Citylight South

This week, we continued in the book of Esther as co-lead pastor Ricky preached on Esther 5:1-17. We learned about Esther's wisdom as she planned and prepared to make her request to the king. Esther prays and asks God to move, but then moves in that direction with him. When we pray for God's purposes, we are also called to participate with him.  Then, we see that despite all of Haman&apos...

This week, we heard from lay elder Eric Knoll as he spoke on Esther 3:1-15. In these verses, we read about how King Ahaseurus honored Haman the Agagite, but Mordecai refused to bow down and worship him. In response, Haman decided to destroy all of the Jews throughout Ahaseurus's kingdom. With King Ahaseurus's blessing, a decree was issued that all Jewish people would be annihilated.  Tho...

This week, we heard from our Youth Ministry Resident, Matt Reed, as he continued our sermon series in Esther. We learned that despite our dire circumstances or our misaligned motives, God uses the unexpected for his purposes. In these verses, Esther is brought in and made queen by King Ahasuerus.  Despite no mention of God in the book of Esther, we see his presence throughout the story. We see God...

This week, we kicked off our new sermon series in the book of Esther! Co-lead pastor Alex Leyva walked through Esther 1:1-22. In these verses, we see King Ahasuerus throw multiple banquets to celebrate his power, then exile his Queen Vashti because she refused to come when he demanded to show her off. While God isn't mentioned in the book of Esther, we see symbols pointing back to him through...

This week, co-lead pastor Alex Leyva finished our sermon series on Colossians with Colossians 4:7-18. In these verses, Paul lists a number of people who participated in furthering the Gospel with him. What a privilege that our church is a piece of what God is continuing to do in this world!  In these verses, we learn that it takes all of us to do the work of the Gospel together; we continue to liv...

This week, guest preacher Daniel Bidne from Providence Church taught on Colossians 4:2-6. In these verses, we learn that because Christ is supreme, we are to respond both personally and missionally. We look up and pray, staying devoted to prayer and alert with thanksgiving. What do we thank God for? First and foremost, we thank God daily for the mystery of the Gospel.  Then, we look around and pro...

This week, co-lead pastor Alex Leyva continued our series on Colossians with verses 3:18-4:1. Throughout the first 17 verses of chapter 3, we learned about the individual's transformation through the Gospel. Now, we see how Jesus transforms our relationships with other people. We learn that our international transformation is the building blocks for how we live among others.  These verses spe...

This week, co-lead pastor Ricky walked through Colossians 3:1-17, as we learned about the new life we experience in Christ. Praise God—the Gospel in Jesus changes us! We discovered the life we have in Christ, the life we put to death (our sin) and the life we put on. To put on the new self, we don't look down ourselves, but look up to him. Amen!

This Sunday, co-lead pastor Alex Leyva continued our sermon series in Colossians with verses 2:16-23. Why does it matter that we're able to tell what is real versus what is not real? Because what is not real has no value. As believers, we devote ourselves to the true Gospel, so we can identify false teachings.  In these verses, we learn about Legalistic Larry, Hyper-spiritual Hank and Mystic...

This week, co-lead pastor Ricky Kennedy preached on Colossians 2:6-15—the fullness of life in Jesus. We learned that what will lead you the wrong way in life is if you have a misperception of who Jesus is. In these verses, we see the path to walk is walking in Christ Jesus our Lord. The problem to walk it is deceptive false teachings that seem reasonable but lead us astray.  But, we also have the...

This Sunday, co-lead pastor Alex Leyva walked us through Colossians 1:24-2:5. In these verses, the main takeaway is that we would labor for God to be known in our lives and in the lives of others. Paul writes to the church at Colossae, rejoicing in his suffering and labor for the hope of glory, the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He also labors for wisdom and knowledge, for the church to be mature in Chri...

This Sunday, co-lead pastor Alex continued in our sermon series on Colossians with Colossians 1:15-23. We learned that it is fundamental to our faith to know who Jesus is and declare this truth. Christ is over all things and reconciles all things.  In these verses, we see six ways Christ is supreme: (1) He's the image of the invisible God; (2) He's the firstborn in all creation; (3) He&a...

This Sunday, co-lead pastor Ricky Kennedy kicked off our new sermon series in Colossians with Colossians 1:1-14. In these verses, author Paul starts his letter to the church of Colossae to thank God for them and even pray for them.  We see how Paul thanks God for the work he has done in Colossae, and learn how thanking God for others changes your own perspective. Then, Paul (and we) continues to p...

This week, we were excited to welcome Bryan Clark, the Senior Pastor Emeritus of Lincoln Berean Church, to speak. Bryan preached on Genesis 1:26-28, 31; 2:7-9 and 18-25 for his stand alone sermon on our view of God. In these verses, we learn about the first family—Adam and Eve—and how God created them to be a taste of the trinitarian relational love within himself. The purpose of family is to perp...

This Easter Sunday, we gathered to celebrate Jesus Christ's resurrection from the grave! Co-lead pastor Alex walked us through 1 Peter 1:3-12, where we learn about the hope we have in Christ through his resurrection. This hope is guarded by God himself, refined through suffering and fulfilled by Jesus on the throne in Heaven.  Our inheritance in Christ is imperishable, undefiled and unfading....

This Holy Week, we gathered on Good Friday to remember and reflect on the death of Jesus Christ on the cross. Co-lead pastor Ricky walked through Mark 14:32-42, when Jesus calls out to his Father and asks that the cup of God's wrath be taken from him if possible. But, there was no other way for us to have atonement for sin and right relationship with God.  Because of Jesus's sacrifice, t...

This Palm Sunday, co-lead pastor Ricky started our Easter celebrations by walking through Matthew 21:1-11. Here, we see Jesus's triumphal entry into the city of Jerusalem. But, we know that just 7 days later, Jesus will have been crucified and resurrected. What happened? In these verses, we learn of the King we need to see. Jesus intentionally arranges the triumphal entry as the humble king,...

This week, co-lead pastor Alex Leyva closed our sermon series on "Follow Me: What It Means to Be a Disciple of Jesus" with the passage Luke 9:18-27. Whenever we make decisions, we way the cost of what it means. But do we count the cost in what it means to follow Jesus? In this passage, we see that Jesus asks his followers to confess Christ, who is the Messiah. But, Jesus isn't only...

This Sunday, we continued our sermon series on what it means to be a disciple of Jesus with Ephesians 4:1-16. Co-lead pastor Ricky walked through what it looks like to live out the family of Christ. When we are saved from sin, Jesus doesn't just save us into eternal life with him—but into eternal life with his God's communal people! In these verses, we learned the foundation of family in...

This week, we celebrated our fourth birthday as a church family! Praise God! We rejoiced by baptizing eight new believers into the family of God. Co-lead pastor Ricky spoke on Acts 21:40-22:46. In these verses, we learned that Jesus wrote Paul's story and washed away both his physical and spiritual blindness. Jesus saves both the lawless and the legalistic!  Now, we see that Jesus is writing...

In this week's sermon, co-lead pastor Ricky Kennedy continues through our series "Follow Me: What it Means to Be a Disciple of Jesus" with his sermon on Matthew 28:16-20. In these verses, we learn what the most valuable component of following Jesus: making disciples of others. First, we see Jesus's authority and realize that the Great Commission rests firmly on the authority of...

In this week's sermon on 1 Corinthians 9:19-23, we welcomed guest pastor Nate Morgan from Citylight North Lincoln. Nate continued our series "Follow Me" by teaching on our mission to get the Gospel OUT. We learned why we witness and how we witness. We witness to others because we live gospel-centered lives, and the purpose of these lives is to share God's message with every tri...

This week, we continued our series on what it looks like to follow Jesus with servanthood. Youth ministry resident Matt Reed walked us through John 13:1-17: The Joy to Serve. We learned that followers of Jesus lay aside their worldly standing in order to put on godly servanthood. In his last few moments on earth, Jesus took on the form of a slave to wash his disciples' feet.  In the same way,...

In this week's sermon on Luke 12:13-34, co-lead pastor Ricky Kennedy walked through our next component of what it means to follow Jesus: stewardship. We learned five principles of stewardship: (1) money is powerful; (2) everything we own actually belongs to God; (3) our money & possessions should be used for God's purposes; (4) worldly wealth is fleeting; heavenly wealth is eternal;...

In this week's sermon on Ephesians 5:1-21, co-lead pastor Ricky Kennedy continues our series on following Jesus: what it means to be a disciple. He asked the question: "Who are you becoming?" We are all becoming like someone, and as disciples of Jesus, our goal is to become more like him. We learned about the purpose of life: to imitate God and become more like him.  Then, we walked...