Podcast - Mosaic | Lynchburg, VA Church

Last week, Jeff did a great job telling us about the incredible moment when the final piece of the New Covenant was laid into place. After the Holy Spirit is given, something remarkable happens: 120 people are empowered and become bold witnesses in Jerusalem's streets. On that day, God "called out" from all those gathered about 3,000 souls. Each one was united with God by the power of the Holy Spirit, just as Jesus promised.

It's in this precise moment in history that the Ekklesia of God is born. That word -- which we translate to "church" -- means "called out ones." Jesus told us in Matthew 16:18, "On this rock, I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it."

On Sunday, come prepared to roll up your sleeves, get out your bibles, and actually talk about this subject of "the church." What is the church? To whom does she belong? Who is building the church? How's that going?

We hope you'll be present to join in the conversation.

As we continue our exploration of God's vision for the Church through the study of Acts, we will be diving into Chapter 2:1-41, the story of Pentecost. Discover God's perfect timing and purpose for imparting the Holy Spirit to Jesus' followers and the powerful result that followed.

We will also be reckoning with what difference oneness in the Spirit makes within the context of the Church. I look forward to seeing you in person (Lord willing) and on the screen Sunday morning.

Until then, keep walking in step with the Spirit.

"Please be kind, rewind."

Do you remember that phrase? That slogan was born out of necessity for video rental places like Blockbuster. Employees would spend enormous amounts of time rewinding videos before they could put them back up on the shelf to be rented again. "Please be kind, rewind" was a simple way of paying it forward to the next person. A common courtesy, if you will.

Now I realize that slogan is no longer relevant in 99.9% of our homes anymore -- or is it? Make that a three word slogan instead, and it'll change your life and even the world!

Sunday we'll talk about what it means to be kind, and the benefits of practicing kindness.

As we continue our journey through the book of Acts, we’re going to peek into an uncertain time in the lives of Jesus’ disciples. They had experienced the adventure of a lifetime in the three years they were with Jesus, and they were witnesses to great signs and wonders, the greatest of all being the resurrection of their master and teacher from the dead.

They leaned on Him, they worshipped Him, they loved Him, and suddenly, before their very eyes, He was taken up from them. He left them with instructions to wait and they would receive power from on high. They had no idea what He was talking about, but they obeyed.

What did they do during the waiting? And how does that apply to us today?

I look forward to sharing with you what the Lord has laid on my heart!

This week we begin our study of The Acts of the Apostles, Luke's amazing account of what God did through His apostles to spread the Gospel and establish the Church.

This Sunday's message looks at the who, the what, the when, and the where of this great book. We'll also discuss why it's so important for us as a body to study it.

In a world of way too much suffering and a seeming randomness to life, it can be very easy to lose sight of a fully sovereign God guiding and redeeming history towards his desired end. Yet, that is whom the various authors of the Bible were describing in their various "books" and letters.

Before we begin our anticipated study of "God's compelling vision for His Church" by diving into the Book of Acts next Sunday, we will be briefly studying God's sovereignty in history, and how that relates to our lives as well as our awesome Mosaic Church. In fact, one might even describe this brief study as a "sermonette", because immediately following that we'll be asking you to stay for a Mosaic Family Meeting to discuss the future of our body and some key news we want to share with you.

Thanks a million to all of you who jumped on with us for the Zoom service on January 3rd. It was so much fun to see all of your faces and to hear you share your heart for the new year!

You got to hear from Ron, Jeff, and John as they shared things about themselves that many folks don’t know. We reflected on 2020 and leaned into 2021 together while taking a valuable moment to explore our “Red Dot” and consider how each of us can experience God in the moment. If you missed it, be sure to go back and check it out.

We’ll soon begin our walk through the Acts of the Apostles. We’ll walk through the entire book together, taking our time to really soak in the truths placed there by the Holy Spirit. As we prepare for it, we thought it would be really powerful to explore the various perspectives of the elders on their passion and vision for the church. Each elder will share from his personal life experience and what God has place on his heart about why the church is here, what it should be doing, and how its members should relate.

We hope you and yours have had a wonderful Christmas and are doing well at the start of this new year. It’s so encouraging that Covid-19 vaccinations are now becoming available. We are all hopeful that by Spring, things will begin to normalize. As an elder team, we have decided that meeting this soon after Christmas isn’t the better part of wisdom. Still, we’re all hungry for connection, worship, and encouragement from the Word, so we have decided to have church this Sunday, Live on Zoom. While this will be quite different, we ask that you join us for this very special service.

Use this link to join between 9:45 AM and 10:00 AM. The service will start promptly at 10:00. Carlton will lead worship from his home, and we will have a screen available with the lyrics to the songs. Please keep your mic muted unless or until you’ve been invited to share. You don’t have to turn your camera on, but we would love to see your faces!

Ron, Jeff, and John will share a three-part message encouraging us to Learn from the Past, Lean into the Future, and Live in the Moment. Each one of them will share something about themselves that many people don’t know. You won’t want to miss that!

We look forward to meeting once again on January 10th in-person at Mosaic and via live stream. At that time, we will begin a series of messages on “Acts: God’s Vision and Practical Purpose for His Church.”

As the year winds to a close and we enter the week of Christmas, it can be easy to get swept up into the busy-ness of all that needs to get done. Our attention can be pulled in so many different directions. It becomes hard to find rest.

That's why this Sunday we are going to be intentional in creating a time where you feel rested and reconnected. We are going to be having a special morning dedicated to centering our hearts and minds on Christ as one family; the bride of Christ. So, prepare to settle in for a time of classic carols, Christmas cheer and reflecting on our wild year.

As we continue on our journey through the book of Galatians and enter into the season of advent, we will explore this week what it looks like to "keep in step with the Spirit."

But as it turns out, living with love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control isn't as easy as it seems like it should be, especially when living in a fallen world. So chapter six offers some examples of what keeping in step with the Spirit looks like and several warnings of things to steer clear of.

If you are interested in seeing how all this connects with the Christmas story, please make plans to join us Sunday. Hope to see you then.