The Pursuit with James Griffin

In this episode of The Pursuit, James Griffin sits down with Pastor Matt Chewning of Netcast Church for the 200th episode, recorded on night three of Closer. Matt shares how God called him out of the corporate world to plant a church in Boston and how a love for the Word of God took root in his life. Then the conversation turns to the Holy Spirit and the battle every Christian faces with sin.

Why doesn’t trying harder ever seem to work? What’s the difference between the Spirit living in you and the Spirit’s power upon you? How do you fight the flesh by the Spirit? What should you pray before temptation shows up, and what should you pray when it hits? Why does the Spirit-filled life require brokenness?

If you’re tired of losing the same battle, this conversation will show you where real power comes from.

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Episode Guide
These guides are packed with key insights and scripture to help you know and follow Jesus – https://mycpcc.com/guide

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Crosspoint City Church exists to relentlessly pursue those far from God to help them know and follow Jesus.

To help support this mission and work, visit https://www.mycpcc.com/give

To learn more about all of our locations or what is coming up at Crosspoint City, check out https://www.crosspointcity.com/ or follow us on your favorite social platform @CrosspointCity

In this episode of The Pursuit, James Griffin sits down with Vance Pitman, founding pastor of Hope Church in Las Vegas and former president of the Send Network, fresh off night one of Closer weekend at Crosspoint City Church. Vance shares how a guy from Alabama who had never crossed the Mississippi ended up planting a church in Vegas with 18 people in a living room, and the phone call one week in that proved God was already at work long before he arrived.

From there the conversation gets personal. What does it actually mean to build your day around time with Jesus instead of squeezing Him in? How do you know when your identity has quietly shifted from who you are in Christ to what you do for Him? What does it look like when Jesus stops being enough and you start chasing "Jesus plus" something else? And how can you tell you have drifted before your fruit gives it away? Vance lays out three signs that show up in his own life when he has stopped abiding, and why the fruit of the Spirit is not a checklist but Christ Himself living through you.

If you have been faithful, busy, and serving for years but something feels off, this conversation will help you name it and find your way back to the vine.

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Episode Guide
These guides are packed with key insights and scripture to help you know and follow Jesus – https://mycpcc.com/guide

To submit a question, send us a DM on Instagram or Facebook.

Crosspoint City Church exists to relentlessly pursue those far from God to help them know and follow Jesus.

To help support this mission and work, visit https://www.mycpcc.com/give

To learn more about all of our locations or what is coming up at Crosspoint City, check out https://www.crosspointcity.com/ or follow us on your favorite social platform ‪@CrosspointCity

In this episode of The Pursuit, James Griffin and Carlos Fernandez pick up where the weekend gathering left off in Acts 11, where Peter gets criticized by church people for sitting down to eat at a Gentile's house. James opens up about why he crossed out his sermon title mid-week, the critic who told a guest his family was going to hell, and the years he spent believing the accusations in his own head.

What is Satan actually saying about you to God? Why does the enemy go looking for critics to do his work? What's the difference between criticism and correction? What do you do when the person criticizing you is you? How do you know if what you're feeling is the Holy Spirit convicting you or the devil condemning you? Why was Peter's meal the real problem? Should you stop going where people far from God hang out? And where's the line between being at the table and approving of what's on it?

If you've ever heard a voice telling you God can't use someone like you, this conversation will help you know which voice to believe.

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Episode Guide
These guides are packed with key insights and scripture to help you know and follow Jesus – https://mycpcc.com/guide

To submit a question, send us a DM on Instagram or Facebook.

Crosspoint City Church exists to relentlessly pursue those far from God to help them know and follow Jesus.

To help support this mission and work, visit https://www.mycpcc.com/give

To learn more about all of our locations or what is coming up at Crosspoint City, check out https://www.crosspointcity.com/ or follow us on your favorite social platform @CrosspointCity

0:00 Cold open and intro
1:58 Why James rewrote the sermon title
4:54 Criticism is the enemy's strategy
7:11 What Satan accuses you of
9:13 The anatomy of shame
10:29 The accuser and the advocate
13:51 Criticism vs. correction
18:21 When correction doesn't go well
20:28 When the critic is you: the four voices
24:50 Conviction or condemnation?
31:15 Why the meal was the problem
34:13 The modern version of the table
37:59 Should you stop going where they are?
44:15 Proximity doesn't equal permission
47:36 How to reach them anyway
51:38 One thing to do this week

In this episode of The Pursuit, James Griffin and Carlos Fernandez pick up where the weekend gathering left off in Acts 10 and dig into one of the most debated gifts in the Bible: speaking in tongues. James opens up about growing up in a church that taught him God doesn't do that anymore, and how he ended up praying in tongues privately every day.

What are the different kinds of tongues in the Bible? Is speaking in tongues real speech or just emotional babbling? Do you have to speak in tongues to prove you have the Holy Spirit? Why did Paul speak in tongues more than anyone but hold back when the church gathered? Are the gifts of the Spirit still for today, or did they end with the apostles? What should we make of Deion Sanders praying in tongues before a post-game interview? And why do entire families follow when a man goes first?

No matter what you were taught about tongues growing up, this conversation will help you see what the Bible actually says about every good gift God gives.

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Episode Guide
 These guides are packed with key insights and scripture to help you know and follow Jesus – https://mycpcc.com/guide

To submit a question, send us a DM on Instagram or Facebook.

Crosspoint City Church exists to relentlessly pursue those far from God to help them know and follow Jesus.

To help support this mission and work, visit https://www.mycpcc.com/give

To learn more about all of our locations or what is coming up at Crosspoint City, check out https://www.crosspointcity.com/ or follow us on your favorite social platform @CrosspointCity

In this episode of The Pursuit, Jacob Whitehead, Carlos Fernandez, and James Griffin open Acts 10. God sends an angel to Cornelius and then points him to a fisherman 30 miles away, because anytime God wants to save a person, He sends a person. Why wouldn't God just let the angel share the gospel? Does someone's eternity ride on whether you open your mouth? Why would God trust His message to nervous, inconsistent people? How can you tell He's already working on your coworker? What happens to people who have never heard the name of Jesus? How do you test a vision or impression, and what do you do with the people you've quietly decided aren't yours to reach?

If you've been waiting for God to send someone to the people around you, this one is for you.

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Have a question about the message, the Scriptures, or faith in general? Send us a DM. We would love to hear from you.

Crosspoint City Church exists to relentlessly pursue those far from God and help them know and follow Jesus.

Give: mycpcc.com/give

crosspointcity.com | @CrosspointCity

In this episode of The Pursuit, Jacob Whitehead, Carlos Fernandez, and James Griffin walk through Acts 9, where Jesus heals a man who spent eight years on a mat, and take on the question that story raises for anyone who has prayed for healing and watched it not come. They start with the first-century assumption that suffering meant God was punishing you, and show how many Christians still quietly believe it today.

Does God heal everyone who asks? What are the three ways Jesus heals, and why does the third one matter most? Is it true that you'd be healed if you just had more faith? What was Paul's thorn, and what does his no from God mean for yours? How do you keep praying when you're exhausted and nothing has changed? What does it mean to pray proactively and reactively? And how does the way you suffer make the gospel more believable to the people watching you?

If you're still waiting on a prayer God hasn't answered the way you wanted, this episode is for you.

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Episode Guide
 These guides are packed with key insights and scripture to help you know and follow Jesus: https://mycpcc.com/guide

To submit a question, send us a DM on Instagram or Facebook.

Crosspoint City Church exists to relentlessly pursue those far from God to help them know and follow Jesus.

To help support this mission and work, visit https://www.mycpcc.com/give

To learn more about all of our locations or what is coming up at Crosspoint City, check out https://www.crosspointcity.com/ or follow us on your favorite social platform @CrosspointCity

In this episode of The Pursuit, Jacob Whitehead, Carlos Fernandez, and James Griffin wrap up the Storm the Gate series by unpacking why Paul calls the church the pillar and buttress of the truth, then take on the lies culture won't let you challenge: abortion is healthcare, love is love, and progressive Christianity. They cover who actually gets to define love, why progressive Christianity isn't Christianity at all, how to spot false teaching before it pulls you in, and how to walk with someone carrying a decision they can't undo.

If you've ever stayed quiet at the dinner table because the truth felt too costly, this one is for you.

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Episode Guide

These guides are packed with key insights and scripture to help you know and follow Jesus: https://mycpcc.com/guide

To submit a question, send us a DM on Instagram or Facebook.

Crosspoint City Church exists to relentlessly pursue those far from God to help them know and follow Jesus.

To help support this mission and work, visit https://www.mycpcc.com/give

To learn more about all of our locations or what is coming up at Crosspoint City, check out https://www.crosspointcity.com/ or follow us on your favorite social platform @CrosspointCity

In this episode of The Pursuit, James Griffin, Carlos Fernandez, and Matt Moody dig into 2 Corinthians 6:14 and dig into why believers shouldn't yoke themselves to people whose political ideologies contradict the Word of God. 

What does a yoke look like in 2026? Where does socialism directly contradict the law of God? Should you break up with someone whose politics run against Scripture? And what do you do if the yoke is already on?

If the people closest to you are shaping your future, this conversation will help you make sure they're pulling you toward Christ and not away from Him.

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Download the free Episode Guide: mycpcc.com/guide

Have a question about this episode? DM us on Instagram @CrosspointCity

Crosspoint City Church exists to relentlessly pursue those far from God to help them know and follow Jesus.

Give: mycpcc.com/give

crosspointcity.com | @CrosspointCity

Everybody wants a marriage that works. Almost nobody follows the design. In this episode of The Pursuit, James Griffin, Carlos Fernandez, and Jacob Whitehead discuss why there's no marriage in heaven, what submission actually means and what it never means, and what God requires of a husband beyond a paycheck.

If you're married, want to be married, or you've ever winced at the word submit, this one is for you.

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Episode Guide

These guides are packed with key insights and scripture to help you know and follow Jesus: https://mycpcc.com/guide

To submit a question, send us a DM on Instagram or Facebook.

Crosspoint City Church exists to relentlessly pursue those far from God to help them know and follow Jesus.

To help support this mission and work, visit https://www.mycpcc.com/give

To learn more about all of our locations or what is coming up at Crosspoint City, check out https://www.crosspointcity.com/ or follow us on your favorite social platform @CrosspointCity

In this episode of The Pursuit, Matt Moody, Carlos Fernandez, and James Griffin dig into the part of 1 Corinthians 12 that gets skipped: rejoicing with someone who is being honored while life is going badly for you. The conversation starts by separating coveting from envy. 
From there the guys get practical about the diagnosis. How do you tell Godly ambition from selfish ambition when both feel like drive? What is the hidden idol sitting underneath the thing you say you want? What does it look like when envy is already working in you and you have not named it yet, and what do you do when someone is envious of you? 

The person you are struggling to be happy for is probably already in your head. This one is about what to do with that.

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Download the free Episode Guide: mycpcc.com/guide

Questions about the message, the scriptures, or faith in general? DM us and let us know.

Crosspoint City Church exists to relentlessly pursue those far from God to help them know and follow Jesus.

Give: mycpcc.com/give