Mosaic Boston • Jamaica Plain

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.