Podcast - Mosaic | Lynchburg, VA Church

“Above all else, guard your heart, for out of it springs the issues of life.” “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.” “…and circumcision is circumcision of the heart.”

Scripture has a lot to say about our hearts. Our “heart” or soul, is considered the seat of our emotions. The question I would like to ask this Sunday is, “How are you feeling as we come to the end of this year?” In other words, “How is your heart?”

We are going to do church a little different this week, so I hope you’ll join us for some organized chaos!

You’ve each heard me say on several occasions how important it is that we keep a “Kingdom Perspective” especially during uncertain times and seasons. I realize that a Kingdom/Eternal Perspective means different things to different people; so much so that I felt like the Lord wanted me to unpack this concept for us this Sunday.

Keeping a healthy perspective in life is always a good idea, but even more so when it comes to living out our life in Christ in a fallen world with fallen people.

The term Crisis of Faith usually refers to the point at which a person feels that he or she can no longer serve God or follow Christ. In the past few months, Joshua Harris, writer of “I Kissed Dating Goodbye” announced he left the faith. Marty Sampson, a gifted worship leader from Hillsong, announced that he, too, was leaving Christianity.

A person going through a crisis of faith is tempted to turn away from all he or she had believed in. Maybe you, or someone close to you, has felt or actually done the same.

When we feel we are facing a crisis of faith, there are some questions we should first ask ourselves. I’ll be asking, and answering those questions this Sunday.

I pray you’ll join us to have your own faith strengthened.

The holidays are coming, and with all the festivities, feasting, gatherings, gifting and reconnecting with family and friends, for far too many of us, there is only anxiety, depression and loneliness. What can we do to guard our hearts during a time of year that should lift our spirits but sometimes just emphasizes how down we are?

I want you to know that God loves you so much and wants to bring you joy for the holidays and beyond. Let's talk about it - He will show us the path to peace.

May the Lord bring you hope for the holidays!

This Sunday I would like to conclude our current series on Resolving Conflict. One of the “seeds” I would like you to think about when resolving conflict in your life is to make a commitment not to use any “Words of Mass Destruction.”

We cannot successfully be peacemakers if the words we use with others are harsh. Join us this Sunday as we learn how to fix the problem and not the blame.

Phil. 4:13

This Sunday, God willing, I will be back at Mosaic doing one of the things I enjoy the most - preaching! Oh, how I have missed each of you.

For the next 2 weeks I will be finishing the series I started several weeks ago before my accident on Resolving Conflict.

This week’s “seed” I’d like you to plant in your life as a peacemaker is so important, I am going to spend our entire time together unpacking it. If you and I don’t get this one concept planted deep within our hearts & minds, we will experience unresolved conflict the rest of our lives. Come Sunday and let's make sure that doesn’t happen!

Peacemaking through Forgiveness: What it is and isn’t? What keeps us from forgiving (or forgiving half-heartedly)? What promises come with forgiveness? What gives me the power to forgive?

This Sunday I would like to continue the theme Rick started a few weeks ago on Peacemaking/Conflict Resolution and address this glorious and difficult topic of forgiveness… real forgiveness, not the “It’s Ok” kind of forgiveness that really isn’t.

I hope you’ll join us as we address this very important subject.

Question: When was the last time you took a risk? You may be surprised to discover that we actually take risks every day.

We take risks in our relationships, when we get in the car, even when we do yard work around the house.

Do you think God ever asks us to take a risk? I hope you’ll join us this Sunday as we unpack this very important question.

How you doing? “Fine? Just Fine?”

Last weekend I shared with you about some of the biblical truths I’ve learned from the folks at TrueFace. We talked about how each of us is “created in Christ Jesus for good works” but we agreed that we all struggle with junk in our trunk that needs to be resolved. I shared a description of the path of “Pleasing God” that leads most of us to the “Room of Good Intentions”. We talked about the pitfalls of attempting to “Please God” by using self-effort to try and resolve our issues. It’s exhausting and doesn’t result in real transformation.

We discovered that without “Trusting God” it’s impossible to please Him. The path of Trusting God leads us to the “Room of Grace”. In this room we are learning to “trust everything God says is true about us.” This requires humility because it’s not something that we can do. It is a work of God (aka GRACE). In this place called Grace, Jesus makes His way across our sin and wounds to stand alongside us. He tells us all that God says is true about us because of His death, burial and resurrection.

This weekend, I’ll be continuing this series by sharing about three of the gifts that Jesus gives us as we live life in the “Room of Grace”. I hope y’all can be there! God is really using these truths that I’m sharing to mature me and transform my experience in life. I feel like I’m living my destiny even now, as Jesus continues to walk me through a lifetime of healing.

I’ll bet you remember these lines from your high school literature class, “Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, and sorry I could not travel both.” You guessed it, Robert Frost. Did you ever stop to think that we all face two roads that we can take when considering our approach to God? In the message this weekend, I’m gonna be talking to you about the roads most often encountered by people who want to know God.

This message is the first in a two-part series and I can’t wait to share these life-changing truths with you.