City Chapel NYC

This past Sunday, we continued our Rivers of Renewal sermon series by focusing on God’s heart for Social Justice.  We saw that we can make two key mistakes in regard to justice: We could deny that it is important.  We could think it is important, but still not allow this conviction to change how we live—for example, how we spend our time or money.  From Amos 5, we saw three things: 1) what God wan...

David continued our vision series by sharing our desire to cultivate Wholehearted Community. He recounted the story of Jesus healing the paralytic on a mat in Mark 2, reflecting on journeying through the Wall seasons of life. Just like everyone has a mat - areas of brokenness and imperfection - we will all journey through the Wall - or a crisis in life that coincides with a season of wrestling wit...

This past Sunday, Jean continued our Rivers of Renewal series by speaking from Genesis 37.2-5 on the second implication of renewal: deep-life change. Jean began by exhorting us as a community to heed God's invitation to face the reality of our souls because in so doing we not only live the life we were meant to live but also, become conduits of God's living water to a hurting world.  Jea...

This past Sunday we continued our Rivers of Renewal series by discussing one implication of renewal: personal conversion.  We started by mentioning that conversion to Christianity appears to be increasingly taboo. In 2019, the Barna Group found that 47% of millennial Christians somewhat agree that it is wrong to share one's faith with someone of a different faith with hopes that they will one...

This past Sunday we continued our vision series, Rivers of Renewal, in John 7.37-39.  We believe our vision for City Chapel is too big for human hands. City Chapel exists to see and spread the full measure of the Spirit-empowered renewal promised by Jesus that brings personal conversion & deep-life transformation, wholehearted community, social justice, and cultural beauty to New York City and...

This past Sunday we continued our vision series, Rivers of Renewal, in Ezekiel 47 by speaking about the River's Promise. We saw that the river contains 1) a promise of radical reversal, 2) a life-producing power, 3) and an "active" invitation. First, the river contains a promise of radical reversal. The river in Ezekiel 47 calls back to the Garden of Eden, declaring a vision of the...

This past Sunday we started a sermon series entitled Rivers of Renewal based on Ezekiel 47. In this chapter, we see a picture of a trickle of water that widens into a full-blown river, healing and restoring everything it touches.  We opened the series by focusing on "the River's source," which is the Temple. We did that to see how through the Temple God invited ordinary people into...

The new year will no doubt bring incredible highs and lows. This past week, we talked of three anchoring promises from Acts 5.17-42 that I hope you remember this year: God unlocks tightly guarded doors.    God repurposes our gravest failures.  God invites us into His inevitable movement.  In the first, we saw the first Christians thrown into jail and an Angel of the Lord set them free. From this,...

Here' is the link to the video shown at the beginning of the sermon. This past Sunday, we talked about love from John 3.16. We saw that love's 1)objects, 2) ends, and 3) nature. John 3.16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. In the first, we saw from Scripture that love is not, as we often view, a me...

This past Sunday, we saw the Joy equals possessing what you are desiring. So, looking at Jesus' mention of joy, we asked two questions: 1) what should we desire? and 2) how do we possess it? Quite simply, Jesus tells us to pursue: a FULL joy in a world of partial joy.  a PERMANENT joy in a world of temporary joy.  a PREGNANT joy that goes backwards into time to transform even our deepest agon...

This past Sunday, we considered our second Advent theme of Peace. We saw that there is no good translation of peace as it is described in Scripture. It is neither inner serenity, nor lack of conflict. Peace, as described in Scripture, is something so much greater. And, we ventured to put forward that if it can be described as anything, it would best be described by what it solves—the presence of a...

This past, we continued our series on Barriers to a Deeper-life with God in Exodus 32.1-14, by talking about Barrier #3: Obsession w/ Speed. We looked at the text by asking 1) how are we tempted to respond when God and his promises seem distant; 2) what does our response signal; 3) how can we be saved? In part 1, we saw that when things do not happen as quickly as we would like, we are tempted to...

This past Sunday, we continued our series on Barriers to a Deeper-life with God in Exodus 3.1-12, by talking about Barrier #2: Failure . We looked at 1) Failure's Power, 2) God's intervention, and 3) Our Many Objections.   In part 1, we saw that our present experience in the wilderness can be colored by our failures and the failures of others that have greatly impacted us. Yet, in part 2...

In many ways my father was a conventional Episcopalian, a believer in Jesus Christ. But he also worshipped another secret deity— respectability. Colonial house, beautiful wife, obedient kids, my father enjoyed having these things, but what he really cherished was his friends and neighbors knowing he had them. He liked being admired. - Phil Knight, Shoe Dog. This past Sunday, we began a new series...

Where I'm From Poem by Ralph Manlapig  This past Sunday, we finished our Where I’m From series by looking at Rev. 7.9-17. We saw from the passage that at the end of history we will be: 1) A People of a Celebration, 2) A People of Endurance, and 3) A People of a Savior. More than anything else, we hoped you heard about and experienced a Jesus who is Sovereign, a Shelter, and a Shepherd.

Where I'm From Poem by Alex Waters From John 1.43-51 and the interaction between Nathanael, Philip, and Jesus, we saw that in our day to day we can operate from two different engines--either from 1) insecurity (can anything good come out of Nazareth?) or 2) invitation (practical, particular promissory). Then I quoted Pastor Leah Pursley who told the story of the 12 spies searching out the Pro...

Where I'm From Poem by Adrian Nocum

In Everything Everywhere All At Once the single great enemy is nihilism—the belief that everything is meaningless and that nothing really matters. Though few would admit to believing this completely, we spoke about how it is very possible to functionally live as though nothing ultimately matters. How do we get there? We can fall prey to three lies made visible in E.E.A.A.O.: I am alone. I have bee...