Advent Devotional: Isaiah's Song & Come Up Here (Let Us Adore Him)
Release Date: 12/06/2023
Come & See: I Am the Bread of Life - Jon Tyson
Church of the City New York
This Sunday, Pastor Jon continued our new Come & See series with a teaching on Jesus’ first “I AM” statement, “I am the bread of life.” Jesus has shaped history and radically transformed lives, but our modern understanding of Him often leaves us bored and disinterested. The Christian religion has been reduced to following rules and restraining desire, but following Jesus is meant to be a life of passion, freedom, and deep satisfaction.
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Come & See: The Simple Gospel - Tim Brown
Church of the City New York
This Sunday, Pastor Tim Brown kicked off our new series, Come & See, an in depth study in the Gospel of John of Jesus' words about Himself and the deeds He performed to prove these words. Pastor Tim began towards the end of John’s Gospel, where he states his reason for writing was that people might believe in the good news of Christ being the true Messiah who offers us new life in His name.
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Controversial Faith: Q&A Panel
Church of the City New York
This week, Pastor Jon Tyson and Pastor Suzy Silk wrapped up our sermon series on Controversial Faith with a Q&A to answer some of the common questions and objections skeptics and seekers have regarding Jesus, the Scriptures, and living as a Christian in our modern world. Pastor Jon framed this time with 1 Peter 3:15-16, and claimed it is more important than ever for Christians to deal with their controversial faith.
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Controversial Faith: Why Does God Care About My Sexuality? - Jon Tyson
Church of the City New York
This Sunday, Pastor Jon continued our Controversial Faith series with a teaching on Biblical sexuality. We live in sexually confusing and chaotic times, and as we begin to examine the effects the secular sexual ethic has on individuals and our culture at large, instead of flourishing, we find decay, pain, and brokenness. However, we are called to honor God with our bodies by faithfully stewarding our sexuality, because we were bought with a price, and one day we will be with Christ forever in a soul satisfying union that is a fulfillment of every desire we’ve ever had. Additional resources:...
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Controversial Faith: How can a Good God Allow Evil and Suffering? - Suzy Silk
Church of the City New York
This Sunday Pastor Suzy Silk continued our Controversial Faith series by asking the question: How can a good God allow evil and suffering in the world? The tension between the sovereignty of God and the realities of suffering often hold people back from experiencing and accepting the person of Jesus, or eventually drive people away from Him. In an effort to address this problem of pain, Pastor Suzy laid out five reasons not to turn away from Jesus when faced with evil and suffering.
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Controversial Faith: The Church and Politics - Jon Tyson
Church of the City New York
This Sunday, Pastor Jon Tyson continued our series on Controversial Faith with a message on how we, as Christians, should engage with politics. As people of God, we can participate in politics with eschatological hope and humble conviction instead of despair. Ultimately, we pray, vote, protest, and practice principled pluralism because we know the solution to the problem of politics in our modern world: declaring Jesus is Lord.
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Controversial Faith: Why Can We Trust the Bible? - Suzy Silk
Church of the City New York
This Sunday, Pastor Suzy Silk continued our series on Controversial Faith with a teaching on why we can trust the Bible. Translated into 698 languages, the Bible is the best-selling and most influential book in world history, and is worth reading based on these merits alone. Pastor Suzy then provided context on why the Bible is different from all other books through analyzing the genre and style, the authorship and preservation, and how we should respond to reading the text as followers of Jesus.
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Controversial Faith: The Exclusivity of Jesus - Jon Tyson
Church of the City New York
This Sunday, Pastor Jon kicked off our new series on Controversial Faith by addressing Jesus’ scandalous exclusivity. The claim, “Jesus is Lord”, has been highly contested throughout history, and it is no different today. However, as His followers, we must acknowledge our own sinfulness, lead with with gentleness and respect when sharing our beliefs, and be willing to be misunderstood as we publicly witness about Jesus Christ, the only name that can save.
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Easter Sunday 2024 - Jon Tyson
Church of the City New York
This Easter Sunday, Pastor Jon taught about how we come to believe in the resurrection from the story of the two disciples on the road to Emmaus from Luke 24. Believing in the resurrection of Jesus is a key belief for salvation, and the Apostle Paul goes so far as to say that if Christ has not been raised from the dead, then our faith is useless and futile. Pastor Jon laid out the three things it takes to believe in Jesus’ resurrection: evaluating the historical facts, gaining a theological understanding, and having a personal encounter with the person of Christ.
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Seven Deadly Sins: Envy - Suzy Silk
Church of the City New York
This Sunday, Pastor Suzy Silk closed out our sermon series on the Seven Deadly Sins with a teaching on envy. A prohibition against coveting, or envy, is included in the Ten Commandments, because it is a slippery slope that begins in our thoughts and quickly leads to death. Holy Week reminds us that Jesus Himself demonstrated costly trust and costly obedience in the Father’s plans for Him, and costly love towards even those who took part in His death. We can choose to turn away from envy because we have the better thing—the presence of Jesus, now and forever.
info_outlineWelcome to Church of the City New York’s Advent Devotionals.
Jesus was good news in the First Century, and He is still good news today. In the Christmas stories recounted in Scripture, people always responded to Jesus with amazement and praise. This response came from deep longings and heartbreak being met with God breaking in to fulfill His promises, offer His forgiveness, bring His justice and peace, and extend His love.
This Christmas, we hope you will have your own encounter with the person of Jesus and the good news of His birth, and like those of old, let your song of praise resound to the world around you.
Song Credits: Emily Lindquist
Written By: Church of the City New York Editorial Team