Christ City Church Memphis

Acts 9:31-43 The world was different before Jesus. The marginalized remained marginalize, and those in power remained in power. But as Jesus walked the earth the world saw huge cracks forming in the societal norms that ruled the day -- especially within the power structure of men and women. Jesus constantly saw people that were invisible to society, and elevated the marginalized to honorable place...

Acts 9:1-22 Sometimes religion gets a bad rap and sometimes it should. Yet when done well religion can help build the necessary security, stability, and morality for a person to grow and develop in healthy ways. Still, at some point, everyones’ system of religion will fall prey to a life problem it cannot handle. At that point it is difficult to keep growing unless something more mysterious and le...

Acts 8:26-40 This week we encounter the first non-Jewish convert to Christianity, and he's not at all who the early church was expecting. He's just as surprising and relevant in our twenty-first century world. Listen in as we reflect on the good news that Jesus is for the outsider.

Acts 8:4-25 Have you ever felt like a faker? That you were hoping you could figure it out before everyone realized just how much you didn’t get it? Being confronted with the gospel of Jesus can expose our attempts to be something we are not while also offering a strange freedom to give up trying. What is the means of this freedom? Can it be for a faker like you and me? Listen in to join the conver...

Acts 7:44-60 What does it mean to confront and speak truth in the midst of scarce and challenging moments? What does it cost us to show up and simply “be” by calling out the lies of our time? These are big questions Stephen is facing down in this passage, yet they’re not just for Stephen, but us, too. 

Acts 6:1-15 As we continue looking at the story of the early church, we see an important shift happen in Acts 6: the early followers of Jesus begin the movement from organic to organized. This spontaneous bunch of Jesus followers begin empowering leaders, and more and more people move from consumers to participants. This story is filled with surprises and important significance for followers of Je...

Acts 5:12-33 Following Jesus and obeying his commands can be hard. Just read the book of Acts! Time and again, followers of Jesus are asked to do some very difficult things, yet they willingly do it each and every time.  Listen in as we seek to unpack what it means to have courage to obey God, even when it means experiencing hardship and pain.

Acts 4:32-5:11 Living generously is easier said than done. Many of us like the idea of meeting the needs of those around us but few of us count the cost of meeting those needs. In this message we'll look at how generosity was a staple, a calling card, of the early church that was used to change the world and how people could learn to treat one another. Listen in and join the discussion of what thi...

Acts 4:8-22 There are people who are able to speak clearly and passionately about what they believe is right and then there’s the rest of us. What kind of person can bear witness to a movement of Jesus as it presses against the powers that be? Can you and I be that kind of person? Listen in to join the conversation.

Acts 3:1-21 The book of Acts are filled with stories of ordinary people realizing the significance of the moments at hand and not wasting them. And because of that, those ordinary people did extraordinary things that brought refreshment into people's lives. Listen in as we talk about how we can step into those kairos moments and not miss out on becoming a refreshing presence to our world.

Acts 2:1-13 Throughout Scripture nothing is as intriguing or confounding as the Holy Spirit. There are whispers of it in from the Prophets, promises of it from Jesus, and the wild reality of it in Acts 2. Listen in as we unpack what Celtic Christians called the Wild Goose, and discover the kind of life we can find when we go chasing after the Holy Spirit.

Acts 1:1-14 Following Jesus is wild stuff... just read the book of Acts! As modern people, we read what’s happening in the beginnings of the Church and tend to walk away with dissonance, wondering, “Could I ever experience something like that?”  But following Jesus is supposed to lead to wild and wonderful experiences. And that’s why we’re going to talk about it for the next 10 months.  So buckle...

John 21:1-14 "Everybody wants to change the world, but nobody wants to die." We're called to be sources of refreshment in our spheres, but being a truly refreshing presence for the long-haul comes from walking a surprising path. Listen in as we look at the stories of Jesus and Peter. Their stories may bring fresh insight into your own story and empower you to bring refreshment to your world. 

Matthew 5:3-16 Most of us would agree that without a sense of purpose life just isn’t fulfilling. So what happens when the purpose we are striving to fulfill seems elusive or cumbersome; at best filling us with anxiety and at worst causing us to despair? What if instead of fulfilling this purpose you need to reimagine it? Maybe the rest and recovery of life that Jesus offers in the Beattitudes is...

Luke 15:11-24 Few parables invoke as much longing as when we read the parable of the prodigal son. It captures something every human desires, but few attain: recovering the life you’re meant to have.  Listen in as well unpack this parable, and look at part of our mission, as a church, to help others recover their life. 

John 17:1-10, 20-26 At the core of the Bible is a promise that humans can know God. But if we're honest, few things feel as daunting or hopeless than this endeavor. We study our Bibles, pray, go to church, yet still feel so lonely and lost in knowing God. For many, it's enough to make them walk away. So, what does it mean to know God? Listen in as we ask this question and more, and attempt to unpa...

John 4:4-26 What does it mean to create a space where people can belong? What does it take to let your self be known and belong to something? These questions are just a couple of what we find in this story of Jesus and the woman at the well. Listen in as we begin our new vision and mission series, and discover what it means to be a place for others to belong.

Deuteronomy 6:4-9 If loving God with all of our heart is the most important commandment, then one of the most important things we can do is cultivate love for God. But what does that even mean? And how do we go about cultivating love for God? Maybe you've tried the whole "Quiet Time" thing and you've only experienced boredom and dullness. Listen in to discover rich ancient practices for our modern...

Genesis 2:15-17 We all have jobs to do. Some of us enjoy what we do, some of us are just “trying to pay the bills”, others just want work that is “decent” and still others are looking to “find themselves” through their occupation. How do we understand work as a gift, and divine responsibility from God when it doesn’t meet our expectations and when it does? Listen in as we wrestle with understandin...

Exodus 20:8-11 In our busy world it's essential that we discover a liturgy of rest. Our own life depends on it. Our love for neighbor depends on it. Our love of God depends on it. It might be one of the most important and most counter-cultural liturgies we can engage. Listen in as we talk about spiritual practices like sabbath, silence, solitude, and stillness: what prevents us from practicing the...

Deuteronomy 6:4-9 In a culture that elevates individualism the signs, symbols and actions of church liturgy can help us understand and cultivate a sense of community. If we allow the ancient liturgies to penetrate our modern lives we might see more of God than we had imagined possible.

Colossians 3:15-17 What is liturgy? And what is liturgical worship? Liturgy may mean more than you think, and liturgical worship may be more important than you know. Listen in to discover how you're a liturgical being, always being formed and shaped by practices of the heart and how regularly gathering for corporate worship shapes you in surprising ways.

Luke 12: 35-48 As we end our series on parables, we come to one that is frightening and challenging. The wait for our King's return is a serious matter, and something we cannot take lightly. Join us as we talk about what it means to wait and watch well until Jesus returns.

Luke 18:1-8 Prayer is hard. Many of us have prayer lives that are nonexistent. The rest of us have prayer lives that are inconsistent. In the parable of the persistent widow, Jesus offers deep comfort and teaches a necessary posture to cultivate in order to enjoy a rich, deep, robust, prayerful relationship with God.

Ephesians 2:19-21 No matter our distinctive or differing doctrines, all churches are called to unify in one particular mission woven throughout Scripture. Listen in as we take a journey through the Bible from Jacob, to Jesus and ending with Paul -- and find out what it means to be a dwelling place for God.