Citylight South

This week, co-lead pastor Alex preached the next sermon in our series called Follow me: What it means to be a disciple of Jesus. He walked us through John 15:1-17 where we see the famous instructions of Jesus to remain in him, the True Vine. From these versus we first unpacked what it actually means to remain or abide in Jesus; using the words of A. W. Tozer as a helpful guide, "habitual, con...

This week, co-lead pastor Ricky continued our sermon series called: Follow me: What it means to be a disciple of Jesus. He took us through Exodus 20:1-5 where we see God's commandment to worship Him and Him alone. It's through this passage that brought us to our second core identity as a disciple of Jesus: a worshiper! In these verses we saw first what it means to worship as God designed...

This week, co-lead pastor Alex launched our new sermon series called Follow Me: What does it mean to be a disciple of Jesus? He walked through Mark 1:16-20 as Jesus invited his disciples to drop their nets and follow him in discipleship. In these verses, we learn that first and foremost discipleship of Jesus starts with Jesus himself. He calls us, not the other way around.  Then, we follow Jesus b...

This week, Youth Ministry Resident Matt Reed walked through Exodus 37:1-9 and discussed "the seat we sit under." In these verses, we see how the ark of the covenant is built, and learn about God's desire and effort to be in relationship with his people. Praise God! He does not sit on a seat of judgment or fear, but one of mercy. This mercy was ultimately lavished on us through the d...

In this week's sermon on Luke 2:1-20, we celebrated Christmas Eve by listening to co-lead pastor Alex speak on our savior's birth! In these verses, we see that Jesus Christ is the light of the world. Christ's birth brings good news, great joy and is for all people. Praise God! Jesus Christ has been born into the world, so that we may believe in him by the power of the Spirit and hav...

What makes a great gift? In this week's sermon on John 3:16-17, co-lead pastor Ricky walks through these well-known verses word by word, to discuss the greatest gift we have ever received: God's love. We learn that God (the awesome and almighty) so loved the world (the mightiest motive), that he gave his one and only begotten Son (the greatest gift), that whoever (the widest welcome) bel...

In this week's sermon, we continued our season of Advent with JOY. Lay elder Dakoda Kilzer preached through Habakkuk 3:16-19, and taught how we find joy in the God of our salvation. In these verses, we learn that joy is found in God, not in circumstances, and rejoicing in God gives us strength.  Though the prophet Habakkuk was facing horrible conditions through the rise of the Babylonian empi...

How do we deal with anxiety? In this week's sermon on Philippians 4:6-9, lay elder Eric Knoll answered this question by continuing our series of Advent with PEACE. In these verses, we see four steps of casting our anxieties on the Lord: (1) prayer with a worshipful heart; (2) supplication with a humble posture to our Father; (3) thanksgiving, not complaining; (4) request by revealing our hear...

In this week's sermon on Psalm 33:16-22, our Ministry Resident Trent Marshall kicked off our Advent series with HOPE. We learned how the season of Advent is designed to prepare our hearts for the coming of Christ. What is hope? In today's culture, we use hope interchangeably with words like want or wish, but Biblical hope is significantly different.  In these verses, we see that your hop...

This week, co-lead pastor Alex Leyva finished our series on Nehemiah with 13:1-31. After returning to Jerusalem, rebuilding the wall and attempting to rededicate their lives to God, the Israelites once again fall away from the Lord. In these verses, we learn that only God's internal restoration leads to a true rebuilt people.  How do we be a people like this, seeking after the Lord? By cheris...

In this week's sermon through Nehemiah 11:1-12:47, Pastor Ricky asks the question: "What do want the culture of our people to be like?" After the wall surrounding Jerusalem was rebuilt, this was the question that God's people asked themselves.  In these verses, we learn that God has a mission, so we move; God moves in us, and leads us to worship; and God gives, so we give. Ulti...

In this week's sermon on Nehemiah 9:38-10:39, guest Pastor Joe Julian from Citylight Omaha walked through Israel's vow of faithfulness to the Lord. In these verses, we learn that God's covenant with us requires a response of trust from us. We can trust God with all of our priorities, allegiances and generosity. Paise God! His new covenant requires nothing but our trust because Jesus...

In this week's sermon on Nehemiah 9:1-37, Ricky walks through the Israelites' prayer and national confession of sin. In these verses, they remember Israel's history and how God has consistently been faithful to them, despite their failings.  Through this, we remember God's power, pursuit, presence, provision and payment. We learn that no matter our sin, God never tires of us co...

In this week's sermon, pastor Alex walks through Nehemiah 8:1-18, and discusses how God's power is revealed through the Scriptures. Do we treat the reading of God's Word with the same reverence that we view cultural moments? God's Power is revealed through the understanding of His Word, giving us an attentive Spirit, our physical response in worship, responding in obedience and...

This week, Ricky walked through the passage on Nehemiah 7:1-73. In these verses, we see the list of God's exiled people who are being restored to the newly rebuilt city of Jerusalem. But God's goal in the book of Nehemiah isn't just rebuilding the wall; it's rebuilding his people. In these verses, we learn that God's dedication leads us to being a distinct and devoted peop...

In this week's sermon on Nehemiah 6:1-19, pastor Alex walks through the enemy's attempts to discourage and intimidate Nehemiah and the builders as they worked on the wall. We learn that we live in a world full of both good and bad distractions, and opposition will come when we pursue God's mission.  But, when we face intimidation, we can continue God's important work, stand on...

In this week's sermon on Nehemiah 5:1-19, pastor Ricky walks through the social injustice Nehemiah faces among the Jews at the building of the wall. In times poverty and famine, some Jews were charging outrageous interest to their poor brothers and sisters, to the point of enslaving their children.  Through these verses, we learn that the mission of God is compromised when it has to compete w...

In this week's sermon on Nehemiah 4:1-23, Nehemiah and the Jewish builders face opposition from surrounding people as they continue rebuilding the Jerusalem wall. Pastor Alex walks us through how we can face similar opposition in life, either from internal sin or external forces. From the text, we learn how to respond to opposition with prayer, perseverance (in the form of guarding, strengthe...

In this week's sermon, we continue our time in Nehemiah as Pastor Ricky walks through 3:1-32, as Nehemiah and his fellow Israelites began rebuilding the walls and gates of Jerusalem. Even today, these verses still have meaning and application in our lives. We learn how God moves us from being broken down to built up when you take your spot on the wall; when you become more about His purposes...

This week, Pastor Alex continued our sermon series with Nehemiah 2:1-20. We saw how Nehemiah felt the Lord's burden for His people, the Israelites, and was moved to bold action because of his faith in God's provision. He approached King Artaxerxes with confidence, and traveled to Jerusalem to rebuild the wall. We learned that we can depend on God for courage and boldness, then commit to...

This week, we started our new sermon series on Nehemiah! Pastor Ricky started it off by preaching through Nehemiah 1:1-11. In these verses, we walked through Israel's history leading up to this point Scripture, and the critical role that Nehemiah played as King Artaxerxes's cupbearer. We see Nehemiah's burden for his people and how he prays to God in his despair. In his prayer, we l...

Yesterday was the last sermon of our series on Citylight South's Core Values! We focused on the value of "Out," or living "out" on mission to share the Gospel with every tribe and tongue. Pastor Alex walked through the whole story of Scripture, focusing on Genesis 12:1-3, Matthew 28:18-20, Acts 1:8 and Revelation 21:3. We learned about God's mission to the nations, ou...

In this week's sermon on Romans 12:3-13, pastor Ricky walks through our core value of "In," as in being in community with our fellow believers. He asks the question: what would it look like for the people of God to live in light of the transforming work of the Gospel? It changes how we view ourselves, changes who we belong to, changes us from consumers to contributors and changes us...

This Sunday, we started our three-week series on our church's Core Values! Pastor Alex walked through our first two core values: down and up—the Gospel and spiritual formations. Jesus came down to live the perfect life as fully man and fully God, then died and rose again to fulfill atonement for our sins on the cross. Because of this, we respond with spiritual formations and disciplines in or...

In this week's sermon, we close out our series on Psalm 1 with Psalm 1:5-6, from guest pastor Tom Remple. Tom speaks on choosing life and staying rooted in God's Word. We see two fruits: the enduring tree and the forgotten chaff; two destinies: forever separation and forever blessing; and two responses: a life invested and a life wasted. May we flee from the gradual creep of sin's n...