Mosaic Boston • Jamaica Plain: Recent Episodes
Mosaic Boston • Jamaica Plain
Weekly Sermon Audio from Mosaic Boston Jamaica Plain. Mosaic Boston Jamaica Plain is a new church in Boston in the neighborhood of Jamaica Plain. We are a vibrant and diverse Christian community with a deep love for God, the Bible, and the city. At Mosaic, we believe God is Father; therefore the church is family.
We all want to be happy, but did you know the more advertisements you see the less happy you are? Ads show us all the things we’re missing and they promise us happiness if we get the thing. The problem is, they can’t deliver on the happiness promised. If acquiring more stuff won’t make us happy, what will? Jesus gives us an unintuitive truth: “It’s more blessed to give that receive.” This week pastor Ivey shows us why we’ll find happiness in giving rather than getting.
We dedicate our time to the things we care about most. It makes sense for Christians to dedicate our time to God. How many hours do you dedicate to your relationship with God? Many Christians dedicate an hour a week on Sundays. Which is a good start, but a relationship needs more than that. Life is busy already! How can we give more time? If you need help in your relationship with God, watch this week’s message.
This week we look at a spiritual discipline that can turn your life around. Those that have a thriving life live out this discipline on a daily basis. What is it? Consistency. This week Pastor Ivey takes to Daniel, one of the most faithful and consistent people in the Scriptures. We’ll learn how being a consistent person can change our lives. Then we’ll get three ideas to help us be consistent God honoring people.
In week two of Pre-Decide we turn to temptation. All of us are tempted daily, and some days we’re more successful at fighting it than others. Succumbing to our worst temptations not only hurts us, but can hurt the people we love the most, and ultimately hurt the heart of God. How can we be better equipped and stronger against our struggles? This week, Pastor Ivey looks into the Scriptures to teach us three helpful methods to resist our most difficult temptations.
This week we begin a new series on making better decisions. Pastor Ivey talks about the idea of pre-deciding some of life’s biggest choices before they every happen. We’ll examine how this technique can help save us from making some really destructive decisions. This may not be an idea you’ve heard before, but it’s one found all over the the ancient wisdom of the Bible. Listen in this week for part one of our six part series Pre-Decide, “Take Back Your Life.”
This week we look at one of the most significant stories in all of Scripture: The Triumphal Entry. Pastor Ivey takes us through Matthew’s account of Palm Sunday where Jesus rides into Jerusalem with crowds shouting “Hosanna!” This is the moment where he declares to the whole world that he is not just a prophet or good teacher, but he is king. This story illustrates that Jesus is king over everything. Not one thing that happens in this moment that was on accident.
Haggai is a little book that we don’t talk a lot about, but that doesn’t diminish its power. These two chapters are filled to brim with important ancient wisdom that is applicable to our modern lives. For the follower of Christ, Haggai shows the secret ways we don’t put God first. Pastor Ivey challenges us to place Christ as number one in every area of our lives.
Join us as guest speaker Philip Blackett shows us the way that Jesus led how we should have the same desire for servant leadership.
This week, join us as guest speaker Fady Ghobrial shows us from God's Word how we can have a Biblical perspective on work.
Zephaniah isn’t a book that we talk about often, but it’s message that we all need to hear. This week Pastor Ivey looks at the prophet from the royal line of the great reformer king Hezekiah. Zephaniah sees his people on a crash course for God’s judgment, and he proclaims a message of repentance. He hopes that a young new king named Josiah will listen, repent, reform God’s people, and find safety in the Lord. Listen this week and learn where safety can be found.
This week we look at Nahum. Nahum is a little different than the other minor prophets. Where most of them focus on the sin of God's people, Nahum focuses on how God's people had been sinned against. This week pastor Ivey shows us the importance of being an advocate for those in need.
This week we start season 2 of our Minor Prophet series “Outspoken.” In this series is about 12 faithful men who changed the world, not because the were popular, had the biggest platform, or made a good living. These men preached radical renewal to God’s people, before Christ was born, and many of them faced great hardship because they did. This week Pastor Ivey dives into the book of Micah to see the miracle God was going to do for his lost people.
Have you ever been in a situation where God was your only hope of survival? You’re not alone. That was basically the life of King David. This week Pastor Ivey takes us to the 124 Psalm, where David shows us how he has made it through life’s most difficult days. On his own, David would have been a dead man, but with the Lord’s help David could make it through the impossible. Watch this week as we finish out series in the Psalms.
We need God every day, but there are times when we get in over our heads and confront God-sized problems. Problems where, if God doesn't pull through, we have no chance. This week we continue our series in the Psalms by seeing how David called out to God when he is in trouble. Pastor Ivey walks us through Psalm 54 so we can learn how to call to the Lord for aid on our most difficult days. Plus we work through how to understand passages of violence in the Bible.
We use prayer to communicate with God, but how does God communicate with us? God is infinitely transcendent, above us, is it even possible for God to speak our language? This week Pastor Ivey explores Psalm 19 and we'll discover the two languages God has used to communicate to us.
The Psalms are not just one type of thing. The represent the hymn book of the Jewish people. Just like we have different genres of music like pop, classical, hip hop, or emo, Psalms is similar. Those different genres will have a different ways of communicating. Last week we looked at a wisdom psalm and this week we jump to a royal psalm. Pastor Ivey explores how to live as a Christian in a world that is complex and chaotic.
At the beginning of this new year we are starting a new five-week series in the Psalms. This week Pastor Ivey takes us through Psalm 1. In this Psalm the writer reveals the secret to happiness. The way he does this is kind of backward. Rather than giving us all the steps to be happy, the Psalmist shows us three places we look for lasting happiness and never find it. His surprising revelation is that we need to be less like culture and more like a tree if we want to be happy.
Summary: Names can tell us so much about a person. So when God sent his Son he gave him four names to describe the type of Messiah he would be. This week we wonder at how Jesus is our Eternal Father. Which is strange, because Jesus is the Son of God. So, pastor Ivey unpacks how the Son can be a father to us. Whether your dad was good, bad, or complicated, we’ll see all the ways that Jesus is the father we’ve all dreamed about. Then we see why that matters in our lives. Join us this week as we learn about Jesus, our Eternal Father.
This Sunday we explore what it means that Jesus is our Wonderful Counselor. Pastor Ivey helps us understand the miraculous nature of Jesus the Wonderful Counselor. It’s more than a title, it was the way of Jesus while he walked earth. But even more than that, today he is still our wonderful counselor. He welcomes our problems without judgment and heals our deepest needs.
This week we begin our advent series "Wonder." In this first week, we turn to the book of Isaiah to learn about a child that would bring hope to the world. To call this child special would be an understatement. Isaiah gives us four names for the child: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, and Prince of Peace. This wasn't just any child, this was God. This week pastor Ivey shows us how this child born more than 2000 years ago makes a difference in our lives today.
In this final week of Devastation and Reform Pastor Ivey looks at being wrong. Is it ok for a Christian to be wrong? The argument can be made from the Scriptures that it's not only ok, but that recognizing we're wrong is essential to being a Christian. We'll look at two important people from Acts 9 who realized they are wrong and Jesus was right.
This week we see how knowledge is our friend when we are going through deconstruction. Pastor Ivey brings us to a passage where a well-known worship leader in Israel is doubting his faith. Though he doubted, he didn't lose his trust in God. Listen this week as we see four types of knowledge that can help us deconstruct our faith without losing it.
It's important to be able to discern truth from lies. This week pastor Ivey walks us through discerning what is true through the Scriptures. We turn to the least discerning couple of all time: Adam and Eve.
All of us put our trust in something even when we're not sure about everything. This week Pastor Ivey brings us to Mark 9 to see a blind man with incredible faith, but a man that was unsure about a a lot. We see that it's ok, not to know be unsure about many things in your faith as long as you trust in Jesus.
In our new series we are exploring faith deconstruction. In this first week we take a step back to look at what is meant by deconstruction. Then Pastor Ivey brings us to the book of Matthew to see how deconstructing our faith doesn't always have to be a bad thing. Faith deconstruction, if done the right way, can lead to a deeper faith on the other side.
It's amazing to think that the Lord of the universe listens to our prayers. But even more amazing than that, God prays for us! In today's passage from John, we get to listen in on a personal prayer of Jesus. The most fascinating part of this prayer is that Jesus prays, not just for his disciples 2000 years ago, but for Christians living in 2021. Listen as pastor Ivey brings us through five prayers Jesus prayed for us.
This week we look at a fight that has been raging since page three of the Bible. It's a battle that the Apostle Paul faced and a battle that every Christian faces. It's a fight between the old and new You. The flesh and the Spirit, and it's the fight of your life. This week pastor Ivey takes us to the works of the flesh and the fruit of the Spirit to see how God is producing the fruit of Christ-like character in you.
This week we begin our new series by looking why we have been chosen. In John 15 Jesus tells us that he chose us to bear fruit. Over the next few week we will explore the type of fruit we're supposed to bear, but this week we focus on the how. Pastor Ivey explains both the simple, but difficult way in which Christ produces fruit in us.
In the church, we can often think that the people that are most visible, like pastors and worship leaders, are the most important jobs. We can assume that everyone else's jobs are less important. This is a lie we've told ourselves and cannot be found in the Scriptures. Watch this week as pastor Ivey explains from Romans 12 how every member of God's church is essential to God's plan. There are no insignificant jobs in the church.
This week we remind ourselves why God has us in Boston. There are always two temptations. If you've lived here for a while, you can become complacent and forget that God brought you to Boston for a reason. Life can become mundane, unfocused, and monotonous as we lose the adventure of living on purpose with Christ. If you're new to the city, and you know you'll only be here for a few years, it's tempting to treat it like a layover and not invest where God has you. This week pastor Ivey shows how God has called long-term citizens and even those passing through to give, invest, and contribute to this city.
Much of life seems to be lived in-between where we are and where we want to be. This week we look at keeping the faith in-between. Faith between the prayer and God's answer. Between pain and healing. Between the beginning and finishing. Habakkuk is a powerful example of faith in-between God's work. Habakkuk lived between God's judgment and God's redemption, and he teaches us how to have hope while we wait on God to work.
This week Joel Richards is our guest speaker. He brings us through, Obadiah, the shortest book in the Old Testament... And one that, at first glance, is pretty difficult to understand. We may feel like we can skip or ignore Obadiah, but if we do we're missing out on a treasure of God's grace. This week Joel Richards helps us make Obadiah practical by showing us the implications of having our success be from God.
This week we jump into Amos. Amos is a fascinating book about God's desire for justice and righteousness among his people. To get this message out, God contracts a poor shepherd from a nowhere mountain town to speak to the immoral privileged and wealthy. These people were crushing the vulnerable and weak while all the while trying to act religious. For this reason, Amos has a lot to say to American Christianity. Listen in and be transformed by God's Word through this ancient poet.
We continue our series in the Minor Prophets this week by looking at the book of Joel. The main antagonist in Joel's book is a swarm of locusts that illustrates and warns Israel about the danger of their sin and how the Lord is drawing them back. As we look at Joel we will see how God uses our pain to bring us to himself and shape us into the people he desires us to be.
This week we begin a brand new series in the Minor Prophets. They aren't minor because they're unimportant. They're called minor because they're small. In our first message, pastor Ivey looks at the fascinating story of Hosea and his bride. Hosea becomes the stand-in for God. Through Hosea, we'll see how God chases, loves, and has sacrificed himself so that we can have a relationship with him.
It's no secret that the church is weird about sex and that our culture is obsessed with it. This causes a lot of tension and disagreement between the church and the rest of the culture. This tension is not a new phenomenon. Christians have been weird about sex for about 2000 years. This week pastor Ivey examines the history and future of this belief by looking at the bigger and better story of sex and marriage.
For Western cultures, judgment, hell, and damnation is one of Christianity's most controversial beliefs. Maybe you've been asked, "How can a loving God send people to hell?" It can be a difficult question to answer. So, in our third week of X-Ray, Pastor Ivey examines the doctrine of hell. This message is difficult and sobering but needed. We'll begin by exploring what Christians actually believe about hell, then examine how a loving God can judge us, and finish by celebrating the one hope in hell humanity has.
You may have heard someone say that all religions are equally true, and while it sounds nice, there are some major issues with that idea. This week Pastor Ivey x-rays the Christian belief that Jesus is the only way to God. First, we see that elephants are nothing like religions, then we seek to understand from the Scriptures why Christians believe that Jesus the only way to God, and finish by examining if Jesus really is able to forgive our sins and be our way to God.
There are some difficult beliefs in Christianity. Some are hard to understand. Others are just hard to accept. Some seem immoral and others seem ridiculous. Our backgrounds and culture greatly affect our acceptance of certain beliefs, but that doesn't change the historically orthodox beliefs of Christianity. In this new series, we're going to look under the surface and x-ray Christian beliefs to see why Christians believe what we believe. If you're a Christian, there will be information here that strengthens your faith. If you're not a Christian, this will be challenging, but enlightening. Join us this first week as we ask the foundational question, "Is the Bible God's Word?"
Has someone told you, "You don't want to be on the wrong side of history." The statement may cause you to really think. This week we look at how often, when we live our lives trying not to be judged by future generations we cannot know, we may be doomed to become worse than prior generations. There is no better example than the religious leaders of Jesus' day. These were men who had disdain for past generations and truly wanted to be on the right side of history. Yet, they became even worse than their ancestors. Can the cycle be broken? Listen as Pastor Ivey unpacks Jesus' solution to this vicious cycle of sin.
A gambit is a chess move where a player sacrifices a piece in an effort to trap their opponent. Metaphorically, this is what the religious leaders try against Jesus when they ask him a question about his authority. What they don't fully understand is that Jesus is playing chess while they are playing checkers. He outmaneuvers them and sets his own gambit. Watch this week as we examine our hearts to answer the question the religious leaders must answer, "Who is Jesus?"
This week we look at a passage that has stumped Christians, theologians, New Testament scholars, and philosophers for centuries. And it revolves around a barren fig tree that Jesus curses. We examine the meaning of the fig tree and why Jesus cursed it. Then pastor Ivey shows us how to avoid being cursed by Jesus. Something that we should all be interested in! Listen, understand, and be changed by one of the most difficult passages in the Gospel of Mark.
All of us have deficiencies, and if we're honest, we probably have more than one. It's only after we realize our weaknesses that we can do something about them. This week we look at blind Bartimaeus. A man who was well aware of his weakness but also knew its solution. One day while he was going about his regular begging, the solution to his blindness came walking by, and his name was Jesus. Listen this week as Pastor Ivey explores how we can see our weaknesses and allow Jesus to heal them.
The final reason God has you on earth has an expiration date. God has put you in this world for a mission to spread the good news of Jesus'. This is God's mission for us, but only on this side of eternity. That doesn't make it any less important. It only makes the need more urgent. Not only did Jesus send us on a mission, but he also gave us scope for it. We are to be witnesses here, there, and everywhere. Listen this week as Pastor Ivey looks at God's gospel mission for his church and shows us our part in it from the Scriptures.
When we were saved, the Apostle Paul tell us that he pouring out his kindness on us in love, resurrected us, forgave us, saved us, and even coronated us as co-rulers with him. And in all that he has done for us, we are his masterpieces of redemption. The Apostle Paul concludes that because of the amazing work of Jesus for us there is only one reasonable response is our whole lives in service to Jesus. While that is a lot to grasp, Pastor Ivey slows down and takes us through three ways we can serve like Jesus. Join us this week as we see that we were born to serve.
We often think of the obvious ways we grow in our faith: Prayer, Scripture reading, and going to church. While God does use all those things, he also uses so much more. Many of them are pretty unexpected. Many of the times he wants us to become like his Son, he will bring us to the places Jesus went. This week we examine those unexpected tools from Romans 8:28-29. Listen as Pastor Ivey helps us navigate some of the difficult ways God helps us become like Jesus.
We all have a physical family, the people that we share our DNA with. They are important parts of our lives, but we will be eventually be separated from those we're genetically related to. God has given us a family that won't just last our few decades on earth, but for all eternity! This week Pastor Ivey explores the importance of God's church. They are the most important family we will ever have. We cannot fulfill our reason for being alive without them. Listen this week as we unpack what it means to be born for God's family.
All of us are born with certain skills, abilities, talents, and passions. Sometimes we can mistake those for our purpose in life. For instance, if you're good at math, you may assume your purpose is to work in the sciences. Eventually, we realize that those things may contribute to our ultimate purpose in life, but they are not the reason we're alive. If we want to know the reason we're alive we need to look to the one who created us. Listen with us this week as pastor Ivey explores the first reason you're alive: You were born to worship God.
In some way, all of us have asked the question of existence, "Why am I alive?" It's one of our earliest questions, but it never really seems to go away. This week Pastor Ivey begins a new five-week series exploring the reason we're born, our purpose in life. Listen as we explore the reason we're alive from three different perspectives: Existence, significance, and intention.
Have you ever wondered why you're alive? What is your purpose for existing? Because, if there is one thing you want to get right, it's your purpose. This Easter Pastor Ivey explores the Scriptures to look at why God made us, how God made us, and what should be our response. Listen this week for a meaningful message about your place in God's plan.
Have you ever felt alone? Maybe 2020 was a year where you experienced more isolation than ever before. We were not meant to be alone. But this week we look at a time when Jesus was abandoned by everyone and left to face the most horrific moment in history alone. Join us this week as pastor Ivey explores Jesus' painful moments before the cross in the Garden of Gethsemene where he was abandoned by all so that we could be welcomed by God.
As we continue our Lent series, taking a deep dive into the last three days of Jesus' life, we look at an extraordinary act of worship from a thankful woman. Everyone gives Jesus some sort of value in their lives. Some people will pay to get rid of Jesus, others will get what they can from Jesus, and still, others will give all they have to Jesus. Which one are you? How do you value Jesus? Listen in this week for a powerful and contemplative message on worship.
What should and shouldn't Christians do when waiting on Jesus to return? Talking about the end-times will always spark fascinating discussions. Some are more helpful than others. This week we look at the second half of Jesus' end-times teaching on the Mount of Olives. Jesus doesn't leave us wondering what we're supposed to do as we wait on him to return, he comes right out and says it. Join Pastor Ivey this week as he walks us through the Christian's proper response to the end-times.
This week we begin our new Lenten series where we slow down and explore the last three days before the cross. On Tuesday Jesus walked out of the temple with his disciples. When one of the disciples was enamored with the beautiful Temple in Jerusalem, Jesus prophecied that it would soon be destroyed. Shocked, the disciples wanted to know more. So Jesus took them across from the temple to the Mount of Olives and gave his second most famous teaching about persecution, the destruction of the temple, his return, and the end of time. This week he tells his disciples to keep their eyes wide open to the signs of the times so they will persevere. Pastor Ivey walks us through the passage and connects it to our everyday Christian lives.
Confession is often the most difficult part of prayer. It's always hard to admit we've done something wrong. This week Pastor Ivey unpacks why Christians should not be afraid of confession. Rather, Christians that understand the gospel, the depth of their sin, and the grace of their Father should marvel in confession. Join us for this final week in the series A House of Prayer as we look to the last verses in Jesus' model prayer about deliverance from sin.
For the first time in the Lord's Prayer, Jesus tells us to ask for God to work on our behalf. Perhaps surprisingly, Jesus doesn't begin his prayer with requests, but with worship. Then he prays that our hearts would be aligned in submission to God's will. It's only then that he begins asking for God's provision. Pastor Ivey unpacks each word of this amazing verse. Listen this week as we discover from Jesus what it is to recognize, rely, and rest on our Heavenly Father.
If we want a comfortable life, Prayer is dangerous... especially when we pray Jesus' first request of his model prayer. As we look to the Lord's Prayer this week, we see that Jesus wants us to keep our hearts focused heavenward. We're going to see Jesus petition the Father to bring heaven to earth. Pastor Ivey explores how heaven can come to earth and then shows us from the Scriptures how the ever growing Kingdom of God expands.
The Lord's prayer is one of the most remarkable teachings of Jesus, but it has become so common that we often miss how extraordinary it really is. Familiarity has a way of making even the marvelous seem mundane. This week Pastor Ivey continues our new series by turning to the most famous prayer in all of the Scriptures. We'll take The Lord's Prayer and explore the profound meaning in each word. Join us this week and learn to pray under the teaching of Jesus.
In 2020 we spent a year reading through the entire Bible, and may consistent Bible reading continue in your life this year. But in 2021 we're focusing on prayer, and not just any prayer, but communal prayer. Check out this week's message as Pastor Ivey unpacks a powerful passage from the prophet Isaiah about how God defines his house. He doesn't call it a house of music, a house of preaching, or a house of programs. He calls it "A house of prayer."
After several months off, we are concluding our series about caring for God's creation. This sermon was originally planned for March 2020, but COVID changed those plans. Today we look at our role in God's creation. Pastor Ivey walks us through the first job ever given to humans: Gardeners. Then we see how that relates to our current job on God's good earth.
So far in Ruth, we've seen hope crushed and reborn. We've seen love planted and flourished. We've witnessed the peace that comes with a family. This week we watch a joy that comes from God's supernatural providence in the life of Ruth. We finish our Bethlehem Christmas celebration 1,300 years before Christ. Like with the birth of Jesus, there is a child born who will have a royal legacy. Join us as we see how God was working to bring joy to the whole world through this one family!
This week we catch up with Ruth a few months after she first met Boaz. Naomi was determined to return the love Ruth had shown her. She desired peace for Ruth, and she had a plan to get it. In chapter three she sent Ruth on a risky mission that would require an unconditional proposal to a rich and powerful man. This week Pastor Ivey shows us how we can be agents of peace in the world through the power of Jesus, our redeemer.
We love burritos. We love movies. We love our family. We use love in a lot of ways with vastly different meanings. But there is one thing we all want in life, it's a loyal love that is never going anywhere. This week Pastor Ivey jumps into the second part of Ruth. In this chapter we see Boaz using a special type of love. A faithful love that most often characterizes God's love for his people. Through Ruth, we'll see where to find the faithful love we truly long for.
2020 has been a year to remember... or forget? Either way, we all need a little hope this year. Christmas is a season of hope as every year we remember the birth of Jesus in the town of Bethlehem. But did you know that Bethlehem was important throughout the Scriptures? Some 1300 years before, the birth of Jesus was put in motion by a young outsider woman and an Israelite man all culminating in, you guessed it, the town of Bethlehem. Through the story of Ruth, we learn where to find hope on our darkest days.
Jesus often subverts our expectations. Anytime we think we have him pinned down, he gives us a teaching like Mark 10:32-45. In chapter 10, two of Jesus' disciples ask to be the most powerful people in the new kingdom he would establish. Jesus astonished them with the radical upside-down nature of his kingdom. This week pastor Ivey examines the real winners in Jesus' kingdom. Jesus reveals that the secret to happiness paradoxically comes from being a loser. They aren't the powerful and the rich, but the lowly and the humble.
There are good reasons to think that if you live in the United States you are rich. Honestly, we may not feel rich, but billions of people across the world think we are. Jesus says that's a problem because it's impossible for a rich person to get into Heaven. So if from an international perspective we're rich, and it's impossible for us to make it into Heaven, what do we do? Thankfully Jesus always has good news. This week Pastor Ivey unpacks the very relevant story of the Rich Young Ruler.
Children are not always thought of in the highest esteem in society. They can be seen as nuisances or even wasteful. This is nothing new. In Jesus' day, they were even lower in society's view. In the book of Mark, there is a story about the disciples shooing children away from Jesus. When the Lord found out he wouldn't allow it. He made an amazing claim about the position of children in his kingdom that we should all consider. Join us this week as Pastor Ivey talks about the time Jesus told us why we need to grow up and become like children.
It seems like particularly in politics we can see the person on the other side of the aisle as our enemy. Both parties tend to claim that the other is evil, demonizing their opponents. But who is the real enemy? The Apostle Paul is really helpful when he points out that our enemy isn't that person that believes differently than us, but the devil. This week follow along as Pastor Ivey brings us through 2 Timothy 2:22-26 and we learn how to crush our true enemies.
What kind of earthly citizen should a Christian be? This week pastor Ivey gives us a clear picture from the Scriptures about how earthly government fits into the Christian’s life. In the midst of one of the cruelest and most sadistic Romans Emperors of all time, Paul gives the church a surprising command to submit and honor the emperor. How does a Christian live in the tension of following Christ and submitting to the governing authorities? Especially when those governing authorities may be evil.
In week four of Kingdom Citizen, we turn the corner toward societal issues that Christians should be concerned with. This week we look at Genesis 1 to see how God placed innate dignity and worth on every human being because they are made in his image. Then pastor Ivey unpacks the quartet of the vulnerable and how Christians should care for those on the fringes of society.
This week pastor Ivey shows us the cross shape of the gospel. It is both vertical and horizontal. It is both proclamational and sacrificial. We only have to look at the ministry of Jesus to see the two-part nature of the gospel. In the first two weeks, we identified God's kingdom and discovered the assignment of the kingdom citizen. In our third week, join us as discover the Scripture's holistic cross-shaped gospel.
If you're a Christian, the question isn't if you will live out your faith in society, but how you will live it out. Some of us will live our lives well for Christ and others won't. This week Pastor Ivey looks at four different ways ethicists say Christians interact with culture, but in the end, we turn to 1 Peter to see how the apostle tells us to live. Join us for week two of Kingdom Citizen as we see what it means to live as people of a heavenly country.
Right now everything seems political, and just like every election, this is the most important election in our lifetime. At least that is what we're told. Media and politicians can fill us full of anxiety if we're not careful. But are you ready for some good news? Christians don't have to live that way! In this new series, Pastor Ivey jumps into the Scriptures to discover what it means to live as a citizen of Jesus' heavenly kingdom. This week we turn to Matthew 6 and see how Jesus relieves our need to be captured by the whims of society.
What is a spiritual gift? In Ephesians 4, the Apostle Paul explains why God has given gifts to his people. This week Pastor Ivey unpacks these gifts from Jesus to his people for the good of his church and the glory of the Father through the Holy Spirit. Listen in, learn your shape, and explore your place.
Every year we take time to remind ourselves of who we are, where we're going, and the mission we're on. This year Pastor Ivey turns to Jeremiah 17 and helps us think about where we're placing our trust. The Prophet Jeremiah gives a vivid picture about trust. He describes an arid landscape with a dried up dead shrub and a luscious and thriving tree. What the difference between the two? Where they placed their roots. Trust is like roots. Where we place it will determine if we'll thrive.
As we close out the book of Jonah we see another change in the heart of the prophet. This time not for the better. A few chapters earlier he was promising to follow God, but in chapter four he's back to his old ways. Jonah pitches a tent hoping outside the city hoping that Nineveh will actually be destroyed by God, but God had other plans. Outside the city, God roasted Jonah... literally and figuratively. He shows that he is the same God he has always been. A God of mercy and compassion. Listen in this week as pastor Ivey challenges us to not fall prey to the same mistakes of Jonah Son of Amittai.
Who doesn't love getting a second chance? Sadly, second chances are not given out often in our world. Perhaps this week, you need a second chance in life. If so, I have some good news. This week we look at a chapter in the Scriptures that could be titled "Second chances." In fact, in a lot of ways, the story of Jonah is all about second chances. A second chance for him, a second chance for Nineveh, and all of it is given by a second chance God. Listen this week as we explore this chapter of redemption.
What matters most in your life? There is something about pain that forces us to get a real perspective on life. That sensation is heightened even more when our lives are at risk. People that are terminal are some of the least diluted humans on earth, being vividly aware of what’s most important. Pain and suffering have a way of making what’s really important crystal clear. This week, Pastor Ivey walks us through Jonah's miserable three-days inside a giant fish. On the brink of death, what was most important became absolutely clear to him.
Can you escape God? This is the question that Jonah didn't fully think through. On our most difficult days, we want a God who is close to us. We probably quote Scripture about how he will never leave us or forsake us. But there are days when we wish God wasn't all that close. Days when we want to do our own thing and go our own way. If that's you, you'll relate to Jonah. Join us for an outdoor worship service this week as we watch Jonah attempt to escape God in three different ways.
In week two of The Rebel Prophet, we take our service outdoors.
Jonah was the rebel prophet who fled from God's call. In this week's message, we'll see that the Jonah wasn’t running aimlessly, but he escaped because he was following his heart. He had placed three things ahead of God, making them idols: culture, false-doctrine, and control. This week Pastor Ivey warns us to watch out for our own idols that drive us away from God.
This Sunday guest speaker Dennis Rivera brings a powerful and relevant message from Psalm 46. Often we feel like the world is out of control, but Psalm 46 reminds us that truly the Lord has everything in his hands and under his control. Dennis is a pastor at City Light Church in Worcester, MA. He is also a high school teacher and football coach. Let this word work on you this week.
This week we get to hear a powerful message from Pastor Robert Connolly. Robert pastors Rezarec Church in Brockton, MA. The new church launches this September. Listen this week as he takes us to 2 Kings 22 and talks about what it means to act like the woke church.
For our third week of Woke Church, Pastor Ivey went a different direction. He began the week with a message from Pastor Tony Evans called "Oneness Embraced." In that message, Pastor Evans explains how God brings together his diverse children. Following Tony Evan's sermon, Pastor Ivey gives some practical steps we can take as a church to fight racism. Pastor Tony Evan's sermon is not in the video this week, but it is linked below.
This week we look at a passage from the prophet Amos. Inspired by the Holy Spirit, Amos took the idea of a dangerous torrential raging river and flipped it on its head. When he wrote this text, God’s people were drowning in wickedness, marred with self-deception, and hypocrisy, but they didn’t even know it. That was not the life the Lord ever wanted for his people. He wanted a raging unstoppable torrent of justice and righteousness into the world. This week Pastor Ivey examines how the church should be a torrential gospel river for good to the world.
In this new series, we’re not looking at what society calls woke, but what God calls woke. Christian “Wokeness” looks very different than society’s version. Christ-centered wokeness is being awakened from our deadened, sinful thinking. The most “woke” people in the world should be Christians, but for much of history, the church has been anything but. When we are redeemed, our former way of life died giving way to a new life walking in the light of Christ. This is a life that is fully awake. This week, Paul warns that while spiritually awakened, the church can live asleep.
No one likes living in constant chaos, because we all want to be at peace in our lives, and it’s in this final chapter that Paul reveals his secret to inner peace. He is going to show us three peaces: Relational, Situational, and Emotional peace. First, we will look at the biblical definition of peace, and then we'll examine how Paul achieves this peace in his life. Join us this week as Pastor Ivey unpacks this last chapter of Philippians.
This week, in Philippians 3, Paul wants to shift our purpose from a life focused on the here and now to a life focused on Christ. Paul's life was interrupted and radically changed by Jesus. For Paul, Christ was his everything, and all the other things in life were garbage. He desired for every decision of Philippi to revolve around Christ Jesus because Jesus is their greatest need. He did this by pushing us to be a "One thing" people who keep our eyes focused ahead on Christ. This week we see how Paul's "One thing" lifestyle can revolutionize our lives.
This week we look at the Apostle Paul’s aim in life. After a life-altering encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus, Paul’s whole aim in life changed. It was no longer to receive the praise of people. It was no longer to be the smartest in the room, the most pious, or the most righteous. It was simple. It was to know Christ. That was it. He knew everything else that he needed in life would follow.
This week we see two faithful servants who emulated the humility of Christ. In so many ways they are Christian standards for the faith. And as Pastor Ivey will point out, their lasting impact didn't come through any single spectacular event, but through faithful life long day by day service to Christ.
We're living in a time ripe for disunity. Currently, coronavirus and racial injustice have rocked our world. Society is divided on how to handle it all. But the church needs to be a contrast to the disunity of the world around us by uniting around the cause of Christ. This week we look at Philippians 2 to explore what Christian unity is. Then we see the humble attitude of Christ and how that should reflect out of us.
What is your “why?” Your purpose in life? The thing that get’s you out of bed in the morning and guides the decisions you make? Without a clear "why" our lives lack direction and purpose. When we have a clear and worthy purpose, we have the power to push forward, even in the face of obstacles, opposition, and extreme suffering.
This Sunday Pastor Ivey introduces our new series in Philippians. We all miss seeing each other. At the present moment, most of us haven't been together in over 10 weeks. This is a pain Paul, the author of Philippians, understood very well. This week we look at the great love the Apostle Paul had for the faithful Philippian church. Then we'll see how both Paul and the Church in Philippi were able to find peace in the midst of chaos. They made it through chaotic time through their ultimate hope in Christ and ongoing partnership in the gospel. The same is true for us.
This week Jesus is going to take a skewed understanding of greatness and flip it on its head. Like so many of Jesus' teachings, his definition of greatness is counterintuitive to the disciples... And after 2000 years of studying Jesus’ teachings… counterintuitive to most of us. As God is the greatest conceivable being, it makes sense he would get to define true greatness. Listen in this week as Pastor Ivey gleans powerful truths to living a life of greatness.
This week we open to Mark 9 and see a father at the end of his rope and a son who is tormented by an unclean spirit. When the father turns to the disciples for help, they fail him… Then Jesus shows up and everything changes. Pastor Ivey looks at the difference between true belief and misguided belief, and how we often underestimate our spiritual enemy which hinders us from living in the victory God wants for our lives.
This week we look at a miracle of Jesus that becomes an analogy for the disciple's partial vision of Jesus. They properly called him Messiah, but they misunderstood the true nature of his divine mission. Jesus never came to be a conquering hero, but a suffering servant. But in the midst of losing his life, he’d gain everything that really mattered. Then, he proclaimed that anyone who followed him would lead this same suffering servant life. Listen as Pastor Ivey unpacks the often difficult path the follower of Christ must take, but the victory at the end that is worth every struggle.
He is risen! On Easter, we looked at Mark's telling of the resurrection. Mark ends his gospel differently from any other evangelist, and in the process leaves the choice at the end of his book in your hands. Like the women who found the empty tomb that Sunday morning, how will you respond to the resurrection? Will you run in fear, rejecting it. Or will you live in faith and the reality of the resurrection? The choice is yours.
When the people were looking for a messiah, Jesus was not what most had in mind. They were looking for a great political leader who would conquer their oppressors and take a throne in Jerusalem. But Jesus came as a counterintuitive king who rode in on a donkey rather than a warhorse and was coronated on a cross rather than in a palace. Listen this week as Pastoral Resident Domenic Rosato explores Jesus' counterintuitive kingdom and the massive impact it has on our lives.
Have you ever unexpectedly found something that changed your life. Then you realized that thing had been there the whole time... you just didn't know about it. Perhaps it was a tool that changed your workflow or a person that changed everything. This week Pastor Ivey comes back to Mark and explores the feeding of the 4000. In it, we see two groups who both overlooked Jesus, the most significant person in history. What they had always wanted and needed was right in front of them, yet they didn't have eyes to see him. Where have you been missing Jesus?
We’ve all had those moments where we have gotten in over our heads. Sometimes it’s something as simple as a hike, but other times it’s a life crisis and we know that often the only way to make it out of the crisis is to walk right through the fire. This week pastor Ivey looks at Galatians 6 to explore how we Christians can walk through this difficult circumstance and make a massive impact for the gospel.
I don’t mean to alarm you in these difficult times, but you are not in control. Here is the craziest part, you never were. Even when we feel in control, we aren't. It is a comforting lie we tell ourselves, an illusion. Moments like these that break the illusion. They remind us of our utter lack of control over the universe. But there is good news. There is a person that is in control. Listen in to this timely message from Pastor Ivey during the COVID-19 crisis.
The gospel should be the lens through which we see every part of our lives. We've seen how the gospel affects our relationships, spirituality, finances, vocation, and, yes, even our sex lives. But now we turn to something different: God's creation. This week we look at the biblical foundation for creation care.
When you write a book, you can edit it, but you didn't write the Bible. So don't edit it. For eight weeks we’ve explored the point of God's Word in the Christian life. We've skimmed across the Scriptures, from the first page to the last. This week's passage ends with one final exhortation from Jesus to keep his Word intact, active, and public. Listen in as Pastor Ivey talks about the Bible's author and how we should respond to him.
In this week's passage, the author of Hebrews delivers a hard truth to his readers. Afterword, you might expect him to relieve the pressure, but he increases it. He basically says, “I know that was hard for you to hear. It was supposed to be. God’s Word is supposed to pierce deep to deal a devastating blow and reveal the real you.” This week, Pastor Ivey considers Hebrews 4:12-16 where the author compares God's Word to a living sword. We'll learn how to understand and use the passage to propel us into deeper obedience to God.
Recently, we've seen a lot of former Christians "Deconstruct" their faith. To deconstruct is to dismantle the faith of one's childhood. After deconstruction, many leave the Christian faith entirely. This week we look at a parable that will help us think about what we're founding ourselves on. This week we look at 8 flimsy foundations of religious people. Watch as Pastor Ivey gives you some questions to inspect your spiritual foundation.
This week we look at a single worship service in Jewish history that had far-reaching effects, not just for the Jewish people, but for all of us. This one event set out the trajectory of what community discipleship would look like in synagogues and churches for millennia. It is the event that cemented the Jewish people, and later on Christians, afterward as “People of the Book.” Listen in this week as Pastor Ivey teaches from Nehemiah 8.
This week we take a look at the Shema. The parts of the past we dwell on will begin to shape our identity in the present, and our identity creates our future. Join us as we look at who should define our past. We’ll see how God’s Word helps us realign our past by putting emphasis on the events that matter most, which in turn helps us in the present and gives us a beautiful future to look forward to.
If you've ever tried to keep God's rules you've probably realized that it's really hard. That's an understatement. It's impossible. This week we examine God's first speech to his people. We'll see him give them the foundational ethic for his relationship with them through 10 words. You probably know them as the 10 commandments. Listen this week as we explore each commandment and ask, "How close are we to meeting God's high standard?"
We all deal with temptation. Even Jesus dealt with temptation! Whether it’s the cake on the counter, a pornography addiction, or propensity to become anxious, we all have issues in our life where we are tempted regularly. While we all deal with temptation from inside us, there are times when we are tempted by external realities. Sometimes it's people and other times forces beyond our senses. This week listen in as we take a look at the evil forces that tempt us and how to fight them.
We’ve all been struck by a piece of art before. Perhaps it was a painting, a movie, a TV show, a book, poem, sculpture, or even a videogame. Good art has the ability to transcend and reorient our lives. That is what the Scriptures are. They're a brilliant literary collection formed and created by God that has impacted the world for 3500 years. It’s not just a book, it’s the Book. The deeper you dive, the deeper it goes. Listen this week as Pastor Ivey talks about what it means to be a people in the Word, for the Word, formed through the Word, and of the Word.
Sermons on the book of Jude are rare, but this week Pastoral Resident Dominic Rosato takes us through all 25 verses. This little book is one that God will use to remind us all that is at stake for professing Christians in this generation. We have a faith that we must contend for. Listen this week because there is an abundance of truth and challenge in these few words.
This week we finish out 2019 with a comparison of Joesph protecting Jesus to the tv show, The Mandalorian and how he protects one child who is extremely important and powerful… the power of which no one is quite sure of its full extent. Sound familiar? Everyone has an opinion about this Child, many nations tried to extinguish this Child, and Pastor Ivey asked a simple yet profound question. How have you handled the Child?
Life is a search to find that which will complete us. Perhaps we look to a relationship, a certain job, a degree, or a vice for fulfillment. It's not long before we realize they never quite do the trick. Yet, there is one person in this life that can give us lasting hope, peace, joy, and love. It is this person that the Magi sacrificed immensely to find and worship. Listen this week as Pastor Ivey compares Herod's counterfeit worship to the genuine worship of the Magi and see the depths of riches that they received that day in Bethlehem.
This week we look at a couple whose circumstances couldn’t get any more humble. Yet, out their humble circumstances would come the King of kings. Their lowly place was a preview of the type of kingdom that was coming. It would not be a kingdom ruled by nobles and the proud. It would be a kingdom where the meek, poor, and humble would inherit the throne. It was a kingdom like no other, and it would be led by a humble and glorious servant-king named like no other: Jesus.
In the Christmas story, we get a glimpse at Joseph's remarkable righteousness. He was tested and obeyed God in a very difficult situation. Perhaps you've been called to a scary and trying path. Maybe you're in a season of discomfort or inconvenience. Listen this week as Joseph shows us what godly obedience looks like. He never flinched or argued. He simply did his job.
Everyone’s family is complex, and if you look far enough back you’ll probably uncover some family secret that no one wants out in the public. This week Pastor Ivey takes a deeper look at Jesus’ family tree through his lowercase father Joseph. You may expect Jesus’ family to be a whos who of Israel, but just like you and me... it’s complicated. Listen this week as we discover heroes and unearth villains in the complicated family tree of the Messiah.
You might think this end-of-the-world stuff is weird. There is no doubt, a quick read through Revelation or Daniel is quite strange. But if we understand the strangeness we can find beauty. The truth is everyone has an opinion on how the world will end, and it will either lead to fear or hope. This week we take a look at the hopeful end times message of Jesus. You don't have to live every day in fear, but you can live with hope in the future when God will make everything wrong right.
This week we encourage you to listen to Derek Wheeler's powerful story. Knowing God often comes through pain. Derek learned this recently through an incredibly difficult season. In the end, he surrendered to God's work in his life, but the journey was bumpy. In this message, he expresses his struggles with trusting God and how he eventually found joy in the midst of pain and suffering. It's a story we can all relate to at some point in our lives.
A few weeks ago we spoke about God as Father and skimmed the surface of spiritual adoption. Then for two weeks, we explored the church as Family. This week Community Pastor Bill Hopkins drills down further into the theology of adoption. Adoption has been a passion of his for years. This Sunday he talks about his family's journey of adoption and how that has helped him understand spiritual adoption into God's family. Through Christ, we become joint-heirs with Christ, free from the chains of sin.
There is no doubt that the church is often very flawed. Yet, for all its flaws, when we actually live out the implications of the gospel, it is stunningly beautiful. There is nothing in the world like Jesus’ church in action. Listen this week as pastor Ivey reflects on how the early church should inspire Mosaic to live out the gospel more every day.
If you compare the disciples in the gospels and the disciples in Acts, they are almost unrecognizable. They go from screwing everything up to living with extraordinary courage. Something changed. Have you ever wished you could have that type of change? If they did, we can too. What was the secret? Listen in this week as pastor Ivey unpacks the secret to the disciple's phenomenal change.
We all go through circumstances where we need hope to make it through. Not hope like, "I hope this happens," but a confident hope in a better future. But what happens when there is no end in sight for our difficult circumstances? Where do we find hope then? This is Daniel's story. He found himself kidnapped in a foreign land with no chance of getting home. Yet, he remained faithful to the Lord because he had hope in The Son of Man. This week we look at this Son of Man character from Daniel, discover his connection to Jesus, and see how he gives us hope.
God the Father is arguably the most controversial person in the Trinity. We often see God the Father through the lens of our earthly dad. Even the best dads aren't perfect. So no matter how good or bad our dads are, they fall short of our perfect heavenly Father. So our view of God can become warped. We need to ask the question, what does the Bible say about the Father? Once we see the Father in light of how he reveals himself, it will reflect a beautifully on every other relationship we have.
Through the Scriptures we get a grand picture of God. Yet, there are aspects of the infinite God that our finite minds cannot fully grasp. Aspects like the Trinity. The trinity is admittedly hard to understand, and some would say even unreasonable. This week we take a swim in the deep end of the pool, looking to see what the Bible says about the triune God, how to understand it properly, and finally why it matters in our day to day lives.
Gallup’s latest poll on America’s belief in God showed that 89% of Americans still believe in some sort of spiritual transcendent being. We still have a sense there is someone or something transcendent beyond ourselves. If most of believe in a god, it would be important to know, not just that a god exists, but to know WHO the existent God is. Knowing who God is, is the most important thing we can know in life. Listen in to this newest series as we dive into the infinite depths of God.
Even if we shouldn't be, when we see uncommon service and generosity in someone of power, privilege, or fame, we're impressed. It seems so often power is abused. It's been said, "If you want to find out what a person is really like, don’t give them responsibilities—give them privileges." Although it's uncommon, we want to live in a world where kindness and generosity is the norm for all. To see how God responds to power we need to look no further than Jesus. Who, in being the star of all of history, humbled himself to receive glory. We see the path to glory doesn't come through fame and fortune but through service and sacrifice.
Ever wondered what we mean by "Love. Jesus. Simple."? Listen in this week to find out. Every year around this time, we take a week to remind ourselves of who we are as Mosaic Church. This week we look at Paul’s partnership with the Philippian church as a launching pad to talk about our partnership with each other and God.
This week we look at the Apostle Paul’s perspective on life. He was whipped, stoned, cursed, sick, imprisoned, shipwrecked, and eventually beheaded. He gave it all for one purpose: To know and follow Christ. To that end, he lived life with reckless abandon. And then encouraged us to do the same. He always saw the future glory of eternity far outweighing any earthly benefits, circumstances, or pain he experienced. Watch this week as we observe the life lived in light of eternity.
We’ve all had life-altering encounters. In good and bad ways we’ve all met people that have profoundly altered the course of our lives. Maybe with someone famous or maybe someone we'd never expect. It could also be that we’ve been an agent of change for someone else. Today we’re going to look at Philip and Nathaniel, both of which had unforgettable encounters with Jesus that altered the course of their lives and eternity.
What is a Christian? If you were to ask 10 people that question, you'd probably get 10 different answers. But did you know that's not what the early followers of Jesus called themselves? They went by a totally different name: Disciple. Listen this week as Pastor Ivey looks at when Jesus recruited the first disciples and then shows what it means to be a disciple of Jesus.
How should we respond when it seems like God isn’t listening to us when we pray? How should we respond when God seems hostile toward us? This week we look at an unnamed woman that asked for her daughter's healing. In many ways, Jesus seems uncharacteristically hostile and frustrated with her. But this woman never gives up and actually is the only person in history to win an argument with Jesus. This is more than just a story about a mother who needed healing for her daughter. This is a story about prayer.
Maybe you've spilled coffee on yourself or stubbed your toe in the night. Everyone makes mistakes. The problem is when we label more sinister actions "Mistakes." That lie, the time you cheated, or those really dark thoughts aren't mistakes. If we're honest, we meant to do those things. They're something else. Pastor Ivey unpacks Mark 7:14-23 and we hear how Jesus diagnoses our biggest problem. Our biggest issue isn't that we need to try harder or do more. It's deeper and more fundamental.
Jesus never does miracles to show off. He suspends nature for brief moments to reveal who he is. Every event has a purpose, and Jesus walking on the water is no different. The problem is that the disciples don't seem to like the Jesus that is revealed through this miracle. This should cause us to ask what happens when the most amazing and powerful person we know sends us into danger and then reveals themselves in a way we don't like? Listen this week to hear how the disciples respond.
This week we hear from Tracy Turner. Tracy is the lead pastor at Trinity Point in Easley, SC. This week we learn about the work that God's grace does in our lives from the inside out. Once Jesus changes us, it's not about trying as much as it's about training up in righteousness. Listen to this powerful message on grace.
We've all had moments where we needed God to provide and multiply. This week we look at the miraculous feeding of the 5,000. We'll get a glance at the Great Shepherd at work. In this amazing passage, the budget was slim, but the provider was great. We’ll see three ways in which Jesus acted to provide for his people and how we fit into the story.
We’ve all sacrificed for something we really want. Maybe it was a car, job, house, or school. But as we get older you realize everything costs you something. We'll gladly sacrifice for things we really desire or believe in. Discipleship is the act of following Jesus, and there is one thing that Mark wants us to know in this week's passage: Discipleship will cost you everything.
We've all faced rejection, and it's always hard. Still, it's one thing to be rejected by random people, but it’s so much harder when it's done by those closest to us. Maybe you’ve been rejected of someone you counted as a best friend, a former spouse, or disowned by your own family. You're not alone. Jesus was rejected by his family and friends, and he shows us what a gospel response to rejection looks like.
Have you ever done a trust fall? If you have, you know how terrifying they can be. Even if you've never done an actual trust fall, we've all trusted someone or something to come through for us in a time of need. The soundness of your trust is always found in the object in which you trust. Trust a person that's untrustworthy and you'll find yourself flat on your back. The question this week, is Jesus trustworthy?
This week we look at one of the most incredible transformations in all of the Gospels. While you will find this same account in Matthew and Luke, no one tells it quite like Mark. This is the story of a man that was controlled by demonic forces but is freed through the power of Christ. In many ways, his story is our story. Listen as we see how Jesus is the only one who can break the chains that imprison us.
We all love science, or at the very least, we love the things the scientific pursuit has given us. But there's a problem, the Bible seems so ancient, outdated, and unscientific, and if you a Christian, you're supposed to believe it. Some atheists say that religion and science are completely incompatible, and at times it seems like it. But that would be a hasty assumption. Listen this week at Pastor Ivey discusses how you can have both faith and science with integrity.
The predominant thought in society is that religion is fine for you, but keep it private. If you attempt to share your faith someone may say, "That's good for you, but aren't all religions basically the same?" An honest Christian can be seen as causing trouble. Today we answer the questions: Are all religions the same? How is Christianity unique? And how should a Christian share their faith in today's society?
We all know people who call themselves Christians but just aren't very, well, Christian. We may get the idea that Christians are horrible people. Admittedly, people claiming to follow Christ have done some terrible things, but we see that the essence of Christ’s teachings was not oppression but freedom. Not hate but love. Not abuse but care. Listen this week to hear the core of what it means to follow Christ.
This week we wrestle with what it means to be good. What does it mean to be a good daughter, a good husband, wife, brother, friend, or employee? The answer may be a little more complex than you think. Pastor Ivey contends that without God, there are no objective moral values. If there is no God, there is no basis for fairness, injustice, or good.
Maybe you've watched a loved one suffer profoundly, or maybe you've personally experienced deep pain. In moments like those, we can question if God cares or is present at all. This week we look at the problem of pain. If pain, evil, and suffering exist, how can an all-powerful, all-loving God exist? It's a question asked in all times and all places. This week Jesus' best friend dies and it seems like it’s Jesus’ fault. We look at how through Jesus, God works in this great pain to bring about greater joy.
The Scriptures leave room for our questions and doubts. If you’re skeptical of Jesus, Christianity, or the Scriptures, you're in pretty good company. We find skeptics like that all over the Bible. One of the fascinating aspects of the Scriptures is that it not only doesn't leave out the doubters, it often highlights them. We begin our new series on our biggest questions by asking, did Jesus really rise from the dead? Listen in and honestly examine the facts.
We’ve all had moments where we had to persevere even though we knew the outcome may be painful. In today’s passage, Jesus perseveres in his journey to push back the evil he was sent to destroy. And while today passage starts in the triumphal entry, it will be the beginning of the end for God’s Son. The journey was dangerous, but Jesus never cowered to danger. He dared to march forward. Never doubting and his eyes focused on the cross.
This week's passage in Mark shows Jesus' humanity and deity. Jesus commands the disciples to head across the Sea of Galilee. Which brings them through a terrifying storm. While Jesus brought them into the storm, he was also the only one that could bring them though. Listen this week as Community Pastor Bill Hopkins helps us see how sometimes Jesus brings us into to difficult times but also brings us through them.
In this week's passage, Jesus commands us to "Listen" fifteen times. He's definitely trying to tell us something. While we can hear words, it's harder to listen. Listening requires us to be more attentive. We’ve all had moments where we were hanging on every word of the conversation in front of us. This week we want to do that with Jesus' teaching. We get to eavesdrop in on a conversation had over 2000 years ago and see ourselves reflected in it. Join us this week as we gaze into four illuminating parables in Mark chapter four.
Today we’re going to see a pressing crowd around Jesus that included the devout, the needy, and his own blood relatives. Yet, no matter their close proximity to him, Jesus did not consider them his truest family. Jesus defined his truer family in an expectedly unexpected way. Join us this week as Pastor Ivey looks at the truest family found only in Christ.
We’ve all experienced the shock of entering a new culture. Maybe it was a new school, a new city, a new church, a new neighborhood, or even a new family. The religious authorities were shocked at the new culture that Jesus was initiating. In Today’s passage, Jesus defines a new kingdom that shatters all the categories of the old and turns society on its head. Today Pastor Ivey asks the question: Which kingdom do you live in, the old dead kingdom of the Pharisees or the new kingdom of Christ?
There is a video quality problem with this week's message that starts at about 7 minutes. The content is all there, but the video becomes blurry.
Life is full of surprises. Some are good and others aren't, but the greatest surprise is when we encounter Jesus in a life-changing way for the first time. This is the greatest most completely sublime surprise of our lives. Today Jesus surprises us by being a physician, but not the type we may expect, and definitely not the type of physician those following him expected.
Anyone can call themselves king, but they better be able to back up their position. If someone is a real king you’d expect to see some tangible signs. In this week's message pastor Ivey explores Jesus' authority as king. He proved that his title wasn't a sham. He was a new type of human and a different type of king. He held more power and greater authority than any that had come before.
The Bible is a cohesive story with Jesus as its main focus, and in Mark, we’ll see a book that is rich in history and background. Mark didn’t write his gospel in a bubble. He was a part of a culture and a tradition. In week one we look at a king that enters to rescue us, the failed rulers, his kingdom which will make all wrongs right, and a call to give everything up and follow him.
In this final message of Rhythms, we look at fasting. While strange and mystical, we come at fasting from the perspective that it is voluntarily refraining from food in order to sync our hearts up with God’s. Imagine that God is going about life at a certain rhythm. The last thing we want to do is have a competing rhythm. Our goal is to change our rhythm to match God's. We want our desires and passions to sync with God's. Fasting is a tool to help us do that.
When we think of spiritual rhythms we probably think of things like prayer, fasting, worship, and reading the Scriptures, but we may not think of generosity. Yet, over and over again, the scriptures point out our need for a rhythm of generosity. Most of us are where we are because someone was generous to us. For the Christian, Jesus is the paradigm of generosity. Now that we've been shown some much generosity, it is essential we are generous.
The question isn’t whether we are going to be worshipers. Rather, it is, what are we going to worship? To worship anyone or anything less than the all-powerful, all-knowing God, we sell ourselves short. But what does true worship look like in our daily discipline? Pastor Ivey Rhodes brings us the message this week to discuss the life rhythm of worship.
When Scripture talks about community, it doesn't talk about a social club of peers or a Meetup interest group. Godly community is Gospel-centered community on mission with God, for His glory! The early church committed (devoted) itself to gathering together corporately, and in small groups in homes for studying the Scriptures, prayer, and fellowship.
The question isn’t whether we are going to be worshipers. Rather, it is, what are we going to worship? To worship anyone or anything less than the all-powerful, all-knowing God, we sell ourselves short. But what does true worship look like in our daily discipline? Mosaic Boston Jamaica Plain Pastor Ivey Rhodes brings us the message this week to discuss a true life rhythm of worship.
During Rhythms, we’re looking at spiritual rhythms you can begin that will shape your life for now and eternity. They're simple but not easy, yet revolutionary. Ideas like prayer, Bible reading, and generosity. This week we look at what a victorious Christian life looks like and how we can attain it. Follow along in Philippians 3:7-14 as we examine Paul's win and see how it is also ours.
Often we equate Jesus with the small child in the manger, but we must be careful not to have a Jesus of our own making. The first Christmas happened long ago, but how it affects our life will have a lot to do with whether we leave Jesus in that manger or embrace the Jesus of all the scriptures. He grew up into a great teacher, miracle worker, and savior. Ask yourself this question: How grown-up is my Jesus?
We’ve probably all had Christmases that were “upside-down” to some extent. Christmas is always a pretty crazy time, but perhaps you can remember a particularly strange Christmas. Since the beginning, Christmas has always been rooted in being upside-down. This week we look at a world that was turned upside-down so the purposes of Christ's birth.
We find ourselves in the middle of the same story as Mary. A teenage girl lives under the rule of an oppressive government and the sword of King Herod. This is a story of chaos, pain, and suffering. Yet, in the middle of all this pain, there is a glimmer of hope. The great reversal is coming. Mary spontaneously writes a song for the ages that we call The Magnificat. Listen this week as we explore her song about the great reversal.
This week we look at the nexus of Mary and Elizabeth's stories. We join a newly pregnant Mary as she arrives at the home of her relatives Elizabeth and Zechariah in Judah. In today’s passage, Elizabeth has an incredible encounter with Jesus that overflows into worship. This week we look at Elizabeth's response to Jesus and see what we can learn from this faithful servant.
While we may have an exalted picture of Mary in our minds, the reality we find in the Scriptures is far from this. By any earthly standard, Mary was no queen. She was a basic first-century girl living an anonymous life. As far as her culture was concerned, there was nothing special about her. She was a nobody, but here is the good news. God has always been in the business of using nobodies. Listen this week as we look at Gabriel's announcement to Mary that she would conceive and carry the Messiah.
When it comes to Christmas, this year, we're going back to the basics. Over the next six weeks we’ll talk about angels, the nativity, and kings from far off lands. It’s going to be a beautiful series to help us remember the true reason for Christmas. This week we look at a miracle baby, not to a virgin, but to a faithful and really, really old couple. We begin by looking at the birth of John and the couple that raised him.
We’re in our last week of The Final Word, and this week we’re taking a turn to the more practical side. Every week pastor Ivey has said that if the Scriptures aren’t God’s Word they’re of little importance, but if they are God’s Word they are of ultimate importance to our life and eternity. This week pastor Ivey gives some tips and tools to understand the Scriptures properly. He then uses these tools in Joshua to come to a fuller understanding of the text.
Last week we saw that the Scriptures are the actual words of the apostles, but we ended without figuring out if they Scriptures are the words of God. If the Scriptures are God's Word, then they are of ultimate importance. If they aren't, they're of very little importance. This week we examine the scriptures and look for the supernatural fingerprints of God on every page.
“Did God really say…" is the question that was posed to Eve before she acted on the first sin. The serpent proposed to Eve that maybe God’s Words were not accurate. And from that doubt in God rose the fall of humanity. In this new series, we explore the Bible itself. Is it reliable and is it authoritative? If God said it, the Scriptures are of ultimate importance. If God didn't, they're of little importance. Listen this week as we figure out if the Scriptures are reliable.
We all have our fears. In Halloween, we even have a holiday which celebrates those fears. Why do we celebrate fear? Perhaps it is just one way for us to cope with something we don’t fully understand. Over and over again God tells us not to fear, but we’re also told to fear the Lord. What does it mean to fear the Lord and how is it different from fearing anything else? Listen this week as guest speaker Derek Wheeler explores what it means to fear God.
In our final week we look at the relationships we have in the church. Many relationships will end at death, but there is one group of relationships that last forever: Our relationships with fellow believers. Church is not just a Sunday gathering, but a family on a mission. We work through disagreements, rifts, and difficulties because through Christ we're a family on a mission. We're God's missional forever family.
This week we're looking at friendship. Research shows that people with strong friendships live longer and happier lives. According to the scriptures, friends can make us better. If you've paid attention, each week has gone to a deeper relationship. It may seem odd to talk about friendship in between marriage and Jesus. Yet, as shown last week, the deep friendship is the ultimate call of marriage. Community Pastor Bill Hopkins takes us on a journey through the friendship of David and Jonathan in 1 Samuel.
Marriage is a journey. There are ups and downs. Lefts and rights. So many times we go left when we should have gone right, and before we know it we’re heading in the wrong direction. Wouldn’t it be nice if we had some way to know what marriage was for? This week we’ll see that marriage is made according to God's beautiful design and has been given an ultimate destination.
This week we look at sex and dating. This is a hard one because there is no "Dating chapter" in the Bible. They didn’t date. It didn’t exist. Dating is a new phenomenon only going back to the early 20th century. But that’s not to say that the Scriptures don’t have anything to say about human sexuality, the quest for love, and wisdom in understanding the opposite sex. There is a lot to glean all over the scriptures. Listen as we learn about dating and sex from a biblical perspective.
If you've stayed unmarried for longer than your parents, you’re not alone. 70% of Millennials and 53% of Gen Xers don’t believe that marriage is one of the most important things in life. They are getting married later and later. Some even say marriage is becoming obsolete. Culture says all kinds of things, but what does God say? In this week's message, we look at God’s plan for singleness. If you're hesitant to listen, don't worry, this isn't a lecture on why you should be married.
Here is an absolute essential truth that we all know: Relationships are difficult. As difficult as they are, they're worth investing in. “It’s Dangerous to Go Alone" because life has too many twists, turns, ups, and downs to do it without other people. God has designed us in such a way that we need relationships. It is our relationship with God and each other that makes life meaningful. In week one, we look at how God has called us to love the people next door.
Christians are called to be a community on mission for God. We are gathered as the church to love, serve, and proclaim the gospel. We all have God-given gifts, passions, and skills that we can leverage to love people, multiply disciples, and magnify God's glory. There is no insignificant job in Jesus's church. This week listen and learn how to go from spectator to participant in the mission of God.
If you’ve seen anything about Mosaic, you’ve probably seen “Love. Jesus. Simple.” It’s pretty much everywhere, and we’re always looking for new places to put those three words. Listen this week as we explore what we mean by those words and discover how they impact everything we do in the city. Christians are citizens of two cities: The city of man and the city of God. We'll see what it looks like to serve Christ well in both.
Who is Mosaic Boston? What do we value? What is our mission? How are we going to fulfill our mission? Every year around this time, we pause and remind ourselves why we do what we do. For our members, it's important to remind ourselves of our vision and mission and get remobilized and inspired. And if you're new to Mosaic Boston, or if you have not yet visited, this sermon is for you!
It seems like there are people that are good at sharing their faith… and then there are the rest of us. Most of us don't realize that being excellent at sharing our faith doesn't have to be reserved for super Christians. Every and any follower of Christ can do it. Listen this week as Pastor Ivey unpacks the theology of sharing our faith and gives some really practical tools for talking about Jesus.
We’ve all had that moment when the task was too massive. So massive that we didn’t even know where to start. Today we’re learn about a time when Jesus had one of those moments. Jesus was doing some great work, yet there was still more than he could do alone. In the Father's plan, he was compelled to find a way to complete the overwhelming task in front of him. Join us this week and discover how you are still a part of Jesus' plan.
The truth is, Devoted has often been a tough series though James. Yet, in our final week of we look at his final message of encouragement to us. We’ve all had difficult moments where we didn’t know what we were going to do, and at just the right moment someone gave us a perfect word of encouragement. Earlier in Devoted, James explained how powerful our words are. He warned us that we can use them for great harm, but today we see how they can be equally used for good. James ends his book by showing us how to use our words to heal and give life.
Life will happen to all of us. All its ups. All its downs. All its successes and failures. Its betrayals and its friendships. And in the midst of all of that, pastor James has this advice: “Christian, be patient.” Patient? How do we deal with life’s worst days with patience, and what are we waiting for? Jesus. Listen as we explore patiently waiting on Jesus.
Most of us aren’t laughing when we think about planning our lives. In Boston especially people take planning very seriously. Listen this week as we consider the future, what God wants, and what James has to say about planning our lives.
James is like discipleship boot camp. It's that way because James understands that life is war. From page three of the Bible on, we are a people of war. The question is not, “Are we going to wage war?” The question is, “Who and what are we going to be fighting?” Life has no room for pacifists. James just wants to make sure we're fighting the right battles.
This week we look at two wisdoms. True Wisdom and false Wisdom. True wisdom and false wisdom can resemble each other. The person that follows true wisdom and the person that follows false wisdom can seem to end with similar success. But there is something underneath it all that separates these two wisdoms: Their means and their fruit. Listen this week as Pastor Ivey unpacks James' word on the two competing wisdoms.
This week James turns to our tongue and the power of words. He doesn’t offer a lot of practical application, but he does post flashing warning signs about that most dangerous organ. James paints such a vivid picture of our tongues that we don't have much of a problem finding the practicality. Listen this Sunday as Pastor Ivey speaks from James 3:1-12.
This week we head into one of the most difficult passages in the New Testament. It seems to teach something so different from the rest of what we read in the Scriptures. It might make us a little uncomfortable. Today we talk about the relationship between faith and works. James challenges us to understand that we're saved by faith alone, but saving faith is never alone. Those that have been saved are also changed and live out a life of good works. Listen in and be challenged and encouraged by James.
Discrimination is nothing new. It was a big problem for the first-century church. But it's been a problem since the third page of the Bible. James comes along and tells us how foolish this type of living is. This week we look at James' tough word about playing favorites in chapter 2.
This week, guest speaker Pastor Trey Rhodes continues our series through James. He explores James 1:19-27 and explains what it means to truly hear from God. It's not nearly as mystical as we think and it's available to everyone who chooses to listen. God calls out, “Can you hear me now?” Are you able to hear Him?
Have you ever done something, it was totally your fault, but you find a way to blame on something or someone else? We've all done it. It's been a part of humanity since Adam and Eve ate the fruit. We play the blame game. This week James shows us who is really to blame when we fall to temptation by showing us a mirror. Listen this week as we look at the reality of temptation and ways to overcome our biggest struggles.
In week two of our series through the book of James, we're going to look at what he calls, "Various trials." Pastor James helps us understand the reason for our hard days. James' insights don't remove the pain, they help us understand God's purpose in our pain. It's not that God is absent when we struggle, but that he is using it for our good.
Everyone has a story. A person’s story always informs the content of their message. Or said another way: Actions speak louder than words. If a person is all words and no action, it's hard to care about their message. Yet, when actions and words harmonically converge we have a recipe for transformation. This week, we begin our study through James by looking at his challenging, incredible, and inspirational story.
This week community pastor, Bill Hopkins, speaks to us about Christian community. There is an interesting passage at the beginning of the Bible where God makes all kinds of "good" things, but he stops and says one thing isn't good. "It's not good for man to be alone." This week we answer the questions what does it mean to live in real community and how to have the type of community for which we are made. Join us as we learn about community's foundation in Genesis chapters 2-3.
We have a culture searching for personal identity. More than any other time in history, people are asking the question, “Who am I?” In the past identity was found through your place in society. Today, we look to our feelings, intuitions, desires, and needs and then we express them. Yet, research shows it's not working. While we can be anything we want, we're more miserable than ever. There has to be a better way. That's when God steps in and says, "I got this."
Christ should be the one that holds our affections, what the scriptures call our "heart." Yet, too often Jesus isn't number one in our lives... somedays he may not even be on our list of priorities. The problem is that our hearts are little liars. We can justify anything if we just want it bad enough. So how can we know what or who truly has our heart? Jesus tells us that our heart and our treasure are far more connected than we care to admit. Find your treasure, find your heart.
“Do your job,” is the unofficial Boston credo. Out of the top 116 largest cities, Boston is the #7 hardest working city in the U.S. But you already know that… Today we'll learn about one of the most amazing yet ignored commands from God in the Scriptures. This week we look at what it means to reclaim the biblical vision for rest in a world of go.
The average American works 47 Hours a week, 2,444 a year, and 97,760 in a lifetime. Over a decade of our lives are spent at work. If those 47 hours a week don't matter in the grand scheme of eternity it's immensely depressing. We're all just wasting our lives. But if Jesus rose from the dead, it changes everything. Listen this week as we discover how our work hours can matter, not just for today but forever.
When it comes to God calling us, burning bush moments happen, but they are the vast minority. It would be nice if every time we had a big decision God found the nearest bush and lit it up to tell us, “Hey! Do this, go here, date this person, marry them, this major, that school…” But that’s just not how it works 99% of the time. We all want clarity from God on our purpose in life. So how can we know what we’re called to? How can we know the will of God? Listen in this week for clarity on discerning the will of God.
The Bible takes a whole different approach to work than we might expect. God is all-powerful and doesn’t need help running his creation, yet he desires to include people in on the joys of working. That's right, the joy of work. Humans were not made to be slaves, but partners in God’s human project.
In the first week of our new series, we’re going to look at reclaiming faith. We hone in on one character involved in the resurrection story: Thomas. Famously known as Doubting Thomas, he was actually more of a realist. He both counted the costs and was willing to pay them. Join us today as we watch a mane lose faith only to regain it.