The Paradox Church

The Paradox Church
  • 4.9 (36)
  • Religion & Spirituality
  • Updated Biweekly

The Paradox Church is located in Downtown Fort Worth, Texas. Our work is to Pray Heaven Down, Preach the Gospel, Plant Churches, and Push Back Darkness.

  1. 5d ago

    That's Not You

    In week five of our 1 Corinthians series, Pastor Jim Essian teaches from 1 Corinthians 4:14-21 on toxic shame and spiritual fathers. Guilt says I was wrong. Shame goes a level deeper and says you are wrong — it assaults your identity. But there's a good shame too, the kind that says that's not you, and a toxic shame that insists that is exactly who you are. Shame makes you compare yourself to everyone around you. It makes you hide, the way Adam hid in the garden. And strangely, it makes you boast — because arrogance is just a fig leaf over how a person really feels about themselves. Paul's answer isn't more information. You have ten thousand guides, he tells them, and almost no fathers. What you need is someone who will walk with you, know your story and your shame, and show you the way. Scripture: 1 Corinthians 4:14-21 Preached by Jim Essian in Fort Worth, TX — We saturate Fort Worth and beyond with the glory and grace of Jesus — by praying heaven down, preaching the gospel, planting churches, and pushing back darkness.

  2. Sep 20

    Even Now, You're Not Ready

    An infant in Christ isn't a new Christian who hasn't been to enough Bible studies. An infant in Christ is someone who's been to a dozen and they haven't changed you. In week four of our 1 Corinthians series, Jim Essian preaches from 1 Corinthians 3 on two words in verse 2 that he says everything has to orbit around: even now. Paul tells a church full of spiritual people that he can't address them as spiritual people. Not because of where they are, but because of where they aren't headed. You walked into a supernatural gathering with zero expectation that God might call you to more today. Even now, you're not ready. Then Paul reminds them who they are. The Father's field, where faithfulness is our job and fruitfulness is his. The Son's building, laid on a foundation that cannot fail, where the only question left is what materials you're using. The Spirit's temple, which means you are already holy — and holiness does not give sin a closet in the house. Your greatest problem isn't that you're evil. It's that you forgot who you are. Scripture: 1 Corinthians 3:1-23 Preached by Jim Essian in Fort Worth, TX — We saturate Fort Worth and beyond with the glory and grace of Jesus — by praying heaven down, preaching the gospel, planting churches, and pushing back darkness. Plan a visit: prdx.ch/sunday-gatherings Join a city group: prdx.ch/citygroups Give: prdx.ch/give Subscribe for new messages every week. Full series: https://www.theparadoxchurch.com/1-corinthians Prdx — Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/paradoxftworth Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theparadoxchurch Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-paradox-church/id1126059565

  3. Sep 14

    Don't Be Discipled by a Machine

    AI knows everything ever written about God. It doesn't know God, and it doesn't know you. In week three of our 1 Corinthians series, Pastor Jim Essian teaches from 1 Corinthians 2:6-16 on knowledge, artificial intelligence, and the Holy Spirit. John Calvin opened the Institutes by saying true wisdom is the knowledge of God and the knowledge of yourself. Every generation has asked the first question. Ours is asking the second one — who am I? — and we're asking machines. Paul's point to Corinth was that the rulers of his age had Torah, the temple, rabbinical training, and Jesus himself standing in front of them, and they still crucified the Lord of glory. You can have eyes, ears, and a heart that hopes, and still lack the capacity to know God. All the knowledge in the world can't get you there. But the Spirit searches the depths of God. And the Spirit was given to us for a purpose — that we might understand the things freely given us by God. A food chemist can describe a strawberry to you in full. You still haven't tasted it. Ask AI a question about God and you'll get a correct answer in four seconds and be no closer to him than before you asked. Scripture: 1 Corinthians 2:6-16 Preached by Jim Essian in Fort Worth, TX

  4. Sep 6

    Your Faith Doesn’t Rest on Your Faith

    Lecrae went to his first Grammy party — a mansion, famous people everywhere, and in the middle a gazebo where the really famous people were, with everyone else edging closer hoping for a photo. His read on it: this is high school in a bigger house. In week two of our 1 Corinthians series, Pastor Jim Essian teaches from 1 Corinthians 1:18-2:5 on the heart issue underneath every division — and the three questions Paul uses to expose it. Where are you getting your wisdom? You've absorbed more expert opinion in the last week than your grandparents did in a lifetime, and we're asking computers for relationship advice. How's that going? Where are you getting your confidence? To boast is to point at something so you can feel secure. And boasting always needs an enemy — which is exactly where division comes from. What is your faith actually in? Here's the diagnostic: what would have to fall apart before you stopped believing? Paul's answer to all three is a person, not a philosophy. God chose the foolish, the weak, the low, the despised — not because they were impressive, but because they were nothing. Which means his love isn't based on you, and you can't lose it. Scripture: 1 Corinthians 1:18-2:5 Preached by Jim Essian in Fort Worth, TX — We saturate Fort Worth and beyond with the glory and grace of Jesus — by praying heaven down, preaching the gospel, planting churches, and pushing back darkness. Plan a visit: [prdx.ch/sunday-gatherings] Join a city group: prdx.ch/citygroups  Give: prdx.ch/give  Subscribe for new messages every week Full series: https://www.theparadoxchurch.com/the-multiplying-church Prdx — Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/paradoxftworth Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theparadoxchurch Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-paradox-church/id1126059565

  5. Aug 30

    The Question Isn’t Whether You’re Right

    We are discipled by Christian influencers who don't know our name, and it makes us disagree with people in our own church who do. We're beginning a seven-month series in 1 Corinthians, and Pastor Jim Essian opens with the letter's central diagnosis: the church in Corinth looked too much like Corinth and not enough like the cross. Paul doesn't start with their mess — and there was plenty of it. He starts with their identity. Sanctified saints, together. Because identity precedes behavior, for a person and for a church. Then he names the division. Four tribes, each claiming a teacher, each quietly convinced they were the better Christian. Paul's real concern wasn't doctrine. It was self-exaltation, and the posture underneath it: I have no need of you. The hard question isn't whether you're right. It's whether you need them to be wrong. Corinth's symbol was the wreath. America's is the platform. Ours is the cross — and a wreath tells you what you won, while the cross tells you what you're worth. Scripture: 1 Corinthians 1:1-17 Preached by Jim Essian at The Paradox Church in Fort Worth, TX — We saturate Fort Worth and beyond with the glory and grace of Jesus — by praying heaven down, preaching the gospel, planting churches, and pushing back darkness. Plan a visit: [prdx.ch/sunday-gatherings] Join a city group: prdx.ch/citygroups Give: prdx.ch/give Subscribe for new messages every week. Full series: https://www.theparadoxchurch.com/the-multiplying-church Prdx — Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/paradoxftworth Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theparadoxchurch Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-paradox-church/id1126059565

  6. Aug 24

    Intro to 1 Corinthians

    Pastors Jim Essian and James Lepine discuss the wild range of topics that Paul addresses throughout the book of 1 Corinthians and why it matters for the church today.

  7. Aug 23

    Push Back Darkness

    In the final week of our Multiplying Church series, Pastor Jim Essian teaches from 1 John 1:5-10 on the fourth play we run as a church — pushing back darkness. But before the church can push back darkness in the city, it has to push back the darkness in its own heart. Otherwise we're just hypocrites who help. God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. That purity is what frightens us — and it's the only thing that guarantees he will never turn on us. If God had a dark side, he couldn't be trusted with ours. The darkness makes us feel hidden when it has actually made us blind. And the lie we believe is that the light would be worse. It wouldn't. Confession means agreeing with God about what he already knows, and in that agreement every other agreement gets broken. You can't hide and heal. Scripture: 1 John 1:5-10 Preached by Jim Essian at The Paradox Church in Fort Worth, TX

    Push Back Darkness

  8. Aug 16

    Plant Churches

    You can build a church in America with a gifted communicator, good music, and a growing neighborhood. You don't need the Holy Spirit for that. But you cannot multiply without him. In week three of our Multiplying Church series, Pastor Jim Essian teaches from Acts 9:26-31 on how a church actually multiplies — and shares a major announcement about the future of The Paradox Church. When Saul arrived in Jerusalem, the disciples were afraid of him. It took Barnabas, the son of encouragement, vouching for the church's former greatest enemy. Churches that multiply are filled with people who remember their own story of redemptive grace — who know they needed it too. Luke gives us the formula in verse 31: walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, the church multiplied. Not respect. Not reverence. Fear — the full-body kind. And a Spirit who doesn't remove us from the uncomfortable thing, but comes alongside us in it. Scripture: Acts 9:26-31 Preached by Jim Essian at The Paradox Church in Fort Worth, TX — We saturate Fort Worth with the glory and grace of Jesus, even unto the nations — by praying heaven down, preaching the gospel, planting churches, and pushing back darkness.

    Plant Churches
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Ratings & Reviews

4.9
out of 5
36 Ratings

About

The Paradox Church is located in Downtown Fort Worth, Texas. Our work is to Pray Heaven Down, Preach the Gospel, Plant Churches, and Push Back Darkness.

Information

  • Creator
    The Paradox Church
  • Years Active
    2016 - 2026
  • Episodes
    201
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 The Paradox Church

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