A clear marker of the church is worship, not just on Sunday but everyday. What we believe about God in Christ compels us to whole-life worship. Anything less signals a faith which is out of step with the reality of the gospel. Listen as CJ challenges us from Romans 12 to give our very selves as living sacrifices, being transformed by God and not conformed to the world.

Today begins a new series on church life. What verbs mark the church's identity and presence in the world? The foundation of the church is the gospel of God and so the first verb of church life is "Believe." Listen as Dave encourages Citizens to hold onto the peculiarity of our faith in the face of a doubting world.

We live in a 24/7 world, where nights and weekends are usually spent doing the personal work we can't get done while working our day jobs. What if God actually built the world to work best with a weekly Sabbath? Rob McIlvoy encourages us to take seriously God's call to weekly rest and gives practical advice on how to do it.

Joseph is faced with a choice between revenge and redemption. His brothers travel to Egypt seeking help due to the regional famine. Through a series of tests, Joseph learns that his brothers are truly repentant for what they have done, and they have changed into new men, willing to give their lives to save their youngest brother, Benjamin. Joseph’s response to them shows us that change is possible for even the worst kind of people and that revenge can never taste as sweet as redemption.

Joseph has had everything stripped from him. His status, dignity, and freedom. But there is one treasure no one can take from him, the presence of God. We learn this week that God gives Joseph His abiding presence, causing all that he does to succeed. Joseph’s righteousness is tested by temptation and further abuse. But God remains faithful to him even in that. We are invited to ask ourselves whether God’s abiding presence is the greatest treasure in our own lives.

Betrayal at the hands of those closest to us is one of the most painful of human experiences. It effects our relationship with God and with ourself. Joseph is envied a hated by his brothers. They betray him, plotting to murder him, and ultimately sell him into slavery. This week we looked at how Jesus is the only one who can step into our stories of betrayal and bring restoration and healing because He willfully subjected Himself to betrayal from both humanity and His Father to bring redemption to our relationship with others, God, and self.

This week pastor C.J. opened our series on the life of Joseph in The Old Testament. Favoritism is a generational sin that runs rampant in Joseph's family tree. It is all too common in our own families. These week we explore the implications of this sin and recognize that Jesus bears the burden of being God's favorite so that none of us have to. He also leverages His status to serve, rather than oppress us.

The word "compassion" means to suffer with. The word "remarkable" means worth speaking of. Phillip Pattison, founder and head of Foster the Bay, asks us to consider how the church is responding to the great need for families to open their homes to the orphan. Do we recognize the reality of our adoption into God's family and are we moved to extend that to others?

All of Abraham's life climaxes in Genesis 22 when God asks him to sacrifice Isaac. What are we supposed to do with such a terrible test? Dave wrestles with three problems with God's request, and suggests the one reasonable explanation for Abraham's faith.

In Genesis 15, we learned that God was putting everything on the line for Abraham--including God's own life. Does this mean that God's love is unconditional? Genesis 17 and the sign of circumcision reminds us that humanity does have a part to play in God's redemptive plan, and this is good news.