James 1:12-18 – James outlines two life cycles in this text. The first is the lifecycle of human desire, with leads to sin and death. The second is the revealed "good life" given by God to use through the "word of truth", which is the gospel of Jesus Christ. This new birth comes with the forgiveness of sins, as a free gift to all Christians through faith in Jesus. But this gospel is also an announcement of a new ruler over life – Jesus Christ, the King, who is both savior and role model. To follow Jesus, is to imitate his life, as he went through death to new life, so we die to our desire, in order to truly live.

James 1:9-11 – Embracing Poverty. This teaching was given by Tabatha Leady at Citizens Church on April 3rd, 2022.

James 1:5-8 – James is intent on the church being made up of whole Christians: joyful and complete in their identity as followers of Jesus. Our fallen bodies are conflict-zones of opposing desires. In short, quick strokes James illustrates the unstable nature of split souls-desiring momentary pleasures just as, or more even than they desire Christ. He encourages the church to admit their lack of wisdom in such schizophrenic living, and with no condemnation, to confess our lack and honor our commitment Jesus: to realize his reliability and wisdom. Then we can honor the commitments in all of life that we make as we walk alongside of Jesus into the unknown, knowing God's gifts are packaged within faith itself.

James 1:1-4 – James doesn't mince words to start his letter to the Church. Essentially, he writes this: "To be devoted to Jesus, means– to be made whole in Jesus." But that proposition is only so helpful, James knows, as we know, that it is the doing that is what distances us from Jesus. James breaks this down by encouraging us to 1) learn to interpret the facts with the truth, 2) that we learn the road by walking and 3) that to reach the end of the life in the arms of Christ is the lack nothing.

Genesis 2:4-25 – The season of Lent began on Wednesday. This is a season of worship where we remember the story of Jesus's journey to the cross. It is usually marked by repentance, fasting, and self-giving generosity or charity. Today I want to focus on worship by asking us to spend time seeking the God of the Garden. In Genesis 2 we learn of the second creation account, this time focused on man's relationship to God and God's mission for man. What we learn is important for our life on this earth. 1) God does not forget about us. 2) We forget about God, and 3) the proper way to return is worship: to appreciate God's character, and make the journey home to Him.

Luke 11:1-13 – Last week we spoke about being a church that asks. This week we'll be looking at how to ask in prayer. What does it mean to make a request of God? We first need to be sure of his character. We will only ask a person we trust for our most intimate needs. We then can pray our asking prayers as he teaches in Luke, realizing that it is faith that brings peace, and that he will keep his promises to bring us manna in the wilderness, our "daily bread."

Acts 9:31-43 – Everyone carries a wound. Sometimes these wounds begin young, and are inflicted on us, other times they come from our own failures, regrets and shortcomings. Jesus promises to heal our wounded-ness. To journey with Jesus is to journey towards wholeness. Today we look at the story of two healings in the name of Jesus by the Apostle Peter and ask ourselves as a church, what wounds do we have corporately and personally, and what agreements have we made about those wounds? Jesus promises to heal, but in order to begin–we must give our wounds to Him and trust them in his hands.

Acts 9:19-31 – After Saul's conversion, we get yet another portrait of church growth amidst persecution. The text itself shows us that this passage is a story of multiplication. This week, looking at the story of Saul's early years as a new convert, we seek to know what were the keys to his growth, and his churches growth–and what gets in the way of ours?

Acts 9:1-22 – Every character has an origin story. Saul's origin story is crucial to understanding his role in the church and as an author of much of the New Testament. Today we look at the pivotal transformation that brought Saul to Christ to one day become Paul. Saul was incapable of changing himself. He needed Jesus. Jesus disrupts his path, blinds him in and by grace, and sends him into service. Saul has two when Jesus appears, rebel, or surrender. The call from Christ always presents this choice. This text shows us that it is only in repentance, faith and hope that we move forward to wholeness after every failure.

Acts 8:26-40 – The story of Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch is one that centers around two themes. 1) The expansion of the Kingdom to include the nations outside of Israel, as prophesied in Isaiah. 2) Evangelism. This week Tabatha leads us through a teaching on both. We all evangelize something. What are you selling? And, because of sin, we have a tendency to forbid some people entrance into salvation. Who are you disqualifying?