced to labor in terrible conditions. And yet in their suffering, they turned to God. They groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help, and God heard...

Church, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider hi...

My family and I just returned from a week-long trip to Great Britain. The primary reason we were there was so that I could defend my dissertation. But since I was traveling there anyway, we took the opportunity to take the older boys and tour London, Oxford, and Ireland. When you’re in England (or Europe in general), you’re reminded just how young a country America is. We visited the Tower of Lond...

One of the truths that has radically changed my life is that in Jesus, nothing can separate us from the love of God. There are hundreds of stories all around us. Every person here has a story. You might not know any stories in this room or maybe you know quite a few. But God knows every story of every person in here. One of the themes emerging from Exodus is that God, the God that we worship, the...

I can be forgetful. Not about important stuff—I’ve never forgotten my wife’s birthday or our anniversary. But I’m forgetful enough that a family friend enjoys laughing about it. I chalk it up to her freakish memory and my keen ability to … delegate and stuff. But I think there are two ditches of forgetfulness that we can fall into as Christians. On the one side is forgetting how sinful I really am...

In John, Jesus prayed: “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.” I want to focus on this last part- where Jesus says to God the Father- “You loved me before the creation of the world.” Press pause in your mind, and think about that. Before the world was created. Let your...

At the beginning of the book of Galatians, Paul abbreviates his normal introduction in his letters and dives right in. He does this because he has a great concern for the Galatians, and he is even astonished by their actions. In Gal 1:6-7 Pauls says: "I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting HIM who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel — 7 not that there...

Reminders are important. Usually, when we need to remember something, a reminder shows the value and importance of whatever that thing is that we’re trying to remember. We all need reminders to help us remember the value of certain things in our lives because we can be so easily caught in the drift of life and like a leaf in the wind or something out in sea we can get pushed and pulled in all sort...

The young man’s eyes blinked awake as the sun’s early morning rays began to break through the trees outside of the cave. It was warm on his face, the golden-orange beams dancing off the dust sprinkled in his unkempt beard. He could smell the remnants of last night’s fire, mixed with the freshness of the stream bubbling nearby. Squinting and pressing himself up to lean back on the wall of the cave,...

If you’re here as part of the Redeemer Church founding membership, would you raise your hand really high. So in just a few minutes I’m going to ask you to stand, and our pastors are going to gather around you and I’m going to lead us in a prayer of commissioning, but before I do that, since this is your last Sunday with us as covenant members of Cities Church, I want to send you out with an short...

As a church, when it comes to ministering to children and their families, our primary aim is to help parents to raise their children to become mature followers of Jesus. Underneath this primary aim are three ways that we that accomplish this. We seek to teach children the whole counsel of God. We seek to help parents be the smile of God to their children. We seek to create a church culture that we...

We are now in the middle of August, and Labor Day weekend and the start of school is around the corner. And for us as a church, that means Sunday School is starting back up again. Specifically, the first Sunday School session will begin on Sunday, September 8, less than one month away. In Sunday School, our goal and our focus is to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with the kids who are able to att...

A man sits home on his computer late at night. Still answering emails, still completing tasks. All his responsibilities—work, family, home—weigh heavily upon his shoulders. Then, an image pops up on his computer, offering a temporary escape, a getaway from his stress. What will he choose? The next door down on this same busy street sits a woman—alone, empty, cynical. She wants a husband; one who w...

The point of this exhortation is simple, I would like us to increase our expectation in prayer by remembering who we are praying to. We are studying the psalms right now, and as Johnathan said last week, “The psalms are written with the assumption that we are praying.” Yes, praying is difficult, but that does not mean it’s unimportant. In fact, its difficultly speaks to its importance as the reall...

Jesus has opened the front door There is this interesting text in the book of Isaiah. In it is mentioned a man named Eliakim. Eliakim was one of King Hezekiah’s officials. And Hezekiah was a good king. Another official named Shebna was head over Hezekiah’s household. He ordered the home, oversaw servants, and was responsible for all of the happenings within it. But, Shebna was a wicked man. Isaiah...

The question I want to ask us this morning is: Does Jesus make a difference? When you think about the activities of your life, Does Jesus make a difference? The majority of us would answer that question quickly and confidently and say: Yes. Now I want to ask it a little differently, Did Jesus make a difference this morning, yesterday, this week? Did the fact that you know and love Jesus change any...

As humans there’s this temptation to see others and to either elevate ourselves or demean ourselves. As humans who are in the image of God we have the ability to see and make judgements but God is able to go below the surface. He sees our heart and the intent of our motives. He knows our personal history and all the different ways we’re unique so stop superficially compare yourself to others. God’...

A number of years ago, I attended an advanced firearms training course for law enforcement agents. During one of the exercises, we discussed what to do in an ambush. What do you do if bullets start coming your way when you weren’t expecting them? Our instructor said that there were two schools of thought as to what you should do first. One school says you should immediately find cover. Find someth...

If you walk up to the average American—a churchgoer or not—and ask them how they’re doing, what is the typical response? What does almost everyone say? “Busy, man, super busy. It’s been crazy.” This feeling is true for the vast majority of people, whether you're a teenager, a parent of four, or a stay at home grandma. Americans are literally addicted to busyness. But why is this? First, let's look...

Well, if you haven’t noticed, this church has a lot of young families. We all know at least a family or two with young children and if you have you asked one of those parents how they’re doing lately their response probably sounded something like this: “Life with a newborn has been challenging. I’m really, really tired. I don’t know what routine is like any more; and things like relationships, Bib...

I fear that many have bought into the principle that, while each of us may be of some benefit to one another in the here and now, in the grand narrative we are relatively inconsequential in the effect we have on each other’s lives. You may have, in your head and heart, purchased the lie that your presence is irrelevant to the progress and purposes of those around you. Maybe you have thought… -I ju...

The word Family is emotionally-loaded. It can warm the soul with nostalgia and wholeness, and it can cut the heart like a dagger. Often, at least in our culture, the word family causes a rolling of the eyes — “Oh, family.…” It connotes a unique kind of annoyance. Sometimes annoyance on the level of laughable, almost loveable, and, other times, an annoyance that says, “That’s the last straw, I’m do...

An exhortation highlights a specific sin as some way in which we fall short of God’s glory, and then calls those who participate in it to greater things in Jesus. This exhortation concerns the activity and effect of motherhood. The Activity What does a mother do? She builds up the house that God has given to her by teaching, training, nurturing, providing for, serving, and looking after the wellbe...

Over the last few weeks, we’ve done a series of exhortations focusing on our church’s practice of baptism. We’ve said that baptism is a visible sign of invisible realities. Baptism is public and objective, like a wedding ceremony, and like a wedding ceremony, in baptism God makes promises to us, and we receive those promises by faith, and we also make promises to him. God promises to forgive our s...