CityChurch Charlotte

This week look at perhaps one of the greatest hindrances to Jesus's command of loving our neighbor: Fear. Where does fear come from and what is it costing us to continue avoiding relationships with our neighbors? The answer may truly surprise you.

“I deeply believe that outside of apathy and fear, the greatest hindrance to Jesus mission in our lives is margin. We just don’t have time and space for agape love.” That’s a quote from Jon Tyson, pastor in the busiest of busy cities, NYC. As we continue our series, the Art of Neighboring, we’ll explore what it might look look like to reclaim our margins…for the sake of Jesus.

The power and genius of the Great Commandment is that it's so simple and yet extremely powerful when acted on. The smartest thing that we can do collectively to impact our city is to actually live out Jesus' command to love our neighbors!

Yes, it’s the glorious Fourth and there is much to celebrate in the American story, as well as constitutional promise yet to be realized. Life, liberty, happiness. These are also Gospel themes and promises made by Jesus! So where do we look to find their fulfillment?

God is faithful in building His Church, but He does it through us. We must take that serious and walk carefully. (1 Peter 2:4-17)

With so many things vying for our attention, how do we put our identity in Christ, and be a unified body to expand the Kingdom? In this talk we discuss what Paul writes about in Ephesians chapter 3 & 4.

As we read the parable of the wise and foolish builder this Sunday we see the importance of building on the foundations of Christ's commands.

Throughout the Gospels there are moments when Jesus’ disciples had a choice…to go the way of the crowd, or to go the way of Jesus. Jesus never looked to draw the crowds, even though they followed Him. He looked for true disciples, people who would love Him and follow His way, no matter the cost.

Our lives are filled with planning, yet we have no idea what will happen tomorrow. We know all the right concepts and ideas of being a Christian, but do we live them out?

Even though the call into faith never ends, it is so easy to find ourselves stagnating in our faith journey. In his last sermon as our lead Pastor, Al reflects on the journey of faith we have been on as a church and encourages us to move forward pressing on into faith in our lives and as a church.

God's Call on our lives often seems unlikely...including when He says we will do 'greater things' than He did (John 14:12). This week, as Al reflects on God's call to plant CityChurch, he shares the key to pursuing the call of God and invites us to put that into practice in the years ahead.

Before the biggest moments of challenge, change and opportunity in the biblical narrative, God has often told His people to remember! To remember their story and what God has done for them. This month we are going to be looking back in order to look forward to the next chapter of CityChurch's own story.

When we are going through hard times, it is easy for our spiritual fire to slowly fade. Looking at what the disciples did right, wrong and what they believed when a storm threatened to drown them, Niki helps us regain our faith and spiritual fire no matter what life's thrown at us.

We can never experience the adventure of faith, the very life that Jesus has called us too, when we are too safe and too comfortable. Today, choose to take that step, have that talk, go to that neighborhood, choose to walk in faith.

Reflecting on his past 15 years as a Pastor, Al shares the one thing that he has seen quash our spirituality more than anything else. What is it? Are we willing to address it and if so, how can we do that so we can re-ignite our spiritual fire at this time!

John's gospel was written so that 'by believing we may have life in His name' (20:31). On this Easter Day we explore the nature of this belief 'that leads to life', expose the things that hinder it and highlight Jesus' plan for us to step into all He won for us.

Even though most people have no idea of the purpose of their life, the Bible is clear that God has a purpose for us and wants us to walk fully in it. In this Palm Sunday talk, we identify what our purpose is, why we tend to miss it and how we can step more into it in the days ahead.

The Vine and the Branches is one of the best known texts in the New Testament. Jesus urges us all to ‘Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine.' But we don’t often focus on what Jesus says a bit later, ‘I no longer call you servants…I have called you friends!’ It’s a remarkable statement, a glimpse of the glory we have been called into....

Why would Jesus wash his disciples feet? In this talk, we dive into this intimate moment between Jesus and his disciples, and see how Jesus is calling us to follow his example of servanthood.

Why did Jesus weep as He approached Lazarus' tomb? As we explore the surprising answer to this question we will not only get a revealing glimpse of God's glory but be challenged to share Jesus' heartfelt passion and to apply it to our own lives.

Loving God and obeying His commands is hard. As we finish our series in 1 John we see the reason to do this: 'Everyone born of God overcomes the world!'. In this talk, we look at what it means to overcome the world and we recommit ourselves to loving God and obeying His commands.

In the book of John, John refers to himself on six occasions as the disciple whom Jesus loved. What was it that John understood about God's love? In "God is Love", Lynn Craig takes a look at the love of God that has the power to cast out fear and helps us discover how we can begin to walk in the fullness of God's love. Please join us this Sunday for "God is Love."

Loving well involves us making choices. In this talk, we look at John's instruction to 'Not love the world or anything in the world' and ask not only what that actually means for our lives but also why this is the key to living our lives and thriving within the love of God.

Is love really at the heart of the Gospel story? Or is love just a 'good thing.' As we begin our new series "A Month of Love" Matt Hemsley will take us through "The Story of Love" and what part it plays in the Gospel.

On this Vision Sunday, Al shares his conviction that God is preparing CityChurch for a lot more of His Kingdom, His life and His work in the months ahead. Looking at Exodus 18, he explains why that is and invites each of us to find the part God has for us in what is taking place.