Welcome to the book of James! James is known as the proverbs of the New Testament. James went from skeptic to servant to shepherd to sufferer. His whole life changed when he met the risen King Jesus. In this letter, James shows a picture of full devotion to Jesus. This is not a burden to win God's love, but the appropriate response and results of knowing God's love. This is the book of James.
Read MoreHE IS RISEN! Jesus is FULLY ALIVE. Because he is fully alive, we can be fully alive as well. As we celebrate his past victory over sin and death, we look forward to his future victory as well. His first victory over death was his own resurrection. His full and final victory over death is raising to life all who would believe in him. God has won the victory for you and wants his victory for you. This is why we sing and celebrate the risen King. He has won, and he will ultimately win again.
Read MoreWhat makes Jesus angry? Several times in the gospels, Jesus becomes angry. Yet, each time we see Jesus angry, it is always out of compassion for people. The compassion of Jesus leads to his anger over sin and always leads to action. When Jesus sees something hurting people, he always moves towards that hurt. When Jesus saw the ultimate thing hurting people, sin, he took our sin on himself. Our sin led to the death of Christ. As we sit in the darkness of our sin, the diamond of Jesus shines all the brighter.
Read MoreWhat do you think about when you think about heaven? Is it a sky palace or a New Creation? Many of us have false views in our minds when it comes to eternity. God's heart is to create a space where He and His people can dwell together forever. It is a life without death, sin, weakness, or end. You will have real experiences, with a real body, on a real earth with our resurrected Christ. The resurrected life is a life with God in which we will be full of joy, full of peace, full of love, and fully Alive.
Read MoreWould you say your faith is firm or fragile? Many of us have a firm foundation in Christ, but our faith can feel a lot more fragile when our beliefs get intellectually or situationally challenged. God wants you to have a firm foundation in who Jesus is and what he has done. He has rooted our faith in the historical reality of the resurrection of Christ. When we see this, we see just how important the resurrection of Christ is and just how much of an impact it has on everything in our lives. If Jesus hasn't risen, then nothing matters. If Jesus has risen, then nothing else matters. As we build our life on his firm foundation, we find the life we were made for.
Read MoreHow does the Resurrection of Jesus impact your life? As we start our series, Fully Alive, we explore how to find life in the one who conquered the grave. This 4 part series zooms into one central passage of scripture: 1 Corinthians 15. This is the clearest and most concise theology that Paul gives to impact of the resurrection of Christ, both now and forever. In the first 11 verses, we see the purpose, the proof, and the power of the gospel message. God wants you to find life in him. That only comes by being fully alive in the one who conquered death.
Read MoreSuffering is a part of life. It is easy to grow weary when hardships are all around you. Yet, hope is the anchor in the midst of suffering. Where do you find hope in the hardships of life? When we walk with Christ, we have a living hope, a proven hope, as we are called to have an active hope. No matter the trial, Christ can take hardships and make them pathways of holiness as we hold onto hope in Him alone.
Read MoreAs we close out our Worldview series, let's pause and reflect on what God has done and rejoice in what we trust he will continue to do. In this message, we pray through our three main worldview questions (What does the Bible say? How do we respond in humility? How do I love as an ambassador of Christ?). As we do, we posture our hearts before God to take next faithful steps in not just seeing the world but loving the world.
Read MoreMaybe more than anything, money and possessions reveal your heart. The world, flesh, and even the Christian culture pull us into believing that more earthly wealth or material goods will satisfy us. God is in the business of creating dependence and can use money and possessions to convict us to where we truly find our hope, joy, and dependency. Money and possessions are not evil. They are simply a tool that can be used to make much of you or much of God and the advancement of the gospel. The choice is yours. So let's take a step in growing in our ability to steward what God has given us.
Read MoreWhat is the right perspective on politics? It's easy to forget a biblical lens when viewing politics when everything today is drenched in a political perspective. As believers, we must remember that God is sovereign, we have one king (though we live in two kingdoms), God created government to promote good and restrain evil, the government, church, and family have distinct roles, and the enemy would love nothing more than for Christians to put their trust in government and not God. When we have this perspective, we can examine our own hearts but also engage well with others. So when it comes to politics, let's pray, learn, vote, engage, and ultimately trust that God's got this.
Read MoreCulture is downstream from the family. So goes marriages, so goes families, so goes communities, so goes cultures. God has designed marriages to be a firm foundation that leads to flourishing. When we continually confess and repent of our sins, forgive, and celebrate one another, we are able to walk in the fulness of what marriage was meant to be.
Read MoreGod made man and woman united in their humanity, equal in their dignity, and yet distinct in their sexes. The design is beautiful. The definition is simple. This makes the distortion of manhood and womanhood all the more devastating. Jesus has come to redeem everything, including biblical manhood and womanhood. Let's embrace, celebrate, and model God's design as he restores the beauty of manhood and womanhood in our lives and our culture.
Read MoreHow do you see groups of people? We have a tendency to group people based on externals and then assign stereotypes and value. This is the sin of partiality. Partiality is a rebellion against God. As Christians, we are called not to show preference based on externals but to serve people since they are made in God's image. God is creating a new family of God with people of all backgrounds, ethnicities, classes, and cultures. As we mimic God in reaching all people, the church becomes the beautiful mosaic it was meant to be.
Read MoreAs we continue our worldview series, we unpack our first topic: the dignity of life. We all have a tendency to see others through our own lens. When we see others through the lens of the world, we tend to value people based on what they can do for us. People then become a problem to solve, a point to validate your worldview or a pathway to your own self-advancement. But when we see people through the lens of God's word, we see people, not made in our image, but in the image of God. This means that they have dignity, value, and worth. When we begin to see people through the lens of Christ, we can love people in the name of Christ.
Read MoreCultural topics come and go. With all the various issues that can capture the cultural conversation, we need a consistent lens to see any and all topics. As we continue our worldview series, we look at three questions to ask any issue of the day: (1) What does the Bible say about it? (2) How do I respond in humility? (3) How do we love others as ambassadors of Christ? With these three questions, we can not only see the world clearly but love the world as Christ does.
Read MoreHow you see the world impacts what you think, feel, and ultimately do. The lens of the world is a denial of God that leads to a destructive life. The lens of the word is a trust in God that leads to a transformed life. God wants you to see himself, yourself, others, and the world around you in a way that brings life. Only when we see Him rightly can we see the world rightly. By the grace of God, he has given us eyes to see. So let's seek truth, speak truth, and love others well in the name of Christ.
Read MoreWAY TO GO! What a year it has been. This time last year, we launched into independence with a new name and identity for this unique opportunity. As we celebrate where we have been, God calls us to excel still more in the days ahead. God has done amazing things, but he is not done telling stories because he is not done transforming lives. Here at CityBridge, we believe the best is still to come!
Read MoreTis the season for resolutions! This is the time each year where many people pause, evaluate their life and reset for what is next. However great a resolution can be, most are too small and too short-sighted. God wants something more significant for you. In this message, we see five resolutions for life founded in Scripture. These are not goals to achieve but guidelines to live by. What we do today is who we are becoming tomorrow. So let's stop our silly self-improvement project and surrender to what God has for us in Christ. Let's kick this year off right!
Read MoreHave you ever wondered what the first Christmas was like for Mary? What must she have thought, felt, known about the coming savior that was in her womb? As we think what Mary thought, we are brought into the joy and wonder of God becoming man. So let us magnify Jesus by looking at the first Christmas through the lens of Mary.
Read MoreJesus died to pay the penalty for our sin. He rose to show us the check cleared. In John 20-21, Jesus encounters four different people after his resurrection. These people are meant to be reflections of all of us. Some are in pain. Some are in doubt. Some are in fear. Some have given up on God; others have given up on themselves. But Jesus returns for them all. Jesus showed his power through his resurrection. Jesus showed his love through returning for you. You have been saved to see Jesus, to be sent out for Jesus, to be secure in Jesus, and shepherd the flock of Jesus. The Gospel of John is over, but the story of Jesus has just begun. Let's fill the world with the stories of Jesus.
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