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 elusive? What spiritual steps can we take to discover it and build our life around it?By Leo Schuster

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 part of our human lives, deserving of both our attention and our understanding.By Clint Wilson

Apocalyptic literature can fire up the praying imagination when the beasts of life come at us and when we see the beasts in our own heart. There is a God who is in control. In destabilizing times, where are your eyes fixed? Jesus takes the fire and faces the beast for us.By Leo Schuster

What can shape us into people who are open-handed and big-hearted? The answer is found in this stirring and stretching ancient prayer.By Leo Schuster

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 in a moving story about an ancient community of faith. This beautiful example has the power to renew our modern sensibilities about the meaning of life.…

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 our worldly worry is to accept that much of what we treasure will be lost. Only his Kingdom is eternal.By Clint Wilson

What biblical themes animate City Church's vision to renew Houston? How might this kind of church address cultural trends?By Leo Schuster

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 Easter to change a person's life.By Leo Schuster

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 us and lead through even the most challenging of circumstances.By Leo Schuster

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 was himself no stranger to pain and loss.By Clint Wilson

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 because Jesus did so for us at great cost.By Dr. Matt Lee

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 way forward might be.By Leo Schuster

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. This new identity means we're no longer struggling to be free, but free to struggle.By Leo Schuster

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 spiritual growth and what it means to flourish in life.By Leo Schuster

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 us a model for how realizing our need for Christ's mercy lies at the very root of our faith transformation.By Clint Wilson

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 dealing with these important dynamics.By Leo Schuster

Jesus' famous encounter with a rich young ruler teaches us important lessons about our relationship to money.By Leo Schuster

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 contrasting vision of life from what we're used to.By Leo Schuster

Faith cannot last without wonder. While our spiritual lives must be intellectually and emotionally satisfying, the Gospels remind us that Christ's love and glory are more than we can exhaustively describe or understand. Wonder leads to love, love leads to life.By Clint Wilson

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 disciples. Here we catch his vision for his mission and what it means to follow him.By Leo Schuster

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 of Jerusalem is a reminder—for any season of life—that true and lasting comfort is found in the presence of God alone.By Clint Wilson

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 those who struggle with belief, loneliness, and happiness.By Leo Schuster

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 found only in Jesus Christ.By Clint Wilson

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 make in our lives? How might it help us face suffering, find purpose, and experience freedom regardless of our circumstances?By Leo Schuster

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 origins.By Leo Schuster

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 undying love, the chorus of scripture's song is that there are no lost causes with God.By Clint Wilson

With this mysterious story, our series reaches its dramatic climax. Jacob's wrestling with God encapsulates his life and signals his transformation. It also helps us appreciate how we can grow into healthier versions of ourselves.By Leo Schuster

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 two wives; but it is also a story about God drawing a beloved daughter close, choosing her to serve his plan to redeem the world.By Anna Russell Thornton

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 things were dark. Having burned bridges with his family and disconnected from God, he was all alone. Yet that's exactly where God met him and revealed to him realities that not only gave him…

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 Schuster discuss recognizing the brokenness in our family systems, including questions like: Why are friendships hard for me? Why do my spouse and I have the same fight over and over again? To visi…

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 through the cross, where we see the depths of both the need for mercy and the free gift of God's endless love.By Clint Wilson

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 responsibility to wait on God's timing. The better way is a third way: the way of the cross, and the one who showed strength in his weakness, absolute faith in the face of unimaginable fear.…

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, respond? And what does this famous story teach us today?By Leo Schuster

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 used to teach us about ourselves, the ups and downs of life, and faith in God.By Leo Schuster

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, loving control. On Sunday, we will talk about some practical ways to do the same—to cultivate deeper trust and more vibrant faith for days when we are faced with distractions and doubts.…

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 help? In this tragic story of trauma, God reveals himself as the One who sees, hears, and loves.By 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 the imperfections of church.By Beth Moore, Leo Schuster

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 with more stability so we're not subject to our cirucmstances?By Leo Schuster

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 us flourish? We'll explore these questions in this introduction to our fall series "Wrestling With God."By Leo Schuster

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 humility and vulnerability. In the same way, however, it becomes a progression toward the lasting source of faith: a living relationship with the resurrected Christ, who gives us strength when we…

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 believe; help me overcome my unbelief” (Mark 9:24). The more we look at the Bible, it turns out, the more we’ll see this man’s experience might have been the norm rather than the exception.…

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 dance of sorts between belief and unbelief, devotion and spiritual dryness, strength and sorrow, love and loss.By Leo Schuster

"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, our hopes—cannot be seen. Paul ends the letter to the Ephesians with a reminder of an invisible world beyond our vision, where good and evil struggle, and where the grace of God will ultimate…

The God you imitate will show up in how you live.By Ayo Omopariola

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 spiritual attitudes, challenging us to find new lives by, first and foremost, excavating the deepest beliefs of our hearts.By Clint Wilson

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? We'll discuss how each of these important questions are addressed in this passage.By Leo Schuster

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 relationships within our families?By Leo Schuster

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 associated with it? What about singles and those who may feel left out when the church talks about subjects like marriage?By Leo Schuster

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 of God. While beyond our ability to fully comprehension, God's love holds the power to transform us at the very root of our being.By Clint Wilson

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 the secret to these age-old struggles.By Leo Schuster