Long Beach Christian Fellowship

In this message, we hear updates from the Pastoral Team and the beginning of a new series from Pastor Danny Cortez.

In this message, we hear the final message from Pastor Ryan Longnecker.

In this message, we hear the greatest hits of Pastor Ryan Longnecker.

In this message, we hear from Pastor Ryan Longnecker in our series in Exodus.

In this second message, we hear from Pastor Emerita Barbara Sunofsky in our series in Exodus.

In this message, we hear from Pastor Emerita Barbara Sunofsky in our series in Exodus.

In this message, we hear from Pastor Danny Cortez on a series in Exodus.

In this message, we hear from Pastor Ryan Longnecker on living like Jesus.

In this message, we hear from Pastor Ryan Longnecker on living like Jesus.

In this homily message, we hear from Pastor Emeritus Barb Sunofsky and guest teacher Susie Searight.

One of God's first commandments is to take care of the earth. And yet studies show that many churches neglect this fundamental value of creation care. We also explore how the excessive use of plastics has been harmful to people and nature.

In this message by our teaching team member, Colin Stringfellow, we explore what is means to pray like Jesus.

In this message by guest teacher, Kristin Keintz, we explore what is means to live like Jesus.

The book of Leviticus contains many laws that seem foreign to the modern reader. But one of the keys to understanding it was by understanding the moral reasoning behind why they existed. From there we can gain new insight with how Jesus related to and fulfilled the law.

If God is love, then what does power mean to this loving God? Powerlessness seems to be gods starting point; Jesus identified with the powerless. And all of his lessons were about love, his power, which came from the Holy Spirit is a path towards humility, and serving one another through empowering them all, and nothing is more dangerous than power if it is not deeply rooted in love.

As we are transformed by the unconditional and unending love of Jesus, we learn to love others in the same way. We practice laying aside our biases and preconceptions and own agenda and, instead we choose to see people the way way that Jesus does, looking for the humanity and imago dei of the person right in front of us.

In this message, we reflect on the Great Commission and consider what kingdom work Jesus was calling us to when he told His followers to 'go and make disciples'. It is a broad invitation to all of us, that even while we may doubt, we are still called and equipped to bring His kingdom come into the places that we live, work and play.

Christ goes right back to where we retreat, and where we've been wounded to restore us, to call us again, and to free us from the bondage of shame.

The beauty of Resurrection Sunday is that it is a reminder that in Christ the dead coming to life is not a one time event, but is a pattern of restoration of all things.

Scripture does not silence the cry of the suffering, and yet suffering remains a mystery. Perhaps it's because it is so deeply connected to love. In commanding us to love, God also invites us to suffer. So suffering is for those of us who will be known as Christians by our love.

In this message we looked at New Testament Scriptures that reference Jesus' tears and how His tears reveal His tender and grieving heart. Knowing that grief will be a part of life until we reach the fullness of God's presence in Heaven, we are invited to embrace and navigate our own grief. *The beginning of this message was cut off. Please forgive our technical difficulties!

Jesus lived a life that was patterned after his sermon on the mount. It was a life that showed us that loving one's neighbor was the way of ending the cycles of violence throughout human history. Jesus tells us that praying a blessing rather than a curse is key to the way of God's kingdom.

In living like Jesus, how can we adopt a Godly sense of dependence when our culture emphasizes individualism and self-reliance? We must actively pursue an intimate connection/relationship with Christ thru consistent communication (prayer/bible reading/community with each other), even during times of pruning to produce good “fruit” (good works stemmed from Christlike character). It's only through living a life connected to the SOURCE, we glorify God through Christlike character in service to each other.

Jesus is necessarily and consistently disappointing IF I believe He is accountable to my expectations or demands. We can also find reassurance in looking at his own human experience of disappointment, abandonment, and pain that he refuses to retreat into divinity, even in his and our darkest moments.

Jesus' baptism and subsequent time and temptation in the wilderness give each of us a glimpse into what it means to be human and the risk of holding on to who God is and who God says we are even at our most vulnerable.

In scripture, gentleness is always talked about as a positive thing. We are called to face our own fears of weakness by releasing judgment and vengeance to God as we live in mercy with each other.

Christian joy is knowing the truest things about you are untouchable. Christian joy is honesty, intimacy, and freedom.

Even though Jesus was always focused on his mission, he lived a life that was unhurried which enabled him to not be swayed by the urgent. This message explores what that means in the way we learn to live like Jesus.

As we look to Christ we see that humility is not just a periodic action, but is essential in the very nature of the incarnation. We see Christ setting down His divine place to be eye to eye with us and how that calls us to set down whatever we might hold as a reason to look down on anyone else.

In our first week of the "Living like Jesus" series, we look at one of the overlooked realities about what it means to live like Jesus - which is to be human. The divine makes his home with the stuff of life, the material, the embodied, the soil becomes holy ground. When we look at how to live like Jesus we pause to push back against the temptations to be purely theoretical or philosophical and remember we are created human, and it is good.

On Vision Sunday each year the LBCF leadership reveals what they sense is the movement of God's spirit and the direction for the upcoming year. Our pastoral team shared a vision of returning to foundational language in our community and seeing how those will be lived out in the community now. Words like adoption, ambassador, and abundance as well as our slogan "learning to live and love like Jesus" will be anchors but this year will be teaching and planning around how those values live out practically.

We see in scripture that the life of Christ is not one into more ease, more worldly success, or greater power but instead a descent into service, sacrifice, and self-giving love.

Angels served a specific purpose in delivering a message that Christ was coming. Angels were everywhere in the birth narratives of Christ but afterward, they largely disappeared. We find that God now chooses to use people to point others to Christ. We have become God's messengers.

In this Advent message, we see that God's love is amazing because it always involves a covenant. From the very beginning, he marries us, and calls us his bride. It's not silly, and it's not easy, but it is true and good. It involves suffering, which always has joy in the midst of it. Let's none of us settle for less.

God demonstrates how much He loves us by choosing to be with us, regardless of what we go through. This Advent season, how does leaning into the reality of Immanuel shape the way we love and are with others in the areas we live, work, & play?

As we focus on Christ this Advent season we see in Ephesians it is Christ who is called our peace and we look at how the incarnation is not a self-help guide to quell our troubles, but an immediate and intimate presence amidst chaos in the person of Jesus.

Jesus's way of interpreting the Bible isn't as easy as we think it is. His ways of using scripture are deeply challenging. It is easier, after all, to read scripture for what we want to see than for what he wants us to see. How did he read and view scripture? Jesus brought to them an awareness as to how God was acting in their present time...he brought them to the God of the now, not the God of then. He did this by taking time aware for silence and prayer and to listen to the Father. He did this by reading and meditating on his sacred scriptures. He did this in the company of others, he had a spiritual community. He did this by deep deep dependence upon the Holy Spirit and then promised us that we would have that same Spirit. (note: unfortunately, the recording experienced a glitch throughout, we apologize for this distraction and inconvenience).

As we continue the series on discernment, we consider how we walk discernment out in areas of ambiguity by holding a posture of curiosity that asks God "What are You up to in this moment?", waiting to hear His answer, and responding to guidance in trust and obedience.

As we continue in our journey to learn rhythms of discernment this week we explore discernment through silence and discernment through speaking. Then we get to put that into practice with Lectio Divina on Romans 12:1-2.

As we learn rhythms of discernment we are reminded to look back and forward at the story of God and our place in it, calling upon God's faithfulness and our hope in the coming kingdom.

It's not enough to say “the Bible says…”. What's important is how Jesus read and applied Scripture. Jesus often challenged the traditional reading and application of scripture in favor of a compassionate and life-giving posture. This is the hermeneutic that the first disciples employed as they navigated difficult subject matters. This is also how we are invited into our own discernment processes.

As we seek after the good gift of discernment we have to start and be constantly tethered to a fear of the Lord, obedience to Him, and a reverence for His image in others.

In this message, we explore learning to trust in the mystery of God's love, which is so expansive that it is incomprehensible and yet lives inside of each of us and in all of our stories.

In this message, we look at how we can celebrate in times of doubt and unrest because of God's faithfulness to complete the work in us that He started.

If we are willing to be face to face with God, we might find that we also come face to face with ourselves, willing and able to be honest with ourselves with others, and with God. Jacob's wrestling was an honest one and God wants that from us. We are challenged to come and wrestle for the blessing. And then to walk with a new name and limp forever after, transformed.

This message on the book of Philemon explores the apostle Paul's view of a way of unity that's rooted in Christ.

I want to share stories about my personal journey towards loving others as I have also learned to love and accept myself. I've discovered that these things aren't mutually exclusive, but rather, they are intertwined. This has been difficult because it has forced me to uncover my own prejudices. Genesis tells us that God created the world as good and beautiful, and our own spiritual formation is about uncovering that beauty.

In Romans 14-15:13 we enter into a 1st-century debate plaguing Roman house churches regarding dietary restrictions. Paul instead of advocating for one side or the other invites both to the table where the shared costly fellowship will reflect God's glory to a world full of tribal divisiveness.

In this last message on our series Jesus and Women, we look at the story of Jesus and the woman caught in adultery.

In a context surrounded by storms, fear, and chaos, a remarkable woman who has been ill for twelve years shows us what faith in Jesus should look like.

In this first message in the series on women and Jesus, Ms. Mary discusses what the gospel says and doesn't say - about this familiar passage and how her story is both a comfort and a commission for each of us.