Citizens Weekly

From the series, “Acts”.  Acts 6:1-7 reports the first major conflict in the early church. The disciples' response reveals significant truths (and challenges) about God's hope to establish spiritual families even among the unimpressive and unfamiliar within our communities.

From the series, “Acts”. We are, by and large, suspicious of any kind of authority, both good or bad. We fear the loss of our independent control, so we recoil with skepticism and negativity. In Acts 5:17-42, we see those who surrendered to God's authority in a commitment to teach the good news of Jesus at all costs - even if they lost what we might call “rights” or “freedom”. We see a church...

From the series, “Acts”. In Acts 5:12-16, great fear gripped the church after the deaths of Ananias & Sapphira. This fear resulted in the people of Jesus, gathered together, and signs and wonders follow.  

From the series, “Acts”. In Acts 4:32-5:11, we learn to live in the Way of Jesus, and in the new identity that follows, through extreme generosity. The arrogance of accumulation, the conceit of comparison, and the pride of privilege slowly undermine the message of the cross, and ultimately destroy our souls. 

From the series, "Acts". In Acts 4:23-31, the early church prays, and God answers. How do we pray for America? Will our prayers lead to revival, or do they wear God out? Christian Nationalism is idolatry that must be renounced. Before there is reconciliation, there must be repentance. 

From the series, “The Way of Jesus”. God is the consummate promise keeper, but even the most faithful of us reach a point of needing to reach deeper into our faith and into scripture to find hope for better or even more predictable days. Thankfully, from the very beginning, God has carried humanity to places of new beginnings and solid ground after terrible circumstances and catastrophic change. J...

From the series, “The Way of Jesus”. We pray to know God, imitate Jesus, and rely on the Holy Spirit. In Luke 18, Jesus highlights a prayer mindset that is persistent and humble. A prayer model that overcomes our philosophical protest, defective doctrine, and our functional frustration. In this message, learn 3 simple ways to practice prayer in your apprenticeship to Jesus. 

From the series, “Advent”. The first advent was motivated by love; to seek and save the lost. Advent living is loving God and neighbor - carrying out Jesus’ first advent mission - emotion plus action. We prepare for the second advent by removing the masks we’ve worn and social distancing we’ve practiced, apart from any pandemic, that insulate us from even knowing the lost. And, as we begin to love...

From the series, “Advent”.  Joy is the unshakable awareness that God is good and He is with us. Joy isn't a simple feeling of optimism or a personality trait, nor is it a slave to circumstance, but it is all about our  relationship with God. Jesus lived this way and He is inviting us  into more and more joy forever.  

From the series, “Advent”. Peacemaking is Advent living because it recognizes that the fullness of God’s peace is not here yet, but it hopes for it, and not passively; we hope for and anticipate the coming of God’s peace by beginning to put into place the landscape for that peace so that people see in us the way and peace of Jesus.

From the series, “Advent”. As God's children, we were not created to crumble before harsh realities, nor were we made to dull ourselves to personal or social adversities. Rather, we were designed to echo King David in proclaiming -- even during great troubles -- faith in God today, hope in God tomorrow, and love for God always.

From the series, “The Way of Jesus”. Every day, we can grumble or we can live with gratitude. Nothing is deserved. Everything is a gift from God. The only adequate response to all life’s gifts is gratitude. Gratitude isn’t spiritual bypassing, yet it is more than pithy platitude. Gratitude flows downstream from suffering, kills cynicism and complaint, and points to a future hope.

From the series “The Way of Jesus”. We live in the chaos of an over-busy, hurried, digitally distracted, and noisy world. The practices of silence and solitude enable us to thrive in spite of chaos through intentional time in the quiet, alone with ourselves and God.

From the series, “The Way of Jesus”. Spiritual practices are important and good.  They are tools that can grow us, change us, and deepen intimacy with our Father.  However, unless our foundational beliefs are solid, spiritual practices can only take us so far. Consider your foundation by examining two potential obstacles to real transformation:  not thinking rightly about God and not thinking righ...

From the series, “The Way of Jesus”. Real transformation means we have to abandon the false rabbis of tradition, legalism, movement, and self. When we leave those empty trappings behind, escape the cycle of shame that leads to slavery and death and, as we do, draw nearer and nearer to our true rabbi, Jesus.

From the series, “The Way of Jesus”. How do we live like Jesus in the moment-to-moment events of our lives ? Beyond our assumptions, biases, and the white noise of cultural Christianity that’s slowly lulling us to sleep. How do we bring His Kingdom, on earth as it is in heaven - not in a claim or a slogan, but in actuality?

From the series, “The Way of Jesus”. To become like Jesus, our lives must be increasingly saturated by the presence and power of Jesus. As disciples of Jesus, we are learning to have the mindset and attitude of Jesus, thinking about ourselves the way Jesus thought about himself. Is this kind of change even possible, and if it is, how do we become like Jesus? 

From the series, “The Way of Jesus”. Jesus invites us to follow him into a way that can seem burdensome, if not impossible - a life of enemy-love, irrational grace and justice, and divine power. But He never intended for us to rely on our own will and determination to live this way; He knew we would have to first embrace and practice a life constantly awake to and shaped by His presence.

From the series, “The Way of Jesus”. What does it mean to be a disciple of Jesus? To be an apprentice, a student, and a learner of Jesus? A disciple of Jesus builds their life on these three goals: be with Jesus, be like Jesus, and live as Jesus lived.

From the series, "Acts". How does the church engage in this cultural moment? Through the activity of the early church in Acts 4:1-24, we see that fire makes an impression, the presence of the Holy Spirit makes ordinary things extraordinary, and influence is always better than power.

From the series, "Acts".Why doesn’t God always heal people? Why are some healed and others live in agony? Why as a culture do we think that our own analysis is infallible and God’s word is fallible? And what are we called to do as disciples of Jesus in relation to all of this and the immense physical and spiritual need in our world today?

The Spiritual Disciplines -- those things to which the early church in Acts devoted themselves -- mark our active turning away from the forces that deplete us and towards an already present God who crowns us with steadfast love.

From the series, "Acts". In Luke’s idyllic picture of the nascent church in Acts 2:42-47, we see a church devoted to four simple things. The most radical of the four? Fellowship. This isn’t a potluck dinner, but something much more controversial. “Koinonia”, or the sharing of everything means that we give all of our possessions and privilege to those that are without. What can Christian...

From the series, “Acts”. What is keeping us from being aware of what Jesus is doing right now? In Acts 2:14-41, Peter preaches the gospel to the diaspora Jews. Those that didn’t recognize Jesus as Messiah, while he walked among them, hear Peter’s message and respond with conviction, confession, repentance, and baptism.

From the series, “Acts”. When the early church was filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in tongues in Acts 2:1-13, the crowds responded in astonishment and ridicule. Does the church today have enough new life in the Spirit to make onlookers make any comment at all?