CityLife Church

In light of recent events and the underlying systemic issues laid bare, we interrupt our church's routine to take a moment to reflect. We focus in on Zechariah 7:8-12 and find yet another call for God’s people to pursue justice and to show mercy, but this time specifically for the most vulnerable members of their community: “the widow, the fatherless, the sojourner, or the poor.” As we read on in...

In light of recent events and the underlying systemic issues laid bare, we interrupt our church's routine to take a moment to reflect. We focus in on Micah 6:8, where God calls His people to do justice, love kindness, and to walk humbly with Him. We reflected on the biblical concept of justice and how we can advocate for that in our culture and community. We ask the question, “Why should we be qui...

In light of recent events and the underlying systemic issues laid bare, we interrupt our routine to take a moment to reflect. In this passage, we observe Jesus’s indignation with the illegitimate use of the Lord’s House. We reflect on God’s righteous anger at injustice and how it compels Him to act and consequently make a way for true healing to take place. In response, we begin a new season as a...

In this week's passage, Jesus shares the parable of some wicked tenants; the kind of people you would not want to be in business with. In this story, we find the owner of a great vineyard, who tries over and over to collect what is rightfully his and the wicked tenants who reject, scorn, and destroy every opportunity to honor their end of the deal. Though this is a sad parable, it also highlights...

In this passage, the religious leaders are at it again, pestering Jesus about the source of His authority. Seizing the teachable moment, Jesus offers a question of His own on the authority behind the ministry of John the Baptist, at which the religious leaders predictably balk. Likewise, in our pursuit to know Jesus as Lord and Savior, we must wrestle with some profoundly important questions: Wher...

In this week’s sermon, we take a look at how a dead fig tree and the cleansing of the temple come together to teach Jesus’s followers about being fully committed to God. How would our lives, and the life of the Church, look differently if we lived totally committed to Jesus’s example? What would happen if we forgave and prayed together like Jesus talks about in this passage?

In this week's passage, we meet a blind man who truly saw Jesus for who He was. The Church often discusses the nature of faith, but how often do we think about faith responding to God when He draws near to us? Blind and poor Bartimaeus is a great example of responding to Jesus in faith.

In this passage, Jesus's closest friends make an uninformed request of Him. In response, Jesus reminds us again about how greatness in the Kingdom of Heaven revolves around humble service. How have you been impacted by humility and service? How do you lead through humble service today?

In this passage, Jesus continues to challenge cultural norms about value and worth by receiving children and confronting those with earthly wealth with their spiritual poverty. Where in your life do you need to be more childlike? What in your life would cause you to walk away from Jesus sorrowfully? What makes us worthy to enter the Kingdom of Heaven?

In Luke's account of the third day following the Crucifixion, we are reminded of how Jesus's life, death, and Resurrection culminate to make sense of our lives as His followers. Through Jesus's words and actions leading to the Cross, while on the Cross, and after the Cross, we find the hope and promises on which we stand in Resurrection today.

As Jesus enters Jerusalem and the Church approaches Easter, His followers joyously announce the arrival of the King! However, because Jesus knows that suffering precedes victory in the Father's plan, the Son weeps over the city. How do we, as followers of Jesus today, suffer for our city, in light of future glory and the hope we have in Christ?

In this passage, the Pharisees try to trap Jesus using a law given to them by Moses around marriage and divorce. Jesus takes this opportunity to teach that God's plan for any relationship is for the former to give his life in order that the latter be presented spotless and blameless before God. Jesus's body was broken and His blood was poured out for His bride. How does this compare to the love we...

In this short but rich passage, Jesus reminds us that God uses unexpected people for the powerful work of the Kingdom. Pride can make us think God chooses us over others because of something special in us, creating unhealthy divisions in our hearts. How is Jesus calling you to put pride to death? How can faith in Jesus empower us to live for others?

In Mark 9:42-50, Jesus shows His wild side with regard to protecting His followers. He talks about the unquenchable fires of sin and the purifying fire that He offers, which leads to peace: peace with yourself, peace with one another, and ultimately peace between God and humanity.

As we see over and over again in the Gospel of Mark, Jesus's disciples often lose sight of God's call on their lives when they get caught up in the details. Yet, Jesus's reminder to them then, and us today, is that to be the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven, we must live to be last, live to serve, and live to receive those viewed to be the least.

Scripture tells us that as believers our fight isn't against flesh and blood, but against darkness and spiritual forces of evil. But when we come up against our enemy, we can be confident that even a "weak faith in Jesus is better than strong faith in our flesh". God's Kingdom is infinitely stronger than the kingdom of darkness. Even in death, Jesus won and through Him, we are victorious!

When we are confronted with God’s glory, we realize that God is good, and we can be broken in front of Him and others. God’s glory gives us the freedom to live the truly authentic life Jesus came to give us.

Entering into Act 2 of Mark, our focus shifts to what it means for Jesus to be the Christ. God so values your soul that He gave up everything to teach us how to follow Him. Does God's approval mean more to you than man's?

In this passage, we learn that Jesus is keen to know who His disciples say He is and that in rightly declaring that Jesus is King, His followers receive their true identity in the Kingdom. As we wrestle with the same question today, we must ask ourselves, "What, or Who rather, do you stand for?"

In this account of a miraculous healing, we see that Jesus is the One who sees perfectly and brings perfect healing for physical, emotional, or spiritual blindness. What are you blind to today? Will you trust Jesus to lead you by the hand to go from just seeing to seeing radiantly?

As the disciples argue about bread, Jesus uses the moment to teach a deeper lesson. How can this story point you to the deeper things God is trying to do in your life today?

What do we do when our lives are interrupted? Whether it's God slowing us down or that life is just complicated, what might Jesus be trying to say to us through interruptions?

Our God is the God who says and sees. Our job is to listen to what God says.

How to stay grounded in God in the midst of transition.

What Pastor Justin has learned about God through 12+ years in ministry.