Sunday sermons from the teaching staff at City Church Long Beach.
What do you do when people put you in a box? We all love to oversimplify others - it's sometimes called being a 'cognitive miser' - because we don't want to take the energy to be curious, to complicate the narratives we tell ourselves and to relate to people as they are as opposed to how we think they are. But Jesus loves to explode boxes, both the ones people put you and the ones you put others in. Along the way he teaches us some practical tools on when to fight against other people's assumptions about us and when to let it slide.
There are two women in the Old Testament that have precious little in terms of money, influence, or connections. But what they have they use for the sake of pushing against the forces in their world that oppose the ways of God. Join us to build community connections and to be strengthened in vision and resolve for these hard times.
Untold Stories – 2 King 5:1-19 – June 22, 2025 There are so many stories in the Bible that we've never heard. Some have been skipped by preachers because they are too edgy or uncomfortable. We're going to spend time looking at some of those stories this Summer. This Sunday we'll be looking at how to relate to other religions and what it means to be faithful in our work context when it is explicitly not Christian.
Esther And The Big Flip Series – Esther 8 - June 8, 2025 No, but really... what does Jesus mean, what does he expect, when he asks us to love our enemies? This Sunday we're exploring that question, and all of its real world implications, along with Esther and Mordecai, who now find themselves with the authority to save their people from the imminent threat of empire and genocide. How do they hold that power, and what can we learn from their choices? Join us as we near the end of this epic story.
Esther And The Big Flip Series – Esther 4:9-17 – May 11, 2025 The book of Esther is best known for some really inspiring one liners, which could give us the sense of that one brave person taking a stand. That reading fits so many of our cultural tropes about the shape of heroism! But this Sunday we want to explore the complicated, dynamic relationship that's actually behind "for such a time as this" and "if I perish, I perish." This kind of courage - courage we really need these days - builds from connection. We'd love for you to join us.
When is the right time to resist the forces of empire, and what are the right ways to do so? When do we march, when do we boycott, when do we use non-violent means to shut down the machinery of an unjust government? These are real questions, and unfortunately, very real ones these days. We'll continue to explore these and related questions in the book of Esther this week.
City Church of Long Beach Sermon from March 30, 2025
Week one of our Bread of Life series | Matthew 4:1-11 | Bill White & Brenna Rubio
Week two of our Bread of Life series | John 6:25-40 | Bill White & Kristyn Komarnicki
Week seven of our Into the Mess series | John 15:1-10 | Bill White & Brenna Rubio
Week six of our Into the Mess series | Matthew 13:1-13 | Bill White & Brenna Rubio
Week five of our Into the Mess series | Luke 15:1-10 | Bill White & Brenna Rubio
Week four of our Into the Mess series | Luke 10:25-37 | Bill White & Brenna Rubio
Week three of our Into the Mess series | Matthew 5:1-10 | Bill White & Brenna Rubio
Week six of our Advent series | Luke 3:7-14 | Bill White & Brenna Rubio
Week four of our Words for the Beginning series | Matthew 2:1-12 | Bill White & Brenna Rubio
Week four or our Words for the Beginning: Advent series | Isaiah 9:2, 6-7 | Bill White
Week three of our Words for the Beginning: Advent series: Matthew 1:18-25 | Larry Dove
Week two of our Words of the Beginning: Advent series | Matthew 1:18-25 | Bill White & Brenna Rubio
Week four of our Soul Care series | Matthew 11:28-30 | Bill White & Brenna Rubio
Week three of our Soul Care series | 1 Samuel 17:33-40 | Erna Kim Hackett
Week two of our Soul Care series | Matthew 25:40 | Kay Higuera Smith
Week one of our Soul Care series | Psalm 30:4-5 | Zoe Towler
Week four of our Love & Power series | 1 Timothy 2 : 1-2 | Bill White & Panel
Week three of our Love & Power series | Matthew 6:11 | Bill White & Brenna Rubio
Week one of our Love & Power series | Matthew 6:10 | Bill White & Brenna Rubio
Week ten of our Juicy Life series | Matthew 11:28-30 | Bill White & Brenna Rubio
Week one of our Juicy Life series | Psalm 1:1-3 | Bill White & Brenna Rubio
Week two of our Better Community Together series | Mark 1:17 | Bill White & Lisa Carpenter
Week one of our Better Community Together series | Mark 3:31-35 | Bill White & Brenna Rubio
Affirming Sunday | Zephaniah 3:17 | Bill White
Week eight of our Therapist series | Psalm 147:1-4 | Brenna Rubio & Meghan Williams
Week seven of our Therapist series | Philippians 1:3-6, 9-11 | Brenna Rubio
Week six of our Therapist series | Proverbs 27:14 | Bill White & Byron Bush
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