Today we begin a new sermon series at Mosaic through Jesus' seven letters to the seven churches in Revelation chapters 2 and 3.

The incredible unvoiced assumption behind these letters, is that just as much as Jesus Christ loves and cares for the universal Church, he loves and cares for particular churches. As the Apostle John gazes at the glorious Christ in Revelation 1, Jesus turns John's gaze to seven individual churches. The more we love Jesus, the more we love what Jesus loves, and Jesus loves his churches. The deeper our commitment to Jesus, the deeper our commitment to what he's committed to: his Church.

Each letter, addressed to each of the individual churches, begins with the phrase: "I know...". Jesus writes, "I know your works..."; "I know you are enduring patiently..."; "I know your tribulation..."; "I know where you dwell..."; "I know your love and your faith...". Jesus is paying incredibly close attention to his churches. This is simultaneously a great comfort when we feel that no one notices our service, and also a great invitation to reassess our own heart toward the Lord and his Church.

Join us as we look at Jesus' first letter to the church in Ephesus.

When you hear the parable of the good Samaritan, where do you cast yourself within the story?

On a particularly good day, we may feel like the good Samaritan. Or, at least, if we just tried a little harder, or we were at the right place at the right time, we could be like him. We're inspired by how Jesus describes his acts of compassion, and we get pumped up to "Go, and do likewise" in a broken world. And we should--- we understand more of the heart of God when we enter into the midst of suffering.

Other times, when we've turned up our headphones to ignore that person on the T, or directly avoided that person in the office who is having a bad day, we feel like the Priest or the Levite. And we should--- we hear "Go, and do likewise", and excuses flood our mind. "What about my time and my schedule?" "What if it's unsafe?" "Is it right to give money out like that?" "I don't think I'm gifted to do that." Some may be valid, some maybe not so much.

But how many of us would cast ourselves as the guy beaten and left for dead in the road? Maybe once in a while, when things are really bad and you feel really desperate? Perhaps the key for us in becoming a good Samaritan is that we must realize our poverty, our brokenness, and our own need for the one truly Good Samaritan.

What is the most important thing about you?

And, not just the thing you really want someone to know about you when you first meet them. I'm not talking about what you do for work, how much you make/have, where you went to school, your athletic prowess, or social connections. What's the thing, if you lose it, you lose everything?

A.W. Tozer once said, "What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.... The most portentous fact about any person is not what he at a given time may say or do, but what he in his deep heart conceives God to be like... The heaviest obligation lying upon the Christian church today is to purify and elevate her concept of God until it is once more worthy of Him."

What's most important about us isn't what we passively believe about God, but what we actively think about God today, because this impacts absolutely everything else. As our thoughts about God align with the true God, our perception of reality aligns with ultimate reality, which leads to wisdom, knowledge, and discernment. As we look at the final chapters of the Book of Daniel today, chapters 10-12 "purify and elevate our concept of God until it is once more worthy of Him."

Have you noticed the recent trend in Hollywood to make movies and shows about the end of the world? The future of our planet is always being threatened, by aliens, asteroids, floods, freezing, killer viruses, robots, mutants, nuclear weapons, and of course, zombies. Ours is a culture full of existential angst and Hollywood (and Politicians!) are cashing in on it. We're past the question, "Is the world going to when?" Not "is" but "when?"

This is the perfect time to study the biblical apocalyptic literature in the Book of Daniel. The visions Daniel sees reveal a grim future full of chaos, conflict, and rebellion against God. However, Daniel assures us, salvation will come from the "Son of Man" to whom will be given "dominion, and glory and a kingdom that all peoples, nations, and languages" will serve him and "his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed." No matter the chaos in the world around us, King Jesus is on His throne and in control.

We're devoting the next two sermons to covering the prophetic passages of the book of Daniel. Today we'll look at portions of chapters 7-9, and then sermon, we'll cover parts of chapters 10-12. Since we won't have time to cover all three chapters in each sermon, I recommend you take some time to read through the text ahead of time. This way, our time in God's Word together will be much more fruitful.

Preaching famous texts is always challenging, because people think they know the story, and as the saying goes, "familiarity breeds contempt." We're so familiar with the story, it's lost all relevance in our lives. The story of Daniel and the lions comes with an additional challenge: though famous, it has been famously misinterpreted!

The usual interpretation goes like this: "Look at Daniel, he's so good! He trusts God. He's uncompromising. He's incorruptible. He's absolutely moral. Be like him and God will take care of you by protecting you and prospering you. He won't let anything bad happen to you. Despite all the dangerous metaphorical lions in your life, you won't have a scratch on you. Guaranteed. Just trust and obey." That's all fine and well, except that's not the point of the story and, it just isn't true! Many of us have been taught this false moralistic interpretation, and if you've been good, and bad things have happened, you're disillusioned. Or you read the story, and say, "I could never be this good, so Christianity just isn't for me."

Join us as we look at this story in historical, cultural, and biblical context to see the glorious grace of a God who muzzles the fiercest lions in our lives, not because of our goodness, but because of Jesus Christ, the Lion of Judah.

Have you heard these phrases before?

"Your days are numbered."
"The writing is on the wall."
"You have been weighed and found wanting."

All three phrases come from Daniel 5.
All three have made their way into the public imagination of our culture.
All three pack a powerful emotional punch.

These phrases are deeply moving because they communicate some of the most profound, self-evident truths about our existence. Our days are truly numbered (but by whom?), The writing is on the wall (but what does it mean?). Deep down inside, if we're honest, we know we are being weighed (by whom?) and we don't measure up (to what?).

So what do we do with these truths? Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die? That's what the king does in Daniel 5, and we see how foolish it ultimately is. He sees the writing on the wall and continues boozing to blind himself to the more uncomfortable facts of reality.

How then shall we live? Join us as we look at the powerful story in Daniel 5.

Do you ever feel like your own worst enemy? We’ve been walking through the book of Daniel, and we’ve seen how God is able to deliver us from our enemies and the trials of life. We’ve also seen how, at times, God chooses to not deliver us from our trials, but to deliver us by walking with us through our trials. Before any of this, however, God first needs to deliver us from the greatest enemy of all. Ourselves. The danger facing Daniel and his friends threatened their bodies, but the danger facing Nebuchadnezzar threatened his very soul. The threat of his own pride.

Our culture sees pride as a virtue, but scripture tells us it is the deadliest sin. Pride is what made the devil the devil, and it led to the fall of mankind. Pride is at the root of every sin, every vice, and every evil the world has ever seen. It is also ironically humiliating. The great irony of pride is that while attempting to make ourselves into something more than human, we inevitably make ourselves into something less than human. Pride dehumanizes us and causes us to dehumanize others. It warps our desires and puts enmity between us and everyone else.

Daniel 4 is one of the strangest stories in all of scripture. Pride was dehumanizing Nebuchadnezzar, so to address Nebuchadnezzar’s pride, God turns him into an animal (or at least causes him to think he is one for 7 years). Join us as we see how this played out in the life of King Nebuchadnezzar, and as we search for the key to unlocking the prison of pride and experiencing the freedom of humility!

Today we have the blessing of studying one of the most famous and beloved stories in all of Scripture: the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego thrown into the fiery pit. It's a phenomenal testimony of the unwavering, ironclad, immovable faith of three young men, in the face of the most dire of circumstances.

This text is chock-ful of faith-building and live-giving lessons. A primary question the text poses before us today is: am I going to declare the Lord to be my God, my primary allegiance, come what my, or will I bow to the multitude of glittering idols that the world present to me? The same battle these men fought, is actually waged daily in our hearts over much lesser issues.

Furthermore, so many questions arise from the text:
~How can Nebuchadnezzar force everyone to worship this image he's built, immediately after he just proclaimed to Daniel, "Truly, your God is God of gods and Lord of kings."
~Couldn't Shadrach, Meshach, and Abelnego have bowed down to this image in public, but still worshiped Jesus in their hearts? Why the brouhaha?
~Why didn't God save them before they are thrown into the fire? Didn't he cut it a little close there?
~Who was the fourth person in the fire pit with them?

Join us as we answer these questions and more.

You ever feel like living a faithful Christian life is an uphill battle? Like the deck is stacked against you? Like you're Sisyphus, pushing a massive boulder uphill, and when you're almost at the top, you gas out and the stone comes tumbling down the hill, almost crushing you in the process? There are so many temptations in this world, and so many more in the city. How in the world can you remain faithful and flourishing, instead of faithless and languishing?

You ever feel like you're the absolutely only Christian in your circles of influence? Maybe one of the only Christians in your whole school, company, and or community? Perhaps in your whole city? Well, you feel like that, because in Boston, it's statistically true.

Sometimes, the Christian life feels like you're living in a den with lions, who are ready to devour you alive. Sometimes, it feels like there are lions on the outside, and lions of the heart on the inside.

Join us as we start a study through the epic book of Daniel and learn some timeless (and therefore, timely) lessons of how to live in the lion's den.