Mosaic Boston

In Ephesians 4, Paul lays out God's design for the unity of the Church, and the unity of individual churches. He writes, "There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call—one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all."

What do you pray about most frequently? What do you pray about most intensely? Your finances? Your health? Your relationships? Your career? You? One of the best ways to reveal what you truly care about most in life, is to analyze the content of your prayers, the frequency of those prayers, and the intensity with which you pray about those things. We pray about what concerns us most, because prayer expresses desire. As we continue our study of Ephesians, we come to one of the most beautiful and profound prayers in all of Holy Scripture. Paul prays for the souls of the believers in Ephesus.

In order to help us understand the lavishness of God's mercy, grace, and love, Paul explains the bleakness of our plight apart from Christ. He plunges us deep into the abyss of our sinfulness, where it's cold, dark, and the pressure is excruciating. We weren't just spiritually sick or ill, we were "dead in our sins and trespasses." We weren't just naughty, we were "children of wrath." Then, when it seems almost unbearable, Paul shoots us up to the highest high of God's grace: "But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved!"

The first in our series of book of Ephesians, a letter written for a cultural moment not unlike our own. Actually, Ephesus was a city more divided than our own. St. Paul writes to them, to tell them of Christ's plan to "unite all things to himself, in heaven and things on earth." Through the Gospel, Jesus breaks down the "dividing walls of hostility." Christ reconciles us both to God and to each other. Christ brings lasting reconciliation by healing all alienation and removing all isolation. "In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit." Through Christ, we can be united to God, and united by God.

Listen as church planting resident Ivey Rhodes turns to the Bible to figure out what fasting is, and explore what it isn't: - Fasting isn’t for weight loss or any health benefit. - Fasting doesn’t earn favor with God. - Fasting can’t save you. - Fasting doesn’t make us spiritual giants. - Fasting isn’t a command. - Fasting doesn’t bend God to our will. If you want to hear what Christian fasting is, listen in to learn more!

Prayer is the lifeblood of our relational connection with God. Oswald Chambers once said, "We tend to use prayer as a last resort, but God wants it to be our first life of defense. We pray when there's nothing else we can do, but God wants us to pray before we do anything al all." Prayer isn't just to be used in the case of emergency. Prayer is how we commune with and encounter God himself. As we begin 2017, we look to the Lord's Prayer in Matthew 6, to remind ourselves of the importance of prayer for our souls, and hence, our lives.

Week 1 of our Spiritual series looks at the connection between Holy Scripture and the Holy Spirit. Christians tend to gravitate toward one of two extremes regarding the third person of the Trinity. Some pursue experiences in the Spirit of God strictly apart from the Word of God. They listen for voices in their hearts or signs in the sky. They are always talking about what God said to them through a stirring, a feeling, or in a strange confluence of circumstances. Others, however, seek to know and obey the Word of God without and interaction with, or real dependence on, the Spirit. But the Spirit and the Word work inseparably. We cannot experience the Spirit apart from the Word and we cannot understand the Word apart from the Spirit.

The feeling of fear isn't something we naturally associate with Christmas. However, three times, at key moments in the Christmas narrative, people are told to "Fear not!" Yes, seeing an Angel is probably a nerve-racking experience, in and of itself. However, there may be more to it. They weren't just frightened by the Angel's appearance. They were frightened by the Angel's announcement. But all are told: "Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people." When God breaks into your life, it's always scary, but his perfect love casts out all fear. Jesus turns any scary Christmas into a merry Christmas.

Joy is a sign of a healthy heart, and by extension, a lack of joy is a symptom of an unhealthy heart. Joy is more than happiness, just as happiness is more than pleasure. Pleasure is felt in the body; happiness is felt in the mind and feelings. Joy, however, is felt deep in the heart, deep in the core of your soul. How’s your heart? How’s your joy? When the Angel brought news of the first Christmas to the Shepherds, he said, “Behold, I bring you good news of great joy.” Not minor joy. Not small joy. Not modest joy. But “great joy.” Jesus came to bring us this joy, an indestructible joy, “No one will take your joy from you.”

There are many things in this world that show us that God loves us. However, Christmas is the greatest, most ultimate, proof of God's love for us. The God of the universe subjected himself to becoming human, with everything this entails.

The word "Advent" comes from the Latin word "Adventus," meaning "coming" or "arrival. It begins the 4th Sunday before Christmas and ends on Christmas Day. Advent is a celebration of the first coming of Jesus and the anticipation of his second coming. Celebrating Advent helps us cut through the infinite distractions, of life in general, and the Christmas season in particular, and refocus our attention on what's most important in life. The four themes of Advent are "Hope, Love, Joy, and Peace." In this message Pastor Jan turns to the Holy Scriptures to remind us of the certain hope we have in Christ.

Some days prayer is the only thing that gets you through. There is a real sense in which we should pray, to make it through the day. And that isn’t a bad thing at all. Prayer helping us through tough times is Biblical. We see that idea throughout the Psalms and from Jesus himself. Check out church planting resident Ivey Rhodes' sermon on prayer and how it helps us through the ups and downs of life.

In Genesis 12, God calls Abram (aka Abraham) and promises to bless him "so that you will be a blessing." This is how God's blessings work: when He blesses us, we are to receive those blessings with open hands, so his blessings don't just flow to us, but through us. We are not to be collectors of blessings, but dispensers of blessings. We are not to just be beneficiaries of blessings, but agents of blessings. We are not designed to be cisterns, but aqueducts. Does your life represent the cascading blessings of God?

However we feel, we must not overlook the phenomenal opportunity before the church today. We have an opportunity to live out the love of Christ by standing in the gap for all those who feel vulnerable, fearful, and alienated. We have an opportunity to boldly stand against anything that threatens life. So we stand with and fight for the unborn, the minority, the immigrant, for all who are oppressed and abused. We will use whatever influence we have to see that everyone is protected and treated fairly and equally. We stand against all injustice, lawlessness, and discrimination, wherever we see even a hint of it. Ultimately, we are not united by the United States. We are united by Jesus Christ, who died for tax collectors and publicans, and yes, for democrats and republicans. Genesis 10-11 fittingly speaks a profound Word into our cultural moment.

One would think the story of Noah in Genesis should have concluded with a happy ending. However, tragically, it doesn't. The second half of chapter 9 tells us that Noah sinned, and so did his son Ham. The sin leads to a curse, and a forfeiture of blessing. Why? Somewhere along the way, Noah stopped striving for God's blessings. Unlike Jacob in Genesis 32:26 who told God "I will not let you go unless you bless me," Noah had stopped wrestling for blessing.

As we continue our journey through the book of Genesis, and the story of Noah in particular, we see the very first rainbow in all of human history. After over a year in the ark, with his kids, lots of animals, and certainly not enough ventilation, Noah leaves the ark for dry ground and fresh air. Can you even begin to imagine the feeling of getting out of that boat? Over a year in a boat, in some less than ideal accommodations. I get stir-crazy on any flight over 3 hours! Noah comes out and his first reaction is utter bliss! His heart is overjoyed, humbled, and full of thanksgiving, so he responds by worshipping God through sacrifice.

Deep down inside, every single one us wants to (or has wanted to) live lives of consequence. We want our work to matter. We want our lives to matter. We want to matter. We all yearn for glory. Unfortunately, many of us don't understand one of the greatest paradoxes of the universe: if you live for your own glory, your life won't matter that much, but if you live for God's glory, you will live of life of great meaning, satisfaction, and blessing. This message gives us a deeper look into the life of Noah, and why the story and his life isn't really about him.

However, the God of Holy Scripture is radically different. Scripture tells us God is love, and one cannot love from afar. God is intimately involved and wholly committed to us. One cannot become this involved in any relationship without becoming vulnerable. To love is to open up your heart, either to acceptance or rejection, to bliss or to grief. Genesis 6 gives us a glimpse into God's grieving heart.

In Philippians 3:12-21, Paul shows us how to live in response to amazing grace. Knowing he was completely unqualified for the position God gave him, Paul begins to “Run Like He Stole It” without looking back! Jesus qualified him when he was completely unqualified, so Paul makes it his aim to run faster, work harder, and grow up into a life worthy of the Gospel. Hear this great message from Ivey Rhodes, the current church planting resident at Mosaic Boston.

As we continue our journey through the book of Genesis, we learn about the first city ever built. The city was built by Cain. Although God created everyone to find their deepest satisfaction in Him, by fully glorifying him, Cain seeks to build a life and city apart from God.