Christ City Cast

Christ City Church
  • 5.0 (12)
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A podcast for Christ City Church in Dallas, TX. Sunday sermons, community conversations, and more...

  1. 1d ago

    Facing Up to Partiality (2:1-13) | James: Faith at Work

    Many of our churches ignore our tendencies towards partiality, justify our favoritism, and excuse our cliquish exclusivity, labeling it 'fellowship.' But what if this is an afront to God, who, after all, "shows no partiality" (Rom. 2:11)? What if communities filled with partiality actually betray their professed faith in Jesus Christ, the Lord of Glory? In week 4 of our summer series, James: Faith At Work, we sit with James 2:1-13 and the uncomfortable mirror it holds up to the church. This teaching begins by drawing our attention to the Greek word for partiality in verse 1, which carries the idea of "receiving the face" - judging a person by their visible surface, social status, usefulness, wealth, poverty, polish, burden, or perceived return. But faith is supposed to retrain our sight so that we no longer see the other person--rich or poor--as a category to manage, a resource to exploit, or an inconvenience to avoid. Faith at work sees beyond mere appearance, beyond the sur-face, and recognizes the face of the other as a summons to love. This message walks verse by verse through James' warning against favoritism, the royal law to "love your neighbor as yourself," and the law of liberty that frees us from the old economy of fear, status, and self-protection, and arrives at the fundamental Gospel truth that mercy triumphs over judgement. Lest we mistakenly think mercy is mere sentiment, we are reminded that mercy is love becoming visible, love made manifestly present, in the face of suffering--like Jesus, who was the vehicle of God's mercy. Questions for Reflection: Whose presence makes me feel important, and whose presence makes me feel burdened? Why?Do I see by the worldly facade, or by the divine Glory?Has the mercy I have received become visible over judgment?How am I responding to the faith at work within me?Scripture References: James 2:1-13, Psalm 25:1-10, Matthew 5:3, Matthew 22:34-40, Deuteronomy 6:4-5, 2 Corinthians 5:16-21 Voices/Quotes: Emmanuel Levinas, Totality and Infinity; Douglas J. Moo, TNTC James; Craig L. Blomberg and Mariam J. Kamell, Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on James; Google DeepMind, "A Pragmatic View of AI Personhood" From the series James: Faith at WorkSermon Notes & Liturgy -- Tired of consumer Christianity? So are we.Come rest in Jesus. Sundays at 10:10AM642 Brookhurst Dr, Dallas, TX 75218.Christ City Church is a faith family following Jesus together in east Dallas.Learn more at www.christcity.life Follow us on...IG: @christcitylifeX: @christcitylifeTH: @christcitylifeFB: christcitychurchdallasYT: @christcitylife

    41 min

  2. Jun 15

    Participating With Faith (1:19-27) | James: Faith at Work

    A plant grown without wind grows weak. James says your faith is no different — the friction of an ordinary week may be the very thing God is using to strengthen and mature both you and your faith. In week 2 of our look at James we walk through James 1:19-27: How do we move from merely agreeing with our faith to participating in it fully? We consider the work of faith and faith at work, as we grow up into Christ-likeness — not as performance, but for maturation. Questions for Reflection: How am I responding to faith? Am I quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger?Do I live true to myself in Christ, participating with him in the labors of my day — free to be self-giving and free from all that binds?What would tomorrow look like if I responded to faith, and lived true?Scripture References: James 1:19-27, James 1:4, James 5:7-8, Psalm 37:1-11, Romans 3:28, Philippians 2:13, Matthew 11:25-30, Matthew 13:1-23, Acts 2 Voices/Quotes: Martin Luther (on the placement of James in the canon); Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals (communion liturgy) Sermon Notes & Liturgy | James: Faith at Work Tired of consumer Christianity? So are we.Come rest in Jesus. → Sundays at 10:10AM642 Brookhurst Dr, Dallas, TX 75218.Christ City Church is a faith family following Jesus together in east Dallas.Learn more at www.christcity.life Follow us on... IG: @christcitylife X: @christcitylife TH: @christcitylife FB: christcitychurchdallas YT: @christcitylife

    1h 5m

  3. Jun 9

    Complete(ing) Faith (1:1–18) | James: Faith at Work

    Sheltered, undisturbed plants may grow fast and even tall, but the result is a weak, fragile, and easily uprooted plant. By contrast, plants exposed to rain, wind, and the occasional disturbance grow strong, stable, and sturdy. Your soul works the same way. In this opening sermon of our summer series through the letter of James, we walk through James 1:1–18 and the old wisdom he himself leans into: that the trials we face are not meant to destroy us, but to activate and strengthen what has been given to us. We consider why the testing of faith produces steadfastness, what it means to ask God for wisdom without a divided soul, why the life resourced by appearances withers like grass, and the crucial difference between a trial and a temptation — one external, one a heart unsubmitted. Faith does its work not in one dramatic moment but over many ordinary ones, completing us — maturing us toward our purposed end — because what God starts in history and in us, he finishes in history through us. Questions for Reflection: James contends that the disturbances of life help ensure our maturation and completion. Where in your daily relations and responsibilities might God be activating and purifying your faith right now?When something hard hits, is your first instinct to face it as a trial that strengthens, or to read it as God against you? What would it look like to "count it all joy"?Where are you living divided — "double-souled" — tossed between believing and not believing? What wisdom do you need to ask God for, without doubting?Scripture References: James 1:1–18; Psalm 63:1–8; Proverbs 24:16; Acts 2:36; 1 Thessalonians 4:11–12; Psalm 1:3 Voices/Quotes: Douglas Moo Commentary on James; John Calvin Commentary on the Catholic Epistles; Keith McCurdy Raising Sturdy Kids; Jonathan Haidt The Anxious Generation Sermon Notes & Liturgy | James: Faith at Work Christ City Church gathers every Sunday at 10:10 AM at 642 Brookhurst Dr., Dallas, TX 75218; in the chapel at LHB. Come rest in Jesus. Learn more at christcity.life

    1h 1m

  4. Jun 2

    A Whole & Holy Life | Get(ting) Out of Work

    What if work was never the thing to survive on the way to your real life — but the very medium through which you offer yourself to God? In the finale of our "Get(ing) Out of Work" series we consider a few of the ancient, yet ever new, practices that the church has used to help God's people stay in step with the Spirit during the daily rhythms of work and rest, rest and work. Drawing on Irenaeus and Hans Urs von Balthasar, the message recovers an old picture of the human being: not merely shaped clay, body and soul, but body and soul and spirit together — the complete person, bearing not just the image but the likeness of God (Genesis 1:26). To be spiritual is "by definition to be moved by the Spirit of the Logos," Christ our Beginning, our Salvation, our End. This reframes work entirely. With Dorothy Sayers, work is "not primarily a thing one does to live, but the thing one lives to do… the medium in which one offers oneself to God." We do not offer our work to God; following Paul in Romans 12, we offer our whole selves — as a living sacrifice — through it. So we stop striving to get out of work the identity, prosperity, and purpose it was never meant to supply, and instead receive from it the life we're made for: the good work God "got ready for us to do" (Ephesians 2:10). Then the practical question: how? The answer is ancient and unglamorous — habits. As Annie Dillard wrote, "How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives… A schedule defends from chaos and whim. They are a net for catching days." Three habits to structure an ordinary day: Enter the day with the Lord's Prayer for Work — before the phone, before the lunches, perhaps before you're out of bed: "I give my whole self to you through the work you have given me this day."Recollect yourself midday with a centering prayer from Psalm 139 — breathing in, "I am…"; breathing out, "…still with you."Exit the day through the Examen — asking the Spirit where your work was out of step with Jesus, where it was in rhythm, and letting him lead you into rest.How we start matters. How we stay centered matters. And how we exit our labors into the rest of the night, made new, matters just as much. Reflection: Where was your work out of step with Jesus today, and where was it in rhythm with him? Scripture: Acts 2:1-3, 38-39 · Psalm 104:23-30 · Genesis 1:26 · Romans 12:1 · Ephesians 2:9-10 · 1 Thessalonians 5:23 Voices/Quotes: Annie Dillard, The Writing Life · Dorothy Sayers · Tom Nelson, Work Matters · Irenaeus of Lyons · Hans Urs von Balthasar Christ City Church is a small faith family following Jesus together in east Dallas. We gather Sundays at 10:10 AM at 642 Brookhurst Dr., Dallas, TX 75218, in the chapel @ LHB.

    42 min

  5. May 19

    A Rested Soul | Get(ting) Out of Work

    What if the burden of your work isn't that there's too much to do — but that there's an anxiousness in your soul that no productivity system can fix? This Sunday we looked at Matthew 11:25-30, sitting with the weight of Jesus' invitation to all who are "heavy laden." The Greek word for burden, notably, carries with it not just the image of an animal loaded past its capacity — but the idea of spiritual anxiety, an unsettledness beneath the labor. The problem isn't the workload. It's the heart beneath it. The sermon names what modern marketing has always known: the heart is the most manipulable part of the soul. It longs, aspires, loves — and in a world of unlimited options, it is constantly being pulled toward someone else's end. We pile on not just more work, but more expectations, more routines, more rituals, more rumors of wisdom. We have become a society of excess baggage. And so the work that was meant to free us buries us instead. The answer, Jesus says, is not less work. It's a different heart. "Take my yoke upon you… for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls." The yoke is a joining — two laboring together. Not handing off, but sharing. Thus, when our hearts are shaped by and fused with Christ's, the work doesn't merely become easier — it becomes transfigured as rest-full. Work, then, properly received, is itself a way to rest. Spiritual, mental, and bodily satisfaction — not in spite of the labor, but through it. Reflection Questions What labor and loads have you taken on that are not shared with Christ?Conversely, what labor and loads have you tried to give up that were yours to carry in Christ?In what labor and loads has your soul experienced rest?Scripture: Matthew 11:25-30; Psalm 40:1-8; Romans 12:1-2; John 14:31; Colossians 3:23 Voices: Dorothy Sayers, Leading Lives That Matter: what we should do and who we should beTom Nelson, Work Matters: connecting Sunday worship to Monday workSirach 6:24-31 (NRSV)Leon Morris, The Gospel according to Matthew, TPNTSermon Notes & Liturgy⁠⁠ We take a month or so every year to consider, together, the rhythm of creation according to God's design: ⁠⁠Sabbath & Work⁠ Christ City Church is a small faith family following Jesus together in east Dallas. We gather Sundays at 10:10 AM at the Chapel at Lake Highlands Baptist Church, 642 Brookhurst Dr., Dallas, TX 75218.Learn more at ⁠christcity.life

    48 min

  6. May 12

    Delight in Submission | Get(ting) Out of work

    What would change tomorrow if you forgot about serving others — and simply served the work?In Week 5 of our post-Easter series, we learn that for work to become a delight and fulfillment, it has to become something we submit to — not a means of getting something, but the medium through which we offer our whole selves to God. And in one of the most counterintuitive moves in the series: serving the work — not the people — is actually the only way to truly serve the people.Reflection Questions: What would be different if I "forgot the community and served the work" tomorrow?Where have I experienced the goodness of someone who was truly "serving the work"?Scripture: Colossians 3:15-24, Proverbs 3:6, Romans 12:1, John 6:38, Matthew 6:8-10Voices:Dorothy Sayers, Why Work? (1942)Julian of Norwich, Revelations of Divine Love Sermon Notes & Liturgy⁠ We take a month or so every year to consider, together, the rhythm of creation according to God's design: ⁠Sabbath & WorkChrist City Church is a small faith family following Jesus together in east Dallas. We gather Sundays at 10:10 AM at the Chapel at Lake Highlands Baptist Church, 642 Brookhurst Dr., Dallas, TX 75218.Learn more at christcity.life

    29 min

  7. May 6

    The Good In Which We Are Made | Get(ing) Out of Work

    What if the good life isn't getting out of work — but getting the good out of work? A common narrative today is one that says the good life is what waits on the other side of our labor, that progress always means doing less, working less, and somehow still getting more, and that the human ideal is a consumer at leisure. It's a compelling story. And it's one most of us have swallowed whole. But is this really what it means to get the good out of work? In Week 4 of our post-Easter series, Get(ting) Out of Work, we look at Ephesians 2:1-10, sitting with Paul's quiet but weighty claim that we are "created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." We explore what it means to stop bargaining with work and start serving it — and why that small reorientation might be the difference between a diminished life and a flourishing one, with Jesus. Questions for Reflection Do you believe this? What keeps you from believing that work is the thing you live to do — not just something you do to live?What would be different tomorrow if you entered your work not as something done to make a living, but as something you are living to do?Where have you seen the goodness of someone "serving" work rather than "bargaining" with it?Scripture: Ephesians 2:1-10; Psalm 27:4-6, 13-14; Psalm 92:13-14; 1 Thessalonians 4:11-12 Voices/Quotes: Dorothy Sayers, Why Work? Annie Dillard, The Writing LifeSermon Notes & Liturgy We take a month or so every year to consider, together, the rhythm of creation according to God's design: Sabbath & Work Christ City Church is a small faith family following Jesus together in east Dallas. We gather Sundays at 10:10 AM in the Chapel at LHBC. 642 Brookhurst Dr., Dallas, TX 75218. Learn more at christcity.life

    42 min

  8. Apr 29

    Submitting to Freedom | Get(ting) Out of Work

    Sabbath isn't a reward for a productive week. It's a declaration that you're already free. In week three of Get(ing) Out of Work, we turn to Deuteronomy 5 — where Moses restates the Sabbath command and adds something Exodus doesn't: a reason. Not creation, but liberation. God commands rest because he already got you out. To Sabbath is to remember who freed you, and to refuse — again — the identity of a slave. Sabbathing, it turns out, is a defiant act of freedom. Questions for Reflection: What does your relationship with rest reveal about what you believe God requires of you?In what ways does the culture around you function like Egypt — demanding your productivity, time, and identity? How does Sabbath resist that?Scripture References: Genesis 2:2–3; Exodus 20:8–11; Deuteronomy 5:12–15; Mark 2:27 Voices/Quotes: Eugene Peterson, Tell It Slant Sermon Notes & Liturgy We take a month or so every year to consider, together, the rhythm of creation according to God's design: Sabbath & Work This sermonette was a recorded during one of our regular Sabbath meals, where we gather together, around a table, to rest in Jesus, Christ City Church gathers every Sunday at 10:10 AM at 642 Brookhurst Dr., Dallas, TX 75218; in the chapel at LHB. Come rest in Jesus. Learn more at christcity.life

    13 min
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About

A podcast for Christ City Church in Dallas, TX. Sunday sermons, community conversations, and more...

Information

  • Creator
    Christ City Church
  • Years Active
    2019 - 2026
  • Episodes
    344
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Christ City Church
  • Show Website
    Christ City Cast