Shows / City Church Houston
City Church Houston
Renewing Houston by bringing the beauty of Christ into broken places. To learn more visit www.citychurch.org.
Episodes
City Church HoustonFaith & Courage
All of us struggle at times mustering the courage we need in life. God's instructions to Joshua when he was called to succeed Moses give us timeless truths to…
City Church HoustonFaith & Pain
Trust God in your pain while waiting for him to deliver you from your pain.
City Church HoustonFaith & Justice
Paul's only strictly personal letter, Philemon, tells us about not only his heart for justice, but also the gospel's heart for justice. Our faith must arc…
City Church HoustonFaith & The Bible
What's the role of the Bible for Christians or people curious about faith? Can we rely on it? How do we make sense of it? And how can it help us improve our…
City Church HoustonFaith & Hypocrisy
Faith is found at an intersection where we learn to set aside our sometimes hypocritical performances of self and embrace our true selves—more broken than we…
City Church HoustonFaith & Loneliness
In our fast-paced, hyper-online world, loneliness poses a growing challenge to human flourishing. Whatever new form this ancient problem takes, this psalm…
City Church HoustonFaith & Art
Are art and faith compatible or in conflict? Why do artists often feel disenfranchised by the church? How can art help us understand ourselves? How might art…
City Church HoustonFaith & Church
Many today are disillusioned with the church or just disinterested in it. This message will take modern concerns seriously and reflect on a passage that offers…
City Church HoustonFaith & Purpose
Not only does having a sense of purpose infuse meaning in our life, research suggests it is linked to a number of positive health outcomes. So why is it so…
City Church HoustonFaith & Emotions
The shortest verse in the Bible is by no means short on significance. When Jesus weeps over the loss of his friend, he reminds us that emotions are a vital…
City Church HoustonreNEW: The Opportunity
What can shape us into people who are open-handed and big-hearted? The answer is found in this stirring and stretching ancient prayer.
City Church HoustonreNEW: The Sacrifice
Can you imagine sacrificial generosity in the midst of extreme suffering giving rise to overwhelming joy? While this may surprise us, it's exactly what we find…
City Church HoustonreNEW: The Investment
Generosity is found less by facing greed than by facing fear, which is the root of greed. Sobering as it may sound, Jesus tells us that the path to overcoming…
City Church HoustonreNEW: The Vision
What biblical themes animate City Church's vision to renew Houston? How might this kind of church address cultural trends?
City Church HoustonA Curious Easter Case Study
The New Testament author, Luke, was so taken with the story of Saul of Tarsus that he couldn't stop telling it. It's a curious case study of the power of…
City Church HoustonMore than Conquerors
When we're struggling, what do we really need? In these concluding words from Romans 8, a high-water mark in the entire Bible, Paul shares words that can lift…
City Church HoustonSuffering and Glory
Though far from comfortable, true spiritual growth leads us into the heart of suffering, so that we may taste more fully the goodness of the hope of Christ—who…
City Church HoustonLove Without Exceptions
Essential to spiritual growth is going out of our way to care for the practical needs people face. We can sacrificially enter in to other people's suffering…
City Church HoustonThe War Within
How do we change? What do we do with competing desires within us? Here we'll consider different paradigms for spiritual growth and what a healthy and hopeful…
City Church HoustonThe Grace of Freedom
Grace is a radical concept. If it grabs hold of us, it will absolutely change us--not making us different versions of ourselves, but new people altogether…
City Church HoustonDead or Alive?
While suffering is often listed as the reason why people struggle to believe or disbelieve in God, it's curious that for the Apostle Paul it is central to…
City Church HoustonBlind Faith
Jesus came to serve not the religious, but the relegated, not those in possession of might, but those in want of mercy. The figure "Blind Bartimaeus" provides…
City Church HoustonHow to be Truly Great
How do we know if we can trust our desires and ambitions? How should we think about power? Here Jesus paints a counterintuitive and countercultural vision for…
City Church HoustonImpossibility of Belief
Jesus' famous encounter with a rich young ruler teaches us important lessons about our relationship to money.
City Church HoustonFirst and Last
What makes us feel like we're somebody? Instead of tweaking our assumptions, Jesus turns things upside down and offers a radically different and refreshingly…
City Church HoustonBedazzled Belief
Faith cannot last without wonder. While our spiritual lives must be intellectually and emotionally satisfying, the Gospels remind us that Christ's love and…
City Church HoustonBlurred Belief
Is it possible to be able to see but still be blind? Spiritually speaking it is. Jesus' healing of a blind man leads to an eye-opening moment with his…
City Church HoustonNew Year's Eve Homily 2023
The persistent temptation of our spiritual lives is to choose momentary security over long-term flourishing. The story of exile and the people's return to the…
City Church HoustonThe Joy
Though one might not think of this as a Christmas passage, it captures the essence of Christmas, and Christianity for that matter. It's particularly suited to…
City Church HoustonThe Freedom
Our lives are lived in between the two advents of Christ--his coming in humility in a manger and his future coming in great glory. What difference can this…
City Church HoustonThe Light
Advent cannot be understand; it can only be experienced. Like flipping on a light in a pitch-dark room, Christian hope is an awakening to the life that can be…
City Church HoustonThe Word
While we may tend to think of Advent as beginning in a manger in Bethlehem, the Apostle John reveals that it began much earlier--in the mystery of cosmic…
City Church HoustonJourneying On
The power of grace does not eras our past, but rather re-forms it, transforming who we were into who we are called to be. Free from shame and redeemed by God's…
City Church HoustonThe Limping Wrestler
With this mysterious story, our series reaches its dramatic climax. Jacob's wrestling with God encapsulates his life and signals his transformation. It also…
City Church HoustonSearing Love
One of the most subversive elements of Scripture is the way the Lord elevates and cares for women. This passage might be read as a story about a man and his…
City Church HoustonSubjects that Matter: Family of Origin
All of us are impacted by our upbringing and families of origin. We may leave the nest, but we take a lot with us. Listen as Nancy Wilson, LPCS, and Leo…
City Church HoustonThe Stairway
Ever feel like your life is a mess and you're not sure what to do? In a timeless story of stunning hope we find Jacob on the run. His life had fallen apart and…
City Church HoustonSuccession
Jacob's deceitful disguises can only secure broken blessings, and by lying to others, he is really lying to himself. The path to true self-knowledge runs…
City Church HoustonThe Genesis of Jacob
The origin story of Jacob and Esau tell us of two temptations that can threaten the life of faith: taking our future into our own hands, or abandoning the…
City Church HoustonThe Test
In this shocking climax to the Abraham story, he is faced with an absolutely horrifying test. How will this man, who has so often struggled in his faith…
City Church HoustonLaughing Matters
Our laughter--or lack thereof--tells us a lot about ourselves and our beliefs. In a creative narrative spanning several chapters, the concept of laughter is…
City Church HoustonHow To Hold On
Even when we *want* to believe, it can be hard to trust the promises of God. In Genesis, Abraham holds on to faith by ceding his doubts to God's sovereign…
City Church HoustonConversation with Beth Moore
Watch New York Times bestselling author Beth Moore’s candid conversation with City Church Lead Pastor Leo Schuster on anxiety and depression, sexual abuse, and…
City Church HoustonThe Trauma of Hagar
When mistreated or trapped in terrible circumstances, where are we to go? What are we to do when our misery goes unseen and no one seems to hear our cry for…
City Church HoustonThe Frailty of Faith
We don't believe or disbelieve in a vacuum. The stuff of life---the good, bad, and ugly-- always affects the way we process spiritual things. How do we live…
City Church HoustonThe Grace of Faith
Is faith supposed to come naturally to us? Why does it often feel like it's such a struggle? How can the life of faith, however difficult it proves to be, help…
City Church HoustonThe Fragility of Certainty
Peter's famous denial of Christ is about more than threefold repitition: it is a progression of doubts that reveal how fragile our faith can be if we lack…
City Church HoustonHelp My Unbelief
Can we believe and not believe at the same time? That was the experience of a desperate father who brought his troubled son to Jesus for healing: “I do…
City Church HoustonThe Dance of Faith
While people often talk about faith as though it were a fixed position of certainty, the Bible shows faith to be far more fluid. There’s a movement to it, a…
City Church HoustonInvisible Worlds
"Best things dwell out of sight," Emily Dickinson once wrote. It can be hard to believe what we cannot see, but so much of our life—our loves, our principles…
City Church HoustonThe New Self
If we're honest, isn't there often a ravine separating how we want to be and how we are? In Ephesians, Paul offers a profound view of our psychological and…
City Church HoustonInstruments of Grace
How do we find deep purpose in life? How do we grow and mature as a person? How can a person of faith be a peace-maker when religion so often is divisive?…
City Church HoustonFamilies of Grace
Why are families often the most difficult place for us to incorporate what it means to be a person of faith? How can we develop healthy, flourishing…
City Church HoustonA Profound Mystery
While it's an important topic, marriage can be a very sensitive subject. How should we think about it--its purpose, potential, and the pain that's often…
City Church HoustonExperiencing Boundless Love
Paul's second and final prayer for the people in Ephesus asks them to see that the highest ambition of our faith is to know and experience the limitless love…
City Church HoustonBehind the Scenes
How do we deal with discouragement? How do we make sense of our suffering? Paul interrupts himself in this very autobiographical and pastoral segment to share…
City Church HoustonA New Humanity
The grace of God frees us from old labels of our past, grants us a new identity for our present, and positions a cornerstone for our eternal future through the…
City Church HoustonThe Miracle of Grace
What makes grace truly amazing? Here Paul shows us how it can become a life-changing dynamic for us, help ground in us our sense of self, and discover purpose…