This week we explore what it means to be made in the image of God. The beauty of this origin is that from the beginning, we were made with incredible meaning. For the Christian, the meaning of life is that we would look like Christ; that we would think, love, feel and act more like Jesus. That we would love God with all our heart, mind and soul, and love our neighbor as ourselves as God’s image-bearers. 

Gen 1:26-27; 31a

In an age of increasing use of technology, there are so many questions around what makes a human human. This week we begin a new series to recover a Biblical anthropology; to recover who God made us to be through the life and death of Christ. As God’s design, though distorted by sin, we look to Christ’s redemption to become more like the humanity God made. 

Scripture: Genesis 1:1

In this passage, Jesus looks back at two stories—Naaman and the widow—as examples of the heart of his ministry. These two people represent citizens of the kingdom—enemies, foreigners and those seemingly outside the kingdom. Because the gospel is that Jesus came for the outsider, not the righteous, for we all fall short of the glory of God. It’s not by our own works but only by the blood of Christ that any of us enter the kingdom of heaven. 

Scripture Luke 4:16–30

This week closes our time in Psalm 23. There’s a moment in this psalm, when David shifts from praying about God, to praying to God. Because the Christian life is not just about us knowing about God, but dwelling with God in relationship. The psalm ends with the image of us sitting at God’s table, where we are in attendance but God is the host, pointing to the good news that Christ surrounds us from all sides in love—as he is leading us, with us, and pursuing us. 

Scripture: Psalm 23

Because we live in a fallen world, the shadow of death is always looming, even on our best day. Yet, David speaks of the valley of the shadow of death as a place where God is always in control and always with us, so that we can declare even in the valley, I shall not fear.

Scripture: Psalm 23

Over the next few weeks we will be exploring Psalm 23. This week we will see that because the Lord is our Shepherd, we can find true contentment in Him regardless of our circumstances. While it's right to pray for God's provision and long for good things, our deepest satisfaction comes from His presence, care, and faithfulness. The message encourages believers to trust the Shepherd who pursues, provides, protects, and leads His people, reminding us that our greatest need has already been met in Christ. 

Scripture: Psalm 23

To learn more about Citizens Church, located in Plano Tx, visit citizenschurch.com

We feel our need most when our circumstances are difficult. Yet, the kind of prayer we need most is not about our circumstances but a prayer about what’s true about the Lord. This psalm of David shows us by turning up the volume of what’s true about God, and turning down the volume of our circumstances. 

Scripture: Psalm 86

Psalm 126 is a reminder that God is at work to restore all things. It’s a reminder and call to remember all that God has restored, seek his restoration to continue and trust that God will restore, even in suffering and hardship. 

Scripture: Psalm 126

This psalm of David is a reminder that when God is our greatest good, you can rest assured that we have an unshakeable refuge. Even in our brokenness and our suffering, we have an inheritance in Christ which means he doesn’t just hand us the truth and walk away. He walks with us, providing us refuge. 

Scripture: Psalm 16

Psalm 107 is a case study of how God's love works in the lives of his people. He rescues the wanderer, redeems the sinful, saves the fool, and rescues those who are trapped in hard circumstances.