City Central Church Podcast

This week, Pastor Chris continued in our Pray Like Jesus series, sharing the reality that our prayer lives reveal how healthy we truly are. Prayer is the temperature gauge for where we are at spiritually. It is the essential communication link between the visible and invisible realm and the primary way we articulate our emotions to God. Without prayer, there’s no communication or abiding relationship with the Lord. As we talk to Him, He talks back to us. If we want to pray like Jesus, the best place to start is the model of the Lord’s Prayer.

This week, Pastor Chris continued in our new sermon series seeking to answer how Jesus prayed in hopes that we would learn to pray like him. During our First Love fast, we have chosen to lay aside something we love for something we love even more: Jesus. Fasting often accelerates our prayer life because it welcomes weakness into our lives. As we fast and come to Jesus in our weakness, we want to grow in prayer and intimacy with the Lord as He strengthens us in Him.

Pastor Chris shares a brief understanding on fasting.

This week, Pastor Chris began a new series on prayer for the new year. Chris said that we can expect breakthrough by orchestrating our lives around prayer and communion with Jesus. When we have true revelation of who God the Father is, we will see dynamic change in how we communicate with him. Pastor Chris sought to answer what prayer is and more importantly, what it looks like to pray like Jesus.

This morning, our youth pastor Stephanie Kram brought a powerful word about stepping out in boldness for Jesus. She shared from the book of Esther, expressing how our freedom in Christ is directly linked to our partnership with him. God can call us to do amazing things for Him, but if we don't step out in faith and boldness, we won’t walk out what he has planned for us.

This week, Pastor Chris continued in our Christmas series with a word on four responses to Jesus’ birth that we should avoid. It’s so easy to lose Jesus in the Christmas season, but we want to be followers who respond to him rightly. Rather than closing off our hearts in entitlement, control or pride, may we open our hearts and praise him for his birth and life.x

This week, Pastor Chris continued in our Christmas series with a word on the wisemen in the Christmas story. The magi were likely a large group of people who studied astronomy, yet they recognized the greater power of God. They were seekers of the Savior and they traveled far to worship him. Pastor Chris shared the reality that each one of us worships something. We can all learn something from the intentional, personal, sacrificial worship of the wisemen.

This week, Pastor Chris continued in our Christmas series, focusing on Jesus’ mother Mary. Chris encouraged us to ask ourselves whether we see what Mary saw. Mary was a young, pregnant teenager near the bottom of the social ladder with nothing to her name. Society deemed her an outcast, yet she trusted in and obeyed the call of the Lord. We can each learn something about how Mary responded to God’s call: with wonder and worship.

This week, Eric Jones began our Christmas series with a word on the inherent expectancy of the advent season. Eric encouraged us to take a pause and reflect on the Savior’s birth because His arrival on Earth gives us hope for his second coming. In the time and place of our Scripture passage, people experienced a deep longing for the Messiah and the same is true for us now. May we each be filled with wonder and expectancy as we celebrate the birth of Christ!

This week, Adina Olson rounded out our sermon series on Heaven with the desire that each individual perspective on the end times would be founded on the Word of God. The most important question to confidently answer about Heaven is whether you know you’re going there. Adina brought us back to the beginning, reminding us of how God’s original plan was simply to be with us. The Lord’s compelling longing is to see us fully united and unified with Him in eternity.

This week, Pastor Chris continued in our series on Heaven. Chris described a longing that lives in every human heart for the new Heaven and new earth. There is an “already, not yet” tension that plays out in every one of our lives. We get tastes of Heaven on earth, but we consistently feel the pangs of sin and death. We must allow the longing for Heaven to change how we live today. If we truly understand what God has in store for us, we cannot and will not live the same.

This week Pastor Chris continued in our series on Heaven, seeking to answer what Heaven looks like in the present day. There are important, Biblical truths about those who have gone before us and are in Heaven now. At the same time, God’s Word continuously exhorts those still on Earth to set our minds on things above. The truth is this: what we think and know about Heaven matters. The reality of the Gospel is that our response to Jesus will dictate where we will spend eternity. The most important question to answer about Heaven is how you know you’re going there.

This week, Pastor Chris began a new sermon series seeking to answer some important questions about Heaven. We live in a culture that tells us to live for today and to deny the realities of eternity. The truth is that our view of Heaven matters. If we become fascinated by what eternity holds, it will change the way we live here on Earth. As believers, Heaven should be one of our primary motivating factors, driving us forward and giving us courage in all seasons.

This week, Pastor Chris sought to answer what brings people true happiness this side of heaven. The Bible is clear that we will find our lives when we give them away. God’s Word calls each one of us to be actively engaged servants, doing our part to advance the Kingdom. In our text, we find ourselves roughly five years after Pentecost with the Hebrews and Hellenists responding dramatically different to the social issues of their age. In the midst of tension, God’s people need to live sacrificially, not neglecting to meet with and serve the body of Christ.

This week, Pastor Chris continued in our series through the book of Acts with a powerful word on being empowered for a reset. We’ve reached a point in Acts where the fear of the Lord was released on the people of God, ushering in a season of many signs and wonders. Each of us have reached a point of weariness in our attempts to live in our own strength. What we may need is a reset in the Spirit. Pastor Chris called on each of us to reset our hearts and recommit to the Holy Spirit’s all-powerful work in our hearts.

This Sunday, Pastor Chris preached a powerful message on deception. In our text, Ananias and Sapphira lied to the Holy Spirit, held onto what was rightfully the Lord’s, and suffered the consequences of their hypocrisy and greed. Chris shared how greediness reveals what is truly in our hearts and where we’re finding our self-worth and identity. If we desire to live in the fear of the Lord,  we must also choose to live with a thankful and generous spirit.

This week, Pastor Chris continued in our series through the book of Acts with a word on Spirit-empowered generosity. He sought to explain what a Spirit-filled Christian looks like, answering it in one word: generous. Barnabas sets an example for us in our text when he sells his field and lays the profits at the apostles’ feet. When we walk in step with the Spirit of God who has regenerated our hearts of stone, we cannot help but freely and generously give our lives away.

This week, Pastor Chris continued in our series through the book of Acts with a word on religious persecution. It is becoming increasingly more unpopular to be a Christian in our culture, but we need not be intimidated. As Bible-believing Christians, we should each expect to face opposition when we speak truth. We need to operate in the fear of the Lord in order to boldly speak the truth of the Gospel no matter the consequence. Chris sought to answer how we can be bold and courageous in the midst of persecution. 

This week, Pastor Chris continued in our Empowered series through the book of Acts. Chris shared how the Lord has a direct path for us for times of refreshment. We can only be refreshed when we are honest in our confession and genuine in our desire to turn away from sin. Repentance is meant to be a normal piece of our relationship with Jesus. It is only through the loving kindness of Jesus that we are enabled to turn away from our sin and find true refreshment.