Mosaic Boston

As Christians, we have been called out of darkness to live as citizens and ambassadors of God’s Kingdom. The prophet Jonah is a great example of how God uses people, despite our flaws, to accomplish his mission. Through this reluctant prophet God brought salvation to Nineveh, one of the most unlikely cities on Earth. In doing so, God showed that his plan of salvation would not end with Israel, but would extend to all the nations of the earth.

Scripture tells us that we belong to God. Human beings are made by God, for God, and have the distinction of being the only thing in all of creation that is made in “the image and likeness of God.” Because of this, every single person has innate dignity and worth that infinitely surpass all earthy treasures. What does it mean for citizens of God’s Kingdom to truly be pro-life in all of life?

We have a long way to go, till justice "rolls down like waters." If the issues surrounding racial division and the challenges of reconciliation don't drive us to our knees in prayer, then we have not even begun to understand how complex and daunting the issues are.

The ultimate test of a person's true spiritual condition is prayer. There is nothing that reveals the true state of our spiritual health so much as our prayer life. When you are alone before God, what do you have to say to Him? Similarly, the ultimate test of a church's spiritual condition is its prayer life. How's Mosaic doing? Well, how's our prayer life? This month, we are calling the church to not just pray for ourselves, or for our church. We will focus on praying for our city, our country, and the World.

I used to be the one who hated New Year's Day, being forced to make resolutions, fully knowing I wouldn’t be able to keep any of them for more than a few months. Why even bother with resolutions when I can’t fully keep them? I decided to see what Scripture has to say about resolutions and man was I surprised! One man in particular stands out at making resolutions and struggling to keep them, the Apostle Peter. We will look at 1 Peter 2:1-12 to see what he has to tell us from his experiences of both failures and success in resolutions.

As we’ve been walking through Luke’s record of the Christmas story, he wants us to ask, “What Child is This?” We know that Jesus is our Prince of Peace, but what does that mean in a world filled with sin, pain, injustice, and death? What kind of peace did Jesus come to bring? What kind of peace do we really need? And most of all, what will we do if the peace He offers isn’t what we expected?

Our culture's manufactured Christmas "joy" is a far cry from the very first Christmas. In the very first Christmas, Christ does bring true joy into the world, but it comes amidst suffering, shame, and scandal. Unwed teenager Mary gives birth in a barn, with only a scared Joseph to help deliver the baby. Once Jesus is swaddled, he is placed in a feed trough for animals, like an animal. God brings joy into the world, and it's swaddled in suffering.

In the second week of Advent, we look at God's love. Perhaps because it comes around every year, or perhaps we've just heard the message so often, we often take the Christmas reality of God's love for granted. This is unfortunate, because God's love is the most shocking fact in the universe. We should value the spiritual practice of growing in God's love, because if you live like you're loved (because you are), you become unstoppable.

Advent is a celebration of the first coming of Jesus and the anticipation of his second coming. For the next four Sundays, we will meditate on the liturgical Advent themes: Hope, Love, Joy, and Peace. In our first sermon, we'll look at the story of Zechariah and Elizabeth–two faithful, God-fearing and God-loving saints, who had devoted their whole lives to serving the Lord selflessly. However, despite all of their faithfulness and all of their prayers, they didn't have any children, though they desperately longed to. They begged God and begged God, but all they got in response was silence. The situation seemed utterly hopeless–until God showed up.

We've spent three months mining the majestic depths of the book of Nehemiah, but it concludes tragically. The people of God, who had all the best intentions of obeying God, return to their former ways of rebellion, and the book ends bleaker than it began. Where is the hope? The bleakness of this tragic ending paints a silhouette of the true hero we're longing for, not Nehemiah, but the greater Nehemiah, Jesus Christ.

In Nehemiah 9, the people of God devote significant time to recalling the sins of their forefathers. The people of God understood, that if they were to move forward, they need to come to terms with their past. They did not justify their personal sins with the sins of their parents. Instead, they acknowledged that their parents' sins were formative in their own lives, and they need to be refashioned and transformed by the Gospel of God's grace. When we are adopted as children of God into the family of God, we must put off the sinful patterns of our family or origin, and relearn how to live life God's way in Jesus' new family.

Most people have heard that the Bible is the best-selling book of all time. In the United States, the Bible is the best-selling book of the year, every year. What is it about the Bible that continues to make it the best-selling book of all time, even today? In Nehemiah chapters 7 & 8, we read about the prophet Nehemiah and the people applying themselves to knowing and understanding God’s word, leading to sorrow over their sin, joy over God's mercy, and active obedience. As Christians, our salvation is accomplished by Jesus, but to grow in our faith, we must actively seek to know and understand God’s word.

Michelangelo has "The Creation of Adam", Michael Jackson has "Thriller", Michael Jordan has Game Six of the '98 Finals. The term "magnum opus" comes is Latin for "great work." The magnum opus represents a person's greatest achievement, the seminal work, the crowning achievement. What will your greatest work be? What do you want to be remembered for? What's distracting you from that work? In Nehemiah chapter 6, Nehemiah's enemies are persistently trying to distract him from his magnum opus, rebuilding the city of God. He responds over and over: "I am doing a great work and I cannot come down."

Compassion fatigue is when we around suffering so often that we have a gradual lessening of compassion over time. Our culture is suffering from compassion fatigue. Nehemiah chapter 5 gives us a glimpse into a godly reaction to injustice and gives us a game-plan for using our power to fight injustice. When Nehemiah hears about the exploitation of the powerless, his fury turns to action as he fights injustice through sacrifice and service. He then wields his power in a godly way to help those who are exploited.

As we continue our journey through Nehemiah, we get to Nehemiah 4, which contains the perfect illustration of the Christian life. On the one hand, Nehemiah and the people of Israel are working hard to rebuild Jerusalem. On the other hand, they need to be ready to fight the enemy if they were to attack. Each worker had a sword and a trowel, to battle and build. Christians are always fighting the good fight of faith, resisting the sinful patterns of this world, the flesh, and the devil, but we are also working hard to make disciples, build each other up in love, and being built up as a spiritual house. Build and battle.

Studies show that purpose-driven people are more likely to be leaders, to have career satisfaction, earn more and enjoy more contentment overall – even living up to 7 years longer. But how do we find purpose? This week, we take a look at Nehemiah's mission in chapter 3, which teaches us a lesson in individual vs. collective purpose, and selfish vs. God-glorifying purpose.

In the second half of Nehemiah 2, the prophet Nehemiah spends time closely evaluating the brokenness of Jerusalem's walls, prior to coming up with a plan for restoration. In our lives, we need an honest self-evaluation to grow as well. And if we can't give ourselves an honest self-evaluation, then how are we supposed to change if we don't think we need to?

What's the biggest, boldest, most audacious prayer request you've ever brought before God? Perhaps you prayed for a spouse, or the healing of a loved one. Perhaps you prayed for a job, or a housing situation. Perhaps you prayed to win the lottery. Whatever it is, we've all probably come to God with some big requests, at some point. Nehemiah asks God for one of the wildest prayer requests recorded in Scripture, and what's crazier, God answers him!

Prayer is powerful. As we continue our series through the incredible book of Nehemiah, we'll look at Nehemiah's prayer in 1:4-11. Not only is this one of the most power-packed prayers in all of history, but it also offers us a template, for how we too can develop potent prayer lives.

The book of Nehemiah is about a godly young professional, whose heart is stirred by the brokenness of the city of God. God gives Nehemiah a "God-sized" vision for his life, the kind of vision that will never come to fruition apart from the sovereign and miraculous intervention of God Himself. Nehemiah devotes his life to be used by God, to help rebuild the city of God, within the city of man. Do you have a vision for your life? Do you have a "God-sized" vision for your life? What's your vision for your church? What's your vision for your city?