The Fear of Death and the Pursuit of Joy: Why the Resurrection Is Good News
This is Easter Sunday. Resurrection Sunday. And on this Resurrection Sunday, we’re going to talk about death: what is death? What happens when you die?
The Gift of Good Leaders
As the word of God grows, and the church increases, the practical dynamics of church life inevitably change.
God’s Rhythm of Growth and Opposition
One of our tasks as Christians is to learn to read the story that we’re in. As individuals, we have a past and a future. As families, communities, and as a nation, we have pasts and futures. And we tell ourselves stories in order to make sense of where we’ve come from and where we’re going and what our role in the story is.
Great Power, Great Grace, Great Fear
We all know that there are passages in the Bible that make us uncomfortable. Often it’s when God does something that we don’t expect or don’t understand, usually something frightening. The story of Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5 is one of those.
Bold for the Cities
What we find in the last section of Acts 4 is not an isolated event, but starting here, we discover a theme that is repeated throughout the rest of the book. And that theme is a vision for how the church lives in this world.
The Name of Jesus
In Acts 4:1–12, we see the controversy surrounding the name of Jesus, and what that name represents — the real person who lived and died and rose again and has fundamentally changed the world and time.
Repentance
What is repentance? In this sermon, we take a look at repentance as a response to what God has done, as a means to a greater end, and as an affectional embrace of who Jesus is.
According to Plan
The reason the Spirit is poured out is because Jesus has been raised from the dead according to the sovereign plan of God. But what does the resurrection of Jesus and the sovereignty of God have to do with one another?
The Holy Spirit Is Poured Out
The Book of Acts is a good, true story. It is full of events and dialogue, rising action, falling action, conflict, resolution, protagonists, antagonists, setbacks, suspense — it has it all. It is a good, true story. And that is actually perfect for us, because we as humans are what you might call “story animals.”
Not the Same
Luke is first a theologian and then a historian, and if he is a story-teller at all it is only because he has a good, true story to tell. That is what we find in the Book Acts. Luke is telling us a good, true story.
Our Worship and Our Mission
If you’re like me, there’s a particular fear that you may have about embarking on this new journey together. Some of you have vocalized it; others of you have probably felt it internally. I’d like to tackle it head on in this sermon.
Him We Proclaim
Our work (to proclaim Christ) and goal (to be complete in Christ) and our reason (because of who Christ is) — this is what I pray becomes our culture at Cities Church. I want this to be thick in air. We speak Jesus to know Jesus because of Jesus.