Citizens Weekly

Sabbath is a Holy day, ascribed uniquely by God at creation and again in the Ten Commandments. It is a day to practice wrapping our best AND most broken parts around, a day that grants a weekly reprieve from the anxieties that enslave our thoughts, emotions, and best intentions. Anything God names "Holy" is a gift to His people. So let us move towards Sabbath with joy and expectation. 

Most of us live with little to no margin, teetering on the edge of burnout, unable to love God or one another fully. Sabbath is an invitation to stop this anxious, hurried pace and rest. In this ancient practice, we shift from restlessness to restfulness in all of life. In Sabbath, we remember the rhythms God practiced and embedded in all creation, trusting him to provide everything we need from a heart posture of gratitude.

From the Vision Series 2022: Follow. Jesus walked in the power of the Holy Spirit (Lk. 4v14), and the Father gives his children the power of the Holy Spirit (Acts 1v8, Rom. 13v13). When does this happen? How does it happen? Who is the Holy Spirit? And what does living in the power of the Holy Spirit look like?

From the Vision Series 2022: Follow. Jesus' call to follow him is synonymous with a call to community. The primary title in the New Testament to describe the community Jesus is building is "family." But for many, family is complicated. We don't get to choose our family. The family Jesus is building can also be challenging. Without community, we restrict our spiritual formation and miss out on God's design for the church. So how do we practice biblical community with all our baggage, fears, and expectations?

From the Vision Series 2022: Follow. We’re all in the process of becoming someone. Either we are actively involved in this process, or we are passive.  Jesus invites us to follow in him through the process of abiding. Before Citizens can live a communal life or a charismatic life, we must live the Christ life, which starts with abiding in the vine, being hidden in Christ, and being formed into his image.

Matthew 7:12

From the Series “Sermon on the Mount.” Prayer can feel like an impossible practice to integrate into daily life. We all have hangups and deeply conflicting emotions about prayer for various reasons. Even still, Jesus invites his disciples into a life of abiding prayer filled with asking, seeking, and knocking. But what does Jesus mean? And is there a way around the common roadblocks followers of Jesus experience when we try to obey this teaching and take Jesus at his word? 

From the Series “Sermon on the Mount.” When we are critical and judge people unfairly, we set ourselves above others, and we sit in God’s seat. By doing this, we set ourselves up for similar judgment in the future. Jesus presents the way we become the kinds of people who help others, his advocates of reconciliation and healing, by first taking inventory of our hidden motives, our desires to control and confess these things as sin.

From the Series “Sermon on the Mount”. Anxiety robs us of the identity we have in Jesus and makes us an idolater – placing value on anything other than God (ourselves, our abilities, our education, our title, our influence, our bank account, our degree plan). Anxiety about obtaining possessions, even the basic needs of life, is meaningless because God places value on you. Far more than anything else. And when we place value and infinite worth on seeking God and his kingdom before anything else, he provides for every need we have. So, even planning for tomorrow is meaningless.

From the Series “Sermon on the Mount”. In Matthew 6:19-24, Jesus questions His disciples in which economy they to participate – the treasures of earth that are momentarily enticing but fade or the treasures of heaven that challenge one’s faith but yield eternal fruit. It’s helpful for disciples in any age to recognize that, because of God’s great mercy and Jesus’ resurrection, the rewards of the Father and the treasures of Heaven can be realized NOW. The Kingdom of God has come NOW. No disciple needs to wait until the sweet by-and-by to obtain the ultimate reward: God’s dynamic presence with us NOW.