Citylight South Church

Galatians 3:1-14 Trying to get better at being a Christian can sometimes feel like trying to drive your car in neutral. You press on the gas pedal--the engine makes a loud sound, but you don't get very far. When you take your eyes off Christ crucified, when you drift away from faith in the power of the Gospel-- your life as a Christian may still make a lot of noise, but you don't get very...

What exactly is a hypocrite? Maybe you know someone who is. Do you think you might be one? We usually think of hypocrites as people who say one thing and do another. They don't practice what they preach. But the truth is--a hypocrite is anyone who acts a certain way because of who's watching. Back in the early days when the Gospel started to reach more and more Gentiles, Paul the upstart a...

Sometimes we talk about the Gospel like a 12-step recovery program. But in actual fact, it's more like a nuclear reaction. When God saves a person, every molecule, every part of that person gets rearranged. Redeemed. Nothing is wasted. That was the story of the apostle Paul. His great knowledge no longer defined Him, but God used it for His glory. Paul's ambition was once all about stampin...

Is the God we worship full of wrath or mercy for sinners? Or is it both, depending on His mood? Think about the things that make God angry, like the time Jesus cracked a makeshift whip in the temple. What if the flashes of His wrath that we experience now are His way of warning us to avoid the ultimate wrath that's coming? That would be kind, wouldn't it? The passage in Romans 1 that we&#3...

Is the God we worship full of wrath or mercy for sinners? Or is it both, depending on His mood? Think about the things that make God angry, like the time Jesus cracked a makeshift whip in the temple. What if the flashes of His wrath that we experience now are His way of warning us to avoid the ultimate wrath that's coming? That would be kind, wouldn't it? The passage in Romans 1 that we&#3...

A lot of people think the key to a life well lived is to follow your heart. Trust your instincts. Discover who you really are and then unleash that on the world. But what if we try that and it doesn't turn out the way we'd hoped? Is there a better way? Paul tells us in Romans 1 that the path of individualism-- "You Do You"-- is a path that goes nowhere but down. The Gospel is suc...

You ever wonder what God's will for your life is? Here's one answer to that question: "Rejoice always. Pray constantly. Give thanks in everything, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." That's 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18. God wants you to be happy, to pray a lot, and to say thank you. Gratitude is one of the marks of a person who understands the truth. Not that ther...

We're also kicking off a new sermon series called These Things Will Kill You where we take a deeper dive into what is sin and how do we deal with it. With the apostle Paul and Romans 1:18-32 as our guide, we'll see up front what sin is and what we need to overcome it.

God's mission is all about spreading His fame to the ends of the earth by sending out people just like us. But has the time for mission come and gone? Has the Internet made missions redundant, even wasteful? Shouldn't we all just focus on the needs closer to home? These questions aren't new, and they aren't easy to answer. This Sunday we'll look at one of the more surprising ep...

Mission month kicks off this week as we welcome Tyson; bringing a message on God's mission at our workplaces. How do we point to Jesus in the spaces where we spend much of our waking hours? It's a question worth coming back to often so that we can encourage each other in a world where being a Christian can feel both weird and wonderful.

Mission month kicks off this week as we welcome John Cook the pastor of Gospel Church Minlaton. He'll be sharing a message from 1 Peter 2:9-10 called Mission in Small Places. He'll share how the Gospel is bearing fruit in a few places with some familiar names, and he'll let us know how the Ramseys are going after a couple of months in the bush.

This Sunday we'll be dipping our toes into 1 Kings 1-2 as we say goodbye to David, our beloved warrior king. The David we see in these chapters doesn't look regal or powerful, quite the opposite. And this picture of the end of his life has some lessons for us too. Lessons like-- why does the end of our lives have to be so drawn out and sometimes painful? Why can't we just fast forward...

As God would have it, this week Tyson will be unpacking 2 Samuel 24, the story of the deadliest census ever taken. As you were filling out your census forms this week, it probably never occurred to you that there was a time when a national census led to the death of over 20,000 people. Looking at the numbers, it was David's deadliest sin. But why? Join us this Sunday to find out.

This week we're covering a lot of ground in the life of David. The fallout from his sin of taking Bathsheba and killing Uriah, her husband, is immense. When the dust finally settles, three of Davd's sons would be dead, one of his daughters would be a victim of a horrific crime. And the kingdom is hanging on by a thread. How did it get so bad for David? And what can we learn about our tende...

David thought he got away with murder. No man--even if they knew the truth--would have dared challenge the king. And yet no man--even the king himself-- can hide his sin from God. Everything done in secret will be brought into the light. How will David respond when his sin is exposed? Will he shoot the messenger? Or will he apologise? What does it look like for a man after God's own heart to s...

We're back this week in the life of David. They say hindsight is 20-20,but in David's case, it's safe to say that if he was able to see ahead of timethe devastating consequences of one awful decision, he and his whole family would have avoided a world of pain.  We can learn some things from David's story. We can learn that as good as David was, he was far from perfect. We need the...

You might know the words of Psalm 23 by heart. Or you might have heard it at a funeral or in a movie. But these words aren't just fodder for sentimental artwork. They are rich with truth that can sustain you through life's darkest seasons. Come let David introduce you to the Good Shepherd--our provider, our protecter, the preparer of feasts. You'll find food for your soul and rest, no...

"Try before you buy." It's a marketing gimmick as old as time because it works. The old serpent used it to pretty good effect in the Garden of Eden. "Just one taste, and your eyes will be opened." Sometimes it seems like faith in God is the opposite. "Just grit your teeth and believe." The oldest and wisest saints wouldn't have a bar of it. "Taste and see...

We’re taking a short break from our series on the life of David to look at 3 of the most famous songs he wrote. These songs have been loved and cherished by billions of Jews and Christians around the world for over 3,000 years. This Sunday Joel will kick off with a look at Psalm 139. You’re not just fearfully and wonderfully made by God, you’re also totally and completely seen: But is that good ne...

DAVID: BELOVED // WARRIOR // KING Have you ever wanted to do something nice for somebody and they said ‘No thanks.’? What if that somebody was God? That’s exactly what happened to David. God had a reason of course. His ‘No’ paved the way for an even better ‘Yes.’ What God promised to David all those years ago is still making a difference in the world today — in fact your own life depends on it.

DAVID: BELOVED // WARRIOR // KING

DAVID: BELOVED // WARRIOR // KING Now that Saul is out of the picture, it's David's time to shine as king of Israel. But will he fall prey to the same temptations and sins as Saul, or will he take a different path? David is the king after God's own heart--but what exactly does that mean and is that something we can aspire to? It's all about living for one thing. It's about livi...

DAVID: BELOVED // WARRIOR // KING This week we'll make it to the end of 1 Samuel. We'll take a closer look at the sin that spelled the end for King Saul, which, as the subject of this email suggests, has something to do with his stubborn refusal to pray. Saul spent his whole life chasing the wind-- looking for anything he could control without having to depend on God. In that way, he's...

The episode in David's life we're looking at this week introduces us to an unlikely hero-- an incredible woman named Abigail who just so happens to be married to an absolute fool of a man. Tyson will be unpacking it for us, and you'll see how the line between wisdom and foolishness, good and evil runs straight down the middle of each one of our hearts. We’d love you to join us at 10:00...

DAVID: BELOVED // WARRIOR // KING At the end of the day, everybody does what they want to do. Whatever your heart desires gives rise to what you do. For David and Saul, their desires could not be more different. One wanted war, the other peace. One wanted his enemy to die, the other wanted his enemy to repent and live. Their actions told the story of their hearts. How does a person overcome evil d...