Church of the City New York

This Sunday, we celebrated the birth of Jesus with our annual Lessons & Carols service, an ancient church tradition of proclaiming the story of Jesus' first Advent through hymns and the reading of Scripture. The songs and stories of Christmas that we know so well have toppled kingdoms, delivered people, and transformed history. However, it's so easy for us to hear them year after year, and yet still miss the things that God is doing in our midst. As His people, we must be hungry for the hope and glory Christmas holds for the world, and celebrate Jesus' coming with wonder and amazement. We encourage you to prayerfully consider joining us in giving to our Living the Liturgy campaign at church.nyc/give.

This Sunday Pastor Jon Tyson continued our Advent series with a teaching from John 14:1-10 about Jesus coming to make a way out of darkness for us. It is through His first advent that we see the mission of God to come and get humanity and lead us back to Himself. We need Christmas, because despite all of the evil in the world and ourselves, Jesus makes a way for us when we are lost, reveals truth in a world of lies, and gives us life in a world of death. Click here to listen to Sanctuary by Emily Lindquist, a song inspired by what God is doing in our community at Church of the City New York.

This Sunday Pastor Jon Tyson continued our Advent series with a teaching from John 3:16-21 about the darkness that exists within the world and within us. Advent makes room for us to face the darkness Jesus rescues us from, and invites us to ask Him to lead us into the freedom of His marvelous light forever. It is out of this truth that we can offer a "Merry Christmas" out of a place of deep joy to everyone we meet, knowing that our darkness has been conquered by His light. Click here to listen to Sanctuary by Emily Lindquist, a song inspired by what God is doing in our community at Church of the City New York.

This Sunday, Pastor Suzy began our Advent series with a teaching from John 1 about the Light of God coming into the world through the person of Jesus. Jesus has overcome all darkness, but we must receive Him as the Light in the beginning, the Light of the World, and that He will be the Light of His people in the age to come. When we believe and receive Jesus' Light, we are freed from having to illuminate ourselves, given the ability to wholly live in His presence, and called to be witnesses to His Light for all the world to see. We encourage you to prayerfully consider joining us in giving to our Living the Liturgy campaign at church.nyc/give.

This Sunday, Pastor Ashley concluded our Fall sermon series, The Jesus Stuff, with a teaching on truth, not as an ideological framework, but as the person of Jesus. Jesus promises that when we abide in God's Word, we will know His truth, and His truth will set us free.

This Sunday, guest teacher David Bennett continued our Fall sermon series, The Jesus Stuff, with a teaching on the radical and mysterious love of God. Framed under the idea that God has a love that is unique for every person, David shared his testimony of moving from an atheistic, gay activist, to becoming a follower of Jesus, who now advocates for a positive moral vision of biblical sexuality and discipleship. You can hear more about our beliefs on sexual formation in the sermons and podcasts below or visit our website church.nyc/sexual-formation. Making Sense of the Church: Marriage - Jon Tyson Listen The Controversial Jesus: Sexual Formation - Jon Tyson Listen / Watch The Controversial Jesus: Jesus and the Gay Community - Jon Tyson Listen / Watch The Controversial Jesus: Jesus, Gender, and the Trans Community - Jon Tyson Listen / Watch

This Sunday, Pastor Suzy continued our Fall sermon series, The Jesus Stuff, with a teaching on the way Jesus used His margin to do justice and love mercy as He walked with God. Jesus went above and beyond in His care for people to the point that He poured out His whole life, and He calls us to do the same.

This Sunday, Pastor Jon continued our Fall sermon series, The Jesus Stuff, by digging into the most controversial aspect of Jesus's ministry: who He ate with. Jesus created space for people to encounter the Father's scandalous grace.

This Sunday, Pastor Jon continued our Fall sermon series, The Jesus Stuff, by taking a deeper look at the importance of communion with God in the secret place. The source of flourishing in Jesus' ministry was His consistent time withdrawing to the secret place to pray and spend time with His Father, and through His death and resurrection we also have access to this source of life.

This Sunday, Pastor Suzy continued our Fall sermon series, The Jesus Stuff, by diving into the importance of being dependent on the Holy Spirit and interdependent on the body of Christ.

This Sunday, guest Pastor Darren Rouanzoin continued our Fall sermon series, The Jesus Stuff, with a powerful and practical teaching on healing. When we look at the ministry of Jesus, it is clear that He prioritized preaching the Kingdom, healing the sick, and casting out demons, and as His followers, we are called to continue this ministry here on earth through the power of the Holy Spirit.

This Sunday, Pastor Jon continued our Fall sermon series, The Jesus Stuff, with a clarifying teaching on the what the Kingdom of God actually is and what it looks like to seek it first in our world today. The Kingdom of God is the reality of God bringing about His will on earth. The gospel of the Kingdom is a threat, and pursing it will bring resistance into our lives, but we cannot do The Jesus Stuff without the Kingdom stuff.

This Sunday, Pastor Jon continued our Fall sermon series, The Jesus Stuff, by posing three questions we can ask before we walk into any situation that will help lead us to live as Jesus did, not just manage our sin. As we pursue The Jesus Stuff, we must have faith that God is moving so we can join Him, listen for His promptings so we can hear His whispers of where to go, and move in obedience towards where He leads no matter the cost.

This Sunday, Pastor Jon kicked off our Fall sermon series, The Jesus Stuff, where we will examine the kind of disciples Jesus calls us to be by taking a deeper look at how He lived His life. When we obey what Jesus calls us to do, resolving to not only learn from Him but act like Him, we move from participating in generic faith to living explicitly for Jesus. The Gospel is our invitation to burn with passion for the person of Jesus, and our call to the missionary adventure of reminding people of the beauty of the Jesus Stuff.

This Sunday, Pastor Jon wrapped up our Summer sermon series, Defiant Joy: A Study Through Philippians, with Paul's closing message to the church at Philippi. When we study Paul's life and church history, it is evident that the Gospel is always moving along relational lines. Through Paul's relationship with the Philippians we see the Gospel being carried out because of their sacrificial commitment to Jesus and His Kingdom, long, loyal relationships to one another, and generous partnerships to promote the movement. Paul's life of mission was a response to the love that saved him, and he calls us to respond in the same way, giving everything we have for the sake of the Gospel.

This Sunday, Pastor Ashley, continued our Summer sermon series, Defiant Joy: A Study Through Philippians, by focusing on Paul's insight into the peace of God and the God of peace being available to us. Paul's message is not meant to dismiss anxiety, but to reveal our access to peace in the midst of distress. Pastor Ashley taught that Paul first calls us to rejoice in the Lord and what He's done, to be gentle with one another, and finally to not be anxious about anything. The order of these exhortations tell us that peace is not found in the absence of anxiety, but in the reorientation of every circumstance in the presence of Jesus.

This Sunday, guest Pastor, Darren Whitehead, continued our Summer sermon series, Defiant Joy: A Study Through Philippians, and focused in on Paul's call to unity in the church. These verses reveal a conflict between two women in the church at Philippi, but Paul pleads with them to have the same mind in the Lord. This points us to the truth that the beauty of unity is rooted in God's ability to transform our desires towards His. Community is not an absence of conflict, but the presence of God's reconciling Spirit. However, there are cultural challenges that try to stand in the way unity. The church today faces political, racial, generational, and economic divides, but in the Lord there can be a unity in the body that crosses all of these lines. As believers, our loyalty to Jesus should be greater than our loyalty to any political party, we should identify first and foremost as a follower of Jesus, we should honor the generation before us and not look down on the generation after but build them up, and we should extend care within the church regardless of financial standing. These counter-cultural postures foster unity in the church and creates access to new authority. Pastor Darren referenced Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit fell on followers of Jesus, and before the Spirit came, it is said that the believers were 'all of one accord in one place.' It was after unity was already happening that God poured out His Spirit, and the early church was born. Unity is so important to God that He commands a blessing where His people live in unity with one another. We each have the ability to disrupt unity, but we also have the ability to repair it, and this is God's call to us today.

This Sunday, Pastor Suzy continued our Summer sermon series, Defiant Joy: A Study Through Philippians, by teaching on Paul's call for us to live into our heavenly citizenship. Believers have been given the benefits of being co-heirs with Christ because of His sacrifice on the cross, but we must live up to what we have attained through Him. This passage tells us that we are citizens of heaven, but that we are called to live up to that truth in this life.

This Sunday, Pastor Jon continued our Summer sermon series, Defiant Joy: A Study Through Philippians, by unpacking the beginning of Chapter 3. Here, Paul delivers insight into his own transformation of faith and highlights how we can follow his example of being thoroughly converted. Being thoroughly converted calls us to take all of our broken pieces and direct them towards the person of Jesus, trusting that in Him we will one day be made whole.

This Sunday, Pastor Suzy continued our Summer sermon series, Defiant Joy: A Study Through Philippians by teaching on the last section of Chapter 2. Here, Paul commends Timothy and Epaphroditus as men who care deeply about the church and the gospel. Paul makes a connection between the Philippians church, the proclamation of the gospel, and the interests of Christ.

This Sunday, Pastor Keithen continued our Summer sermon series, Defiant Joy: A Study Through Philippians by preaching on Paul's encouragement in Philippians 2 to live as the people of God in the world. Paul wrote to the church of Philippi, whose people were the new Israel. Ultimately, as we live as true disciples of Jesus, joy becomes the mark of our spiritual authority in the world.

This Sunday, Pastor Jon continued our Summer sermon series, Defiant Joy: A Study Through Philippians by taking a practical look at what it means to love people like Jesus did. Loving others can seem increasingly difficult in today's world, but this passage urges us to have the same, loving mindset as Christ in our relationships. Jesus loved us in an unreasonable way, and calls us to be like Him, finding joy in someone else's prospering, even when it is at our own expense.

This Sunday, Pastor Jon continued our Summer sermon series, Defiant Joy: A Study Through Philippians by examining Paul's call to the church to be a place of defiant unity in the face of the narcissism, contempt, and division in our current culture. Pastor Jon reminded us that while we can love God on our own, we cannot be the people of God on our own. Jesus calls us to value others above ourselves and sacrifice our preferences to become a compelling, alternative community of love and unity for our world.

This Sunday, Pastor Matthew Ro continued our Summer sermon series, Defiant Joy: A Study Through Philippians by looking at Paul's mission statement, "For to me to live is Christ and to die is gain," and how it enabled him to have defiant joy no matter what. Paul knew everything Jesus endured was for us, so we have the ability to endure anything for His sake, and our earthly realities can become second by the beauty and glory of Jesus breaking through.

This Sunday, Pastor Suzy continued our new sermon series, Defiant Joy: A Study Through Philippians by looking at Paul's prioritization of the proclamation of the gospel. We find Paul rejoicing at the end of this text because the gospel message was still being advanced even while he was in prison. Paul's letter should not only encourage us to reassess and reorder our own priorities around the glorification of Christ, but also strengthen our courage and resolve to share the gospel in every circumstance.

Guest Pastor Banning Liebscher gave a word about the importance of guarding our hearts against the lies of the enemy. Jesus came to connect us to truth and bring us freedom and abundant life, so the enemy's main strategy against us is to disconnect us from truth through lies and lead us into a life of bondage. By keeping a vigilant watch over our hearts, meditating strategically on God's Truth, praying consistently, and liberally casting our cares and burdens on the Lord, we can disrupt the enemy's schemes to keep us from the life freedom Jesus has for us.

This Sunday, Pastor Suzy continued our new sermon series, Defiant Joy: A Study Through Philippians by looking at the Work of God. As we continue in Paul's letter to the Philippians, we quickly see that, even though he is in prison, he is still able to rejoice. Paul's source of defiant joy was in the work of the everlasting God, not in the work of any one man. As believers, we can share in this confidence and this joy, that God is always working in us, through us, and around us to bring forth the Good News of the Gospel.

This Sunday, Pastor Jon kicked off our Summer series, Defiant Joy: A Study Through Philippians. The apostle Paul is writing to the church he planted at Philippi, a community dear to his heart, and through the themes spiritual mentoring through his own life's examples, defiant joy unshaken by circumstances, steadfast unity in the Spirit, and a reorientation around the worth of the person of Jesus, Paul reveals the secrets of the art of living a life of flourishing.

This Sunday guest Pastor Guy Wasko gave a teaching on the importance of Seizing Divine Moments. Through part of Jonathan's story in 1 Samuel, we learn that sometimes God is asking us to just show up with nothing but an expectation that He will move.

This Sunday, Pastor Suzy continued our 'Seeing Jesus' series with the story of Mary Magdalene's encounter with the risen Jesus outside of His tomb, and revealed how we can see Jesus through our despair. We meet Mary in the depths of her grief, distressed from the loss of Jesus, and find she is on the edge of giving up hope. Through her encounter with Jesus, we are reminded grief in this life is temporary, because Jesus has defeated death and made our hope secure in Him.

This Sunday, Pastor Jon taught on "Seeing Jesus Through Denying Faith" by taking a closer look at Judas' betrayal and denial of Jesus. While Pastor Jon reminded us that while we cannot lose our salvation, we can deny our faith. It is confusing and painful to examine why faith fails, but it is increasingly necessary in our culture where people are rapidly turning away from faith. Judas' story invites us to examine our motives for believing in Jesus.

This Sunday, Pastor Jon taught on "Seeing Jesus Through Doubt" with the story of Thomas' reaction to the news of Jesus' resurrection. After missing Jesus' first appearance to His disciples after His resurrection, Thomas begins to wrestle through his doubts around who Jesus is and what He came to do. Thomas' story is not meant to be a cautionary tale for believers today, but display the encouraging truth that facing down our doubts will deepen our faith.

This Sunday, Pastor Suzy continued our Seeing Jesus series with "Seeing Jesus Through Disappointment" by walking through Jesus' post-resurrection encounter with two of His disheartened disciples on their journey to Emmaus. By viewing this account like a miniature play, she broke this story down into three acts and an epilogue that reflect a journey we can still relate to today.

This Sunday, Pastor Jon began a series called Seeing Jesus, focused on different post-ressurection accounts of Jesus and the impact they had on the faith of His followers. Through Peter, Pastor Jon pointed out three things that the can enemy use to block our view of the mercy and hope that we have been given through Jesus. However Jesus calls us back to Himself like He called Peter; to return to Him and strengthen others.

For Easter Sunday this year, Pastor Jon focused on "seeing Jesus" in John's gospel account of the resurrection. Through using three different Greek words for sight/seeing, John lays out the different ways Jesus is viewed in our world today. The invitation of Easter is to "come and see" Jesus for yourself, and find that through faith in Him and His story, all questions of origin, meaning, morality, and identity are answered, and that He alone can satisfy all your needs.

In this week's sermon, Pastor Jon Tyson concluded Jesus' prophetic woes to the Pharisees by providing the cultural and historical context with which He made His triumphant entrance into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. Jesus' rebuke of the Pharissee's ends with a final, heartbreaking plea to repent and recieve the mercy of God, and the same call is presented to us today.

This week, Pastor Suzy taught on the last woe Jesus gave the Pharisees in Matthew 23. The Pharisees knew their own history and had the witness of Scripture, but still repeated the sins of their fathers. This was Jesus's last call to them for repentance, and He longed to show them mercy. Even up until his final days, Jesus calls them to turn back from their hypocrisy and toward him as their Savior. Jesus extends the same invitation to us, offering his blood on our behalf and a new heart.

This Sunday, Pastor Jon continued our Converting the Church series by teaching us about the sixth woe Jesus gave the Pharisees when He called out their pointless practices that defiled people instead of cleansing them. God is so committed to our freedom, that anything we cover instead of confess, will be brought into the light of day.

This Sunday, Pastor Ashley continued our Converting the Church sermon series by encouraging us to receive God's grace and truly believe the love He has for us. In Matthew 23, Jesus uses the imagery of a dirty cup to teach the Pharisees that they are striving for external cleanliness, when really it's the heart that should first be made clean.

This Sunday, our Converting the Church series continued as Pastor Jon called us to focus on the major parts of our faith over the minor details which can easily cloud our vision. To be disciples of Jesus, we need to be like Him and weigh with the actions of our lives and our motivations against His words, and make sure we can see clearly, discern, and practice the things that truly matter to the heart of God.

This Sunday, Pastor Suzy continued our Converting the Church series by unpacking Jesus's third woe to the Pharisees regarding promise-breaking and promise-keeping. As followers of Jesus, we must become a community whose "yes" means "yes," and "no" means "no." In keeping our word, we reflect our promise-keeping God, and can offer the stability we have recived from His unfailing faithfulness to the people around us.

This Sunday, Pastor Jon unpacked Jesus' second 'woe' to the Pharisees in Matthew 23, where He called out their toxic evangelism converting people into children of hell instead of children of Heaven. We are challenged to reflect on how we can bring the good news of Jesus to people without the coercion and cultural baggage that seems to do so much damage. Jesus promises that if He is lifted up, He will draw all people to Himself and satisfy them. All we are called to do is present the free gospel to the thirsty world, and it will bring the Kingdom of Heaven and turn people into children of God.

This Sunday, guest Pastor Ralph Castillo delved Jesus' first of the seven woes to the Pharisees, that they shut the door of the Kingdom in people's faces through their hypocratic practices and selfish stewardship of the ways to connect to God. Jesus came to be the true door to the Kingdom of Heaven, and like the Pharisees, it seems the modern day church has similarly gotten in the way of people coming to Him. This woe calls us to remember God's desire to gather us to Himself, repent of our stubborness, and instead become a pleasing aroma that points people to the satisfying substance of Christ.

This Sunday, Pastor Jon continued our Converting the Church series by unpacking Jesus' critique of the Pharisees' performative religion and revealing how the same self-seeking spirit has crept into today's church, disappointing and disillusioning people seeking truth. Only by being secure in our identity as God's Beloved, as Jesus was, can we recognize the true greatness of a life spent poured out on behalf of others in sacrificial servanthood, and then actually live in a way that walks into a room and says "there you are," instead of "here I am."

This Sunday, Pastor Jon kicked off our new sermon series centered on Jesus' seven woes to the Pharisees in Matthew 23 called Converting the Church. This series will invite us to examine our own ways and beliefs, and create opportunities for us as individuals and a church to repent for the ways we have tried to add to God's law or avoid parts of it. Jesus began His public rebuke of the religion of His day by warning His disciples and the crowds that while the Pharisees' tradition was rooted in truth, their practices were not. The modern, evangelical church must also heed the warning of Jesus to convert religious burdens into freeing grace so that it properly reflects the live giving Good News of His Gospel.

This Sunday, Pastor Suzy finished our "Seeking God" series by preaching from Ezekiel 22 about the importance of the Advocate. In the face of sin, God in His holiness must bring about justice, yet He longs to show mercy, and looks for people to repair the broken walls and stand in the breach to advocate for mankind. As believers, we are empowered by the blood and intercession of Jesus, and are called to become God's advocates by repenting for our own sins and contributions to the corruption of our generation; live righteously, disciple others, and work to rebuild society; and become people of prayer who choose to serve our city.

This Sunday, Pastor Jon continued our Seeking God series with a teaching on the Worshiper. Through the story of the woman at the well in the gospel of John, we find God's passion for worship, and the lengths He will go to draw worship out of the human heart. Jesus' interactions with this woman reveal the Father's determination to satisfy our deepest desires by thrilling us with Himself; telling us everything we've ever done, and still offering us His endless love and living water.

This Sunday, guest pastor Corey Russell continued our Seeking God series by teaching on the Intercessor. Anchoring his teaching in Isaiah 59, Pastor Corey pointed out that God is deeply and emotionally invested in the state of humanity, and in His longing for justice, sought out a human intercessor to stand in the gap for the purpose our reconciliation to Him. Intercessors are living proof of God's love for humanity, emerging for the purpose of salvation, and when God could not find an intercessor on earth, He stretched out His own arm towards us, becoming fully human in Christ Jesus, so that He could be our intercessor.

This Sunday, Pastor Jon continued our January sermon series, "Seeking God," by examining the story of Zacchaeus and the lengths that God will go to seek to save the lost. Jesus' Great Commission at the end of Matthew's gospel commands His followers to "go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit," establishing that the priority of Heaven is bringing the lost home, and forcing us to ask, "Is it also ours?" For the Gospel of Jesus is the only message in the world that acknowledges both the beauty of the human soul and the brokenness of it, and still says it is worth saving. The church of Christ was made to continue His mission to seek and save the lost, meeting them with the unexpected, life-altering, grace of the Gospel.

SEEKING GOD: SURRENDERED HEARTS — This Sunday, we began our January sermon series, "Seeking God." Pastor Jon pointed out that though we know God is a "seeking" God, we rarely consider who or what He is seeking. This week we saw that God is seeking surrendered hearts, wholly devoted to Him, by looking at the life of King Asa in 2 Chronicles. Asa's reign over Judah displays both whole-hearted devotion and the tragedy of half-heartedness. Pastor Jon exhorted us to resolve to diligently seek God, identify and renounce any division in our hearts (not managing idols but destroying them), and reignite our passion for seeking God. A half-hearted response is inappropriate towards a whole-hearted God who loves us and spared no expense to save us.