Citizens Weekly

Our stories of pursuing Christ Jesus often reveal His initial pursuit of us. In the ways we doubt this, let us rehearse our stories together and invite the Holy Spirit to reveal how His presence has been with us all along. In doing so, may we be all the more convinced that our stories, lived in response to Christ Jesus, speak Hope (1 Peter 3:15) and victory (Revelation 12:11) over ourselves and His Church.

This Sunday, Kathryn Gardner began the first part of our journey through our teachings on Acts 2:42 with a message focusing on the purpose for equipping. Ephesians 4:12-13 tell us that it is so “the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ”. But how do we become mature? We decide, we throw off sin, and we fix our eyes on Jesus- the author and perfect or if our faith. 

Acts shows an empowered church that is equipped, communing and praying; A return to Eden-like living as God’s children. What keeps us from walking like this? What keeps us from childlike faith? How do we position ourselves to naturally desire true intimacy with the Father and His people?

From the series “I Will Build My Church”. A discussion about God’s Church warrants an invitation to assure that our testimony regarding the Church echoes God’s testimony regarding the Church. God loves the Church. He’s dreamed of her since before the foundation of the earth. But in every age anti-church sentiment suggests a more critically viable position be held against the Church, even by those in her fellowship. To whose testimony will we sign our name?

From the series, “I Will Build My Church”. God has a plan for your life that includes a new identity and a brand-new approach to human interaction.

From the series, “I Will Build My Church”. Our culture doesn’t care about our creeds, theories, or customs. Fourty million people have stopped attending church in the last 25 years. If Jesus is still building his church in 2023, where is the data to back that up? How is Jesus building his church, and what does that mean for us? 

The Bible provides clear and unambiguous instructions to Christians regarding truth: love it, walk in it, think about it, and testify to it. But we're faced today with many competing truth claims -- and we're forced to decipher them with minds that are easily fooled. What then should we do about truth? In Jesus' encounter with the woman at the well, he demonstrates how his people ought to deal with truth: be humble with it, be hungry for it, and honor God and others with it.

When did being a Christian require us to be pleasant, positive, and perky ALL the time? Was Jesus any of those things ALL the time? No. Jesus was about His Father’s business, which was to extend God’s Covenant of perfect love to all people. And with a Covenant of perfect love comes a whole heap of hates–particularly against anything that threatens or hinders the beloved. The Scriptures say that Jesus loves what is right and hates what is evil. And God loves this about Jesus. So let’s be more like Jesus in loving and hating precisely what He does. (Cheers to Steven Manuel for much of this vocabulary.)