Church of the City New York
- Episodes
- 543
- Released
- weekly
- Latest episode
- Nov 9, 2026
About the podcast
Welcome to the Church of the City Podcast. Church of the City New York is a church community passionate about making disciples who "practice the way of Jesus together for the renewal of the city." We believe in the authority and power of the scriptures to shape our communal life and practice, as we seek to teach God's word with clarity and conviction. Most of the teaching in our community is done by Pastor Jon Tyson and our teaching team. We have both morning and evening services and meet in the heart of Manhattan. For more information visit: churchofthecitynyc.com
Episodes 543
Manifesto of Fruitfulness | The Fruit of Repentance - Jon Tyson
This Sunday, Pastor Jon continued our Manifesto of Fruitfulness series by exploring the fruit of repentance. Where we often mistake repentance for simply feeling guilty, regretting a decision, or fearing the …
Show notes
This Sunday, Pastor Jon continued our Manifesto of Fruitfulness series by exploring the fruit of repentance. Where we often mistake repentance for simply feeling guilty, regretting a decision, or fearing the consequences of our actions, biblical repentance goes deeper. It is a turning away from sin and a reorientation of our hearts toward God. Looking at Paul's words in 2 Corinthians 7, Pastor Jon unpacked the difference between worldly sorrow, which leads to defensiveness and self-justification, and godly sorrow, which produces a genuine desire to change and make things right. Repentance is not an invitation to condemnation, but an expression of God's grace, leading us toward forgiveness, freedom, and a restored relationship with Him.
Manifesto of Frutifulness | The Fruit of the Seasons - Raegan Griffith
This Sunday, Pastor Raegan Griffith continued our Manifesto of Fruitfulness series by looking at the fruit of seasons in Ecclesiastes 3. In the sermon, Pastor Raegan talks about how we often want life to keep …
Show notes
This Sunday, Pastor Raegan Griffith continued our Manifesto of Fruitfulness series by looking at the fruit of seasons in Ecclesiastes 3. In the sermon, Pastor Raegan talks about how we often want life to keep moving up and to the right, but God has something to teach us in every season. Whether we find ourselves in a winter marked by waiting or loss, a spring of new beginnings, a summer of growth and abundance or a fall of letting go, each season has its own purpose. Rather than rushing through the hard seasons or trying to hold on to the good ones, we are invited to trust God with the season we're in and allow Him to form something in us through it. As we learn to abide in Him, we can trust that He will make all things beautiful in their time.
Manifesto of Frutifulness | The Fruit of the Gifts - Dr. Ron Walborn
This Sunday, Pastor Ron Walborn continued our Manifesto of Fruitfulness series by looking at the fruit of spiritual gifts in 1 Peter 4:7–11. The gifts of the Holy Spirit are not ours to keep or use for our own …
Show notes
This Sunday, Pastor Ron Walborn continued our Manifesto of Fruitfulness series by looking at the fruit of spiritual gifts in 1 Peter 4:7–11. The gifts of the Holy Spirit are not ours to keep or use for our own recognition. They are gifts of God's grace, entrusted to us to serve others, strengthen the Church and participate in his mission in the city. Pastor Ron reminded us that we need both the fruit and the gifts of the Spirit: the character of Jesus and his power at work through His people. Discovering our gifts doesn't begin with having everything figured out, it begins with obedience, as we step out to serve, grow in practice and learn to recognize what God is doing in and through us. The invitation is to fan into flame what God has entrusted to us, keeping Jesus, not the gifts themselves, at the center.
Manifesto of Fruitfulness | The Fruit of Praise - Billy Sprague
This Sunday, Pastor Billy continued our Manifesto of Fruitfulness series by exploring the fruit of praise and asking who or what receives our worship. In Hebrews 13, we are called to offer God a sacrifice of …
Show notes
This Sunday, Pastor Billy continued our Manifesto of Fruitfulness series by exploring the fruit of praise and asking who or what receives our worship. In Hebrews 13, we are called to offer God a sacrifice of praise, but praise is more than words spoken when life is going well. It is a choice to declare God's worth in the midst of uncertainty, to practice gratitude when complaint comes more naturally and to speak openly about what he has done. Through the stories of Scripture, Pastor Billy reminded us that praise does not deny our circumstances or depend on a particular outcome. It is a response to who God is and what he has already done for us. As our lives are shaped by gratitude and our own encounters with Jesus, praise moves beyond private worship and becomes a public witness to the goodness and faithfulness of God.
Manifesto of Fruitfulness | The Fruit of Evangelism - Jon Tyson
This Sunday, Pastor Jon continued our Manifesto of Fruitfulness series by exploring the fruit of evangelism and what it means to share the good news of Jesus with the people around us. In 2 Corinthians 5, Paul …
Show notes
This Sunday, Pastor Jon continued our Manifesto of Fruitfulness series by exploring the fruit of evangelism and what it means to share the good news of Jesus with the people around us. In 2 Corinthians 5, Paul describes us as ambassadors for Christ, entrusted with the message of reconciliation. But how we share that message can look different from person to person. Whether through our own testimony, an invitation into community, honest conversations about faith or a prompting from the Holy Spirit, we are called to meet people where they are. Pastor Jon reminded us that evangelism begins with the heart of Jesus, who pursues those who are far from God and welcomes people in the midst of their brokenness. As we learn to share the hope we have found in him, we are called to do so with gentleness and respect, trusting that the work of bringing people to Jesus is not ours to accomplish alone.
Manifesto of Fruitfulness | The Fruit of Eternity - Sam Gibson
New York disciples its people through ambition. Etched into the walls of Moynihan Train Hall, the newly renovated front door to the city, is a single word from the New York State seal: Excelsior. It's Latin for …
Show notes
New York disciples its people through ambition. Etched into the walls of Moynihan Train Hall, the newly renovated front door to the city, is a single word from the New York State seal: Excelsior. It's Latin for "ever upward," and while meant as civic pride showcasing New York's history of excellence, said honestly, in the context of most people's lives in the city, "ever upward" feels more like a mandate than a cheer. Most people here live pinned between two unsatisfying options—apathy or ambition—with both ending in defeat. Jesus offers a third way: fruitfulness. He makes the uncomfortable contrast between what a person produces and what a person's life produces in somebody else, and in turn, the Kingdom. Over eleven weeks, we will hear from Jon Tyson and other preachers about the 100x life God intends to cultivate in His disciples.Manifesto of Fruitfulness | The Fruit of the Spirit - Jon Tyson
This Sunday, Pastor Jon continued A Manifesto of Fruitfulness, teaching from Galatians 5:13–26 on the fruit of the Spirit. We are all being formed by something, but we are also being deformed. Sin teaches us to …
Show notes
This Sunday, Pastor Jon continued A Manifesto of Fruitfulness, teaching from Galatians 5:13–26 on the fruit of the Spirit. We are all being formed by something, but we are also being deformed. Sin teaches us to organize our lives around ourselves, while the Spirit transforms us from the inside out. The fruit of the Spirit isn't something we manufacture by trying harder. It is the evidence of a life being transformed by Christ. Fruit comes through union, not imitation; by beholding, not striving; in community, not isolation. As we remain planted in Him, the Spirit slowly forms us into people who reflect the character of Jesus.
Manifesto of Fruitfulness | The 100x Life - Jon Tyson
This Sunday, Pastor Jon continued our series, A Manifesto of Fruitfulness, teaching from Luke 8:4-15, the parable of the sower. Pastor Jon reminded us that Jesus describes one seed, scattered generously across …
Show notes
This Sunday, Pastor Jon continued our series, A Manifesto of Fruitfulness, teaching from Luke 8:4-15, the parable of the sower. Pastor Jon reminded us that Jesus describes one seed, scattered generously across every kind of ground. The variance wasn't the seed, but the soil. He named the four kinds soil could take: seed stolen before it can root, joy that springs up fast and withers under real pressure, a heart slowly choked by the decade-long apartment search, the co-op board interview, a city built to manufacture not-enough, until there's no margin left to notice God, and soil that receives the word, keeps it, and yields a hundred times what was sown, a harvest so disproportionate to the effort that it can only be received as gift. Jon closed with an invitation: not a program to complete, but a simple surrender of the soil itself. Lord, make us good soil.
Manifesto of Fruitfulness | An invitation to a life of joy and love - Jon Tyson
This Sunday, Pastor Jon returned from sabbatical and opened a new series called, A Manifesto of Fruitfulness, starting with Jesus's words in John 15: "Abide in me." He named some of the places we try to root …
Show notes
This Sunday, Pastor Jon returned from sabbatical and opened a new series called, A Manifesto of Fruitfulness, starting with Jesus's words in John 15: "Abide in me." He named some of the places we try to root our lives instead: self-preservation, achievement, religious performance, and the quiet exhaustion each one leaves behind, especially in a city that trains us to keep building, proving, becoming. But Jesus offers a different picture entirely: a branch doesn't strain to produce fruit, it simply stays connected to the vine, and the fruit follows on its own. Pastor Jon called this his life ambition—becoming, in his words, a "black belt in abiding"—learning to receive the love of Jesus rather than spend a lifetime trying to earn it. The invitation this week is that simple: stop building your life around what you can do for Jesus, and start receiving what he has already done for you.FOLLOW | Multiplication - Billy Sprague
This Sunday, Pastor Billy closed our FOLLOW series by asking what it would look like to take Jesus' command to go and make disciples seriously—not as a monumental assignment reserved for pastors or people who …
Show notes
This Sunday, Pastor Billy closed our FOLLOW series by asking what it would look like to take Jesus' command to go and make disciples seriously—not as a monumental assignment reserved for pastors or people who have it all together, but as an ordinary part of following Jesus. He began with the sobering stat: The average Christian will make one new disciple every 26 years. With nearly 6 million lost New Yorkers, this approach to discipleship is not sustainable. God's discipleship plan is "you!" Pastor Billy said. You already have relationships, access, and places of influence no pastor could replicate. The invitation is to make yourself known as a Christian, ask God for one person to disciple, and look for opportunities to lean in. We do not change heart, Jesus does. Our part is to be faithful with the person He has already placed in front of us.FOLLOW | Worshipping - Raegan Griffith
This Sunday, Pastor Reagan continued our FOLLOW series with a teaching on worship. She began with the story of a woman who poured an entire jar of expensive perfume over Jesus. Where the disciples saw waste …
Show notes
This Sunday, Pastor Reagan continued our FOLLOW series with a teaching on worship. She began with the story of a woman who poured an entire jar of expensive perfume over Jesus. Where the disciples saw waste; Jesus saw worship. But the question beneath the story is not simply what we are willing to give Jesus, it is what we believe He is worth. Pastor Reagan traced worship back to the act of beholding—to giving our attention to Jesus long enough for our vision of Him to be enlarged. Mary's extravagant offering was not an isolated moment of devotion. It was the natural response of a life that had come to see Jesus as worthy, and when Jesus becomes our highest good, our lives begin to reorder around Him.FOLLOW | Confronting - Tim Brown
This Sunday, Pastor Tim continued our FOLLOW series with Jesus' difficult words to the Pharisees in Matthew 23. Rather than using the passage to confront everyone else, he invited us to ask a more personal …
Show notes
This Sunday, Pastor Tim continued our FOLLOW series with Jesus' difficult words to the Pharisees in Matthew 23. Rather than using the passage to confront everyone else, he invited us to ask a more personal question: Where does Jesus want to confront me? Pastor Tim explored how hypocrisy can take root when our outward lives become disconnected from what is happening within us, and how easily we can notice the failures of others while overlooking our own. Jesus' confrontation is not meant to leave us in shame, rather it is an invitation into honesty, mercy, and freedom. Allowig God to form in us what we cannot produce on our own.
FOLLOW | Servanthood - Keithen Schwahn
This week Pastor Keithen continued our Follow series in Matthew 20:25-28, where Jesus tells His disciples that greatness in the kingdom looks nothing like greatness in the world. Preaching to a room full of New …
Show notes
This week Pastor Keithen continued our Follow series in Matthew 20:25-28, where Jesus tells His disciples that greatness in the kingdom looks nothing like greatness in the world. Preaching to a room full of New Yorkers, Pastor Keithen named the "main character energy" that drives so much of this city, the ambition and grit that gets us here and keeps us here, and asked whether we've quietly assumed Jesus only wants to tweak that energy rather than replace it. He walked through four shifts from the text: from consumption to contribution, from criticism to compassion, from main character energy to a life of consecration, and from extracting from New York to laying our lives down for it. "Not so with you," Jesus says. Whoever wants to be great must become a servant.
FOLLOW | Loving - Tim Brown
This Sunday, Pastor Tim continued our FOLLOW series by asking what it means to love God with our whole lives. Jesus' command to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength is not simply about how we …
Show notes
This Sunday, Pastor Tim continued our FOLLOW series by asking what it means to love God with our whole lives. Jesus' command to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength is not simply about how we feel toward Him—it is about loyalty, trust, and choosing Him even when His ways are difficult to understand. Pastor Tim reflected on how our love for God is formed through both joy and disappointment, and how faithfulness becomes deeper when we learn to trust His character even when we don't understand His circumstances. That love eventually moves outward, shaping the way we see and love the people God has placed around us. Following Jesus means learning to love God like this, and letting that love change the way we live in the world.FOLLOW | Rest - Ralph Castillo
This Sunday, Pastor Ralph continued our FOLLOW series with a teaching on Jesus' invitation to true rest from Matthew 11:25–12:21 He began with John the Baptist, sitting in prison and asking Jesus, "Are you the …
Show notes
This Sunday, Pastor Ralph continued our FOLLOW series with a teaching on Jesus' invitation to true rest from Matthew 11:25–12:21 He began with John the Baptist, sitting in prison and asking Jesus, "Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?" It was a reminder that even faithful disciples can struggle when Jesus doesn't meet their expectations. Pastor Ralph suggested that much of our restlessness begins there. We carry burdens Jesus never asked us to carry because we've forgotten who He is. Against that backdrop, Jesus offers one of His most tender invitations, "Come to me... and you will find rest." Rather than promising an easier life, He invites us into a different way of living—one where we come to Him, take His yoke, and learn His way. The result isn't the absence of difficulty, but the deep rest that comes from walking closely with the gentle and humble King.
FOLLOW | Healing - Dr. Ron Walborn
This Sunday, Dr. Ron Walborn continued our Follow series with a teaching on healing from Matthew 8:1–4. He began with the character of Jesus. Before healing a man with leprosy, Jesus reaches out and touches him …
Show notes
This Sunday, Dr. Ron Walborn continued our Follow series with a teaching on healing from Matthew 8:1–4. He began with the character of Jesus. Before healing a man with leprosy, Jesus reaches out and touches him first. It's a small gesture that reveals a God who moves toward people with compassion, not distance. From there, Dr. Ron explored both the posture of the man seeking healing and Jesus' example for those who minister to others, reminding us that healing is never an end in itself but an invitation into the life God has for us. Holding together both faith and mystery, he encouraged the church to pray boldly because God is a healing God, while recognizing that His healing is fully real now, even as we wait for the day when sickness and death are no more. His closing invitation was simple: the healing ministry of Jesus belongs to the whole Church.
FOLLOW | Obedience - Dr. Wanda Walborn
This Sunday, guest preacher Dr. Wanda Walborn continued our FOLLOW series with a teaching on obedience from Matthew 7:21-27. Obedience is not an inspiring word for many of us. We want Jesus' love, His …
Show notes
This Sunday, guest preacher Dr. Wanda Walborn continued our FOLLOW series with a teaching on obedience from Matthew 7:21-27. Obedience is not an inspiring word for many of us. We want Jesus' love, His forgiveness, His grace, but we hesitate at obedience because we have seen the word distorted. Scripture presents it differently—not the loss of freedom, but the way we learn to trust a good Father. In the parable of the wise and foolish builders, both houses faced the same storm. The difference was the foundation, quietly formed long before the rain, built with integrity, consistent sowing, and grit. The habits formed in the calm show up in the storm. The application from this sermon was to ask the Lord for one habit to practice this week. Write it down. Tell someone. The small decisions you make each day become the foundation you stand on tomorrow.
FOLLOW | Seeking - Ralph Castillo
This week, Pastor Ralph continued our FOLLOW series with a teaching on Jesus' command to "seek first the kingdom of God." He began with a simple observation—everyone is seeking something. The real question is …
Show notes
This week, Pastor Ralph continued our FOLLOW series with a teaching on Jesus' command to "seek first the kingdom of God." He began with a simple observation—everyone is seeking something. The real question is what sits at the center of our lives. Working through Matthew's Gospel, Pastor Ralph showed that before Jesus ever calls people to seek the Kingdom, He reveals the King. Pastor Ralph quoted "the only way to dispossess the heart of an old affection is by the expulsive power of a new one." Lasting change comes less from trying harder than from discovering a greater love. As Jesus becomes the center, everything else begins to find its proper place.
FOLLOW | Resist - Raegan Griffith
This week, Pastor Raegan continued our FOLLOW series by teaching from Jesus' temptation in the wilderness in Matt. 4:1–11. If apprenticeship to Jesus means learning His way of life, then it also means learning …
Show notes
This week, Pastor Raegan continued our FOLLOW series by teaching from Jesus' temptation in the wilderness in Matt. 4:1–11. If apprenticeship to Jesus means learning His way of life, then it also means learning how to resist what pulls us away from Him. Looking at Jesus' three temptations in the wilderness, Pastor Raegan explored the ways the enemy still works today—drawing us toward comfort over dependence on God, cynicism over trust, and God's gifts apart from God Himself. At the heart of the message was the question, What is your ultimate prize? If anything other than intimacy with God becomes our highest pursuit, temptation will always have something to offer us. But when God Himself is the prize, even the wilderness can become a place where our faith is refined and our love for Him grows deeper.
FOLLOW | Apprenticeship - Keithen Schwahn
This week, Pastor Keithen opened our FOLLOW series with a question that kicks off the heart of the series, "Is it possible to be a Christian and not a disciple of Jesus?" Teaching from Matthew 4:18–22, he …
Show notes
This week, Pastor Keithen opened our FOLLOW series with a question that kicks off the heart of the series, "Is it possible to be a Christian and not a disciple of Jesus?" Teaching from Matthew 4:18–22, he argued that discipleship is not simply about believing Jesus' teaching but apprenticing under His way of life. Looking at Jesus' first call of the fishermen, Pastor Keithen showed that Jesus' invitation comes before anyone has proven themselves, calling ordinary people into a life of presence, formation, and mission. In a culture where "follow" has become little more than a social media gesture, he recovered its original meaning: to walk closely with Jesus until His life becomes evident in our own.
FREED | Oppression - Sam Gibson
This Sunday, Pastor Sam Gibson concluded our FREED series with a teaching on freedom from spiritual oppression. Teaching from Colossians 1 and 2, he argued that how we understand spiritual warfare depends on …
Show notes
This Sunday, Pastor Sam Gibson concluded our FREED series with a teaching on freedom from spiritual oppression. Teaching from Colossians 1 and 2, he argued that how we understand spiritual warfare depends on how we understand the Gospel. The Gospel is not only the message that our sins can be forgiven. It is also the announcement that Jesus is King. The powers of darkness have been defeated, His kingdom has arrived, and believers now live under His authority. In the teaching, Pastor Sam offered practical guidance for navigating spiritual opposition. One of the enemy's great aims is to steal our song—our wonder, our confidence, our worship. Yet throughout Scripture, God's people continue singing in prisons, in exile, and in suffering. Their songs are acts of remembrance, resistance, and hope, and we can live with that same posture today.FREED | Fear - Luke Lefevre
This week, guest teacher Luke LeFevre continued our FREED series with a sermon on fear, exploring how fear can quietly lead us into self-preservation rather than faithful stewardship. Drawing from Matthew 25 …
Show notes
This week, guest teacher Luke LeFevre continued our FREED series with a sermon on fear, exploring how fear can quietly lead us into self-preservation rather than faithful stewardship. Drawing from Matthew 25, Luke unpacked Jesus' parable of the talents, challenged the comparison that keeps many of us from embracing our God-given assignment, and called us to live with an eternal perspective. The invitation was simple but costly: freedom from fear is not waiting until fear disappears, but choosing to trust and obey Jesus anyway.
Freed | Unforgiveness - Tim Brown
This week, Pastor Tim Brown continued our FREED series with a sermon on unforgiveness—what he called one of the most ignored sources of bondage in the Church today. Drawing from Matthew 18, Pastor Tim explored …
Show notes
This week, Pastor Tim Brown continued our FREED series with a sermon on unforgiveness—what he called one of the most ignored sources of bondage in the Church today. Drawing from Matthew 18, Pastor Tim explored why forgiveness is so difficult, how bitterness quietly takes root in our lives, and why Jesus speaks about forgiveness with such urgency. Through the parable of the unforgiving servant, he showed that forgiveness is not minimizing an offense, but absorbing the debt, humanizing the offender, and releasing them. The invitation of Jesus is clear: unforgiveness imprisons us, but forgiveness opens the door to freedom.
Freed | Rejection - Sam Gibson
This week, Pastor Sam Gibson continued our FREED series with a sermon on rejection—opening by admitting he couldn't promise freedom from it. Rejection is inevitable. The real question is whether it will deform …
Show notes
This week, Pastor Sam Gibson continued our FREED series with a sermon on rejection—opening by admitting he couldn't promise freedom from it. Rejection is inevitable. The real question is whether it will deform you or transform you. Pastor Sam unpacked the snare of recognition as rejection's dangerous shadow side, walked through the Greco-Roman context of adoption in Romans 8, and landed on this: in Christ, we are not rescued strays but chosen heirs—named, inheritance transferred, legally irrevocable. That is the spirit of adoption available to us, and it is what sets us free.
Freed | Shame - Jon Tyson
This week, Pastor Jon preached from John 7:53–8:11, using the story of the woman caught in adultery and dragged into the temple courts before a crowd with stones as his text for the freedom Jesus offers us from …
Show notes
This week, Pastor Jon preached from John 7:53–8:11, using the story of the woman caught in adultery and dragged into the temple courts before a crowd with stones as his text for the freedom Jesus offers us from shame. He pushed back on the typical cultural responses to shame—the "you're worthy" or "do better" responses. Neither reaches the place where shame actually lives. He walked through the honor-shame architecture of first-century Jewish culture to show what Jesus was subverting every time He ate with tax collectors, touched lepers, and stopped for the people everyone else walked past. Jesus coming to deal with our shame was a central theme to His ministry. From the animal skins God fashioned for Adam and Eve to the white robes of the saints in Revelation, Scripture traces an important story—God clothing the naked and the shamed in righteousness and glory. That is what Jesus came to do. That freedom is available today.
FREED | Anxiety - Raegan Griffith
This Sunday Pastor Reagan Griffith continues our FREED series with a teaching on freedom from anxiety. Drawing from Matthew 6:25-34 and Philippians 4:6-7, Reagan identifies the roots of anxiety within lies and …
Show notes
This Sunday Pastor Reagan Griffith continues our FREED series with a teaching on freedom from anxiety. Drawing from Matthew 6:25-34 and Philippians 4:6-7, Reagan identifies the roots of anxiety within lies and the cycle this creates. As New Yorkers we may feel exempt from this freedom, but God calls us to be free and empowers us to "not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God." By embracing this truth that anxiety has no place in our lives, as followers of Jesus, "the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Freed | Idolatry - Ralph Castillo
This week, Pastor Ralph Castillo continued the FREED series with a teaching on freedom from idolatry. Drawing from Jeremiah 2, Pastor Ralph traces God's grief over a people who abandoned Him for lesser things …
Show notes
This week, Pastor Ralph Castillo continued the FREED series with a teaching on freedom from idolatry. Drawing from Jeremiah 2, Pastor Ralph traces God's grief over a people who abandoned Him for lesser things. The passage is startling in its intimacy. God isn't issuing a legal verdict, He's asking a relational question. "What happened between us?" He speaks in the language of a wounded covenant, the devotion of youth, the love of a bride. Idolatry, in God's framing, isn't just disobedience, it's betrayal. The quickest route into it is simply forgetting who God is and what He's done. The text calls us to respond to idolatry the way God does, appalled, heartbroken, undone. Jeremiah 2:13 gives us the clearest picture of why. God is a fountain of living water, and our idols are cracked cisterns that can barely hold what they promise. The sermon concludes by saying that in God's wrath, He remembers mercy. Like the father in Luke 15, He doesn't wait for us to close the whole distance, He runs.
Freed | Lies - Tim Brown
This Sunday, Pastor Tim continued our FREED series with a teaching on freedom from lies, drawing from John 8:31–47. He opened with a confession that many of us could relate to: New York has trained us to …
Show notes
This Sunday, Pastor Tim continued our FREED series with a teaching on freedom from lies, drawing from John 8:31–47. He opened with a confession that many of us could relate to: New York has trained us to believe that freedom is always one system away, and if we are not careful, that same restless optimization spills into our spiritual lives too. Pastor Tim argued that the problem is not that we haven't tried hard enough. It's that beneath every sin pattern is a lie we have been carrying so long it feels inseparable from who we are, and no amount of effort will ever reach it. Jesus does not come to help us manage that lie. He comes to replace it with something stronger: Himself, the truth that became a person, who walks up to the lie that has been running your life and extinguishes it. The condition He places on that freedom is not more effort but abiding, remaining in His word long enough for the truth to do its deep work underneath.
Freed | Sin - Sam Gibson
This Sunday, Pastor Sam continued our FREED series with a teaching on freedom from sin, drawing from 1 John 1:5–10, 2:1–2. He opened by naming what sin actually does to us: it separates, stains, sensitizes …
Show notes
This Sunday, Pastor Sam continued our FREED series with a teaching on freedom from sin, drawing from 1 John 1:5–10, 2:1–2. He opened by naming what sin actually does to us: it separates, stains, sensitizes, steals, and spreads. The heart of the message, though, was not diagnosis. It was invitation. Through the lens of both guilt-innocence and honor-shame frameworks, Pastor Sam showed that Jesus doesn't just declare us innocent; He restores the relationship. Through the practice of honest, specific, and confident confession, we can walk out of the shadows and into the freedom that is already our inheritance in Christ.
FREED | Past - Jon Tyson
This Sunday, Pastor Jon continued the FREED series with one of the most personal questions it will raise: can you actually be free from your past? He opened with a number—nine out of ten—his and Christy's …
Show notes
This Sunday, Pastor Jon continued the FREED series with one of the most personal questions it will raise: can you actually be free from your past? He opened with a number—nine out of ten—his and Christy's combined score on the Adverse Childhood Experiences assessment. The score wasn't shared for sympathy, it was shared to make the question real. As James Baldwin wrote, "people are trapped in history, and history is trapped in them." Sin works the same way. It exerts power by keeping you in what has already happened, but the antidote isn't denial. Pastor Jon called the answer, "eschatological realism" — a clear, inhabitable sense of the future God has for you. When you're living from that future, what the present holds over you loses its grip. Paul is the guide. In Philippians 3, a man with a past that could have defined him entirely writes about forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead. Biblical forgetting isn't numbing, rather it's the intentional release of failure, guilt, and the pride that can calcify even around our wounds. In Christ, we've been given an identity more defining than anything we've been through. Scripture gives us a redemptive orientation toward time: a past that has been redeemed, a present marked by wonder, and a future held open by hope.
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