Mosaic Today

We live in a chaotic world. And sometimes, that world throws us curve balls. Mosaic wants to acknowledge these frustrations and add some humor to it all. So, at Sunday gatherings in May, bring your ‘cry me a river’ story, and you’ll have an opportunity to share it with the church. Hopefully, this exercise will help us release tension and allow everyone a chance to laugh together.

How much room is there for innovation in your life?  What would you be willing to shift if it meant you could become a better version of yourself?  Listen as Kevin casts vision for the next innovation with Mosaic Bay: Becoming More Human.

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If you’ve joined us during these 21 days of renewal, please share your stories with us.

How has God spoken to you during these 21 days?

What have you learned about yourself?

What has God renewed?

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Take a moment to email us at today@mosaicbay.org with your story of renewal.

“In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.” Ephesians 6:16

Reading this passage, many of us need to hear what it doesn’t say. It doesn’t say that our faith KEEPS US FROM battle. No, it says our faith PROTECTS US IN battle. This passage assumes something that many of us easily forget: there is a war going on. There IS an enemy, and we WILL be attacked. And faith is our shield. It protects us from the flaming arrows of the evil one.

For many of us, however, the first thing we do when we’re under attack is choose to question our faith. We ask, ‘where is God?’ and give up on Him entirely. When life is overwhelming and we’re facing temptation, persecution, or worse, many of us give up on the very thing that will protect us and see us through the trial: faith. 

Faith is the assurance of things hoped for; it’s the conviction of things unseen. Faith is most powerful when we find ourselves in difficult times. When we’re at our weakest and most vulnerable, when the outcome is most uncertain, that is the exact moment we need faith. 

If you’re up against it, if everything is in disarray, turn to God. Instead of questioning Him, embrace Him. Let your faith do what it’s supposed to do, shield you from the attack.

“Stand firm, then…with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.” Ephesians 6

The good news of Jesus is peace. Peace with God. Peace with one another. And peace with our work.  

Peace is a difficult concept for many of us. Few of us have ever fought in a war. Fewer of us have ever negotiated a peace accord between nations. Our understanding of peace is limited to farewells and bumper stickers.

But we do know what it is to grumble. We know bitterness and frustration. We know pain and self-regret. Too many of us live at war with ourselves – fighting addiction, fear of failure, and isolation from community.

And Jesus says to all of us: Peace be with you. Peace to the wars, yes. Peace between nations, of course. But more potently, Peace to your soul. Peace to the bitterness. Peace to the frustration. Peace to pain and self-regret. Peace to the wars raging inside of us. Peace to you. Peace to me.

There is good news this morning: God offers Peace to all who would seek Him.

“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.  Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devils schemes.  For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the power of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms…Stand firm then…with the breastplate of righteousness in place…“  Ephesians 6:10-12, 14

A breastplate is a piece of armor that protects from frontal attack.  In this case, the protection is ‘righteousness’–not your own righteousness, but Christ’s.  In other words, what Jesus did makes you right before God.  And there’s nothing you nor anyone else can do to take away from that ‘right-ness’ before God.  Knowing & trusting this fact will protect you all kinds of attack.

The arrows the breastplate protects against often look like this: guilt, shame and accusation.  When those arrows come flying, remember this: you are more than your worst moment.  You are greater than your greatest shame.  You are much more…you are God’s greatest moment.  You are as ‘right‘ with God as Jesus is.

God’s not a warden, he’s a deliverer.  Let that protect you today.

“We need a new normal.”

Listen as Kevin wraps up the Renewal series with a conversation about Spiritual Warfare from Ephesians 6.

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“Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.  Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist…” Ephesians 6:13-14

The Apostle Paul’s ‘armor of God’ begins with a ‘belt of truth.’  Why? A Roman soldier would have put his belt on first, because, in those days, every other piece of equipment would have attached to it.  In a sense, the belt held the rest of the armor in place.  The same is true of truth.  If we first understand and embrace the truth, everything else can find its place.  The question is, what truth is Paul referring to?  Well, the entire letter to the Ephesians is built on a singular premise: through Christ, we can know God. It’s that truth that changes everything.

Are you ashamed of your past and wondering if you’ve done too much wrong to be close to God?
Christ changes all of that: God defines you not by what you’ve done, but by what Jesus has done.  You have a new identity in Christ.  (vs 1:7-8)

Do your bad habits and past decisions hold you hostage to a life you don’t want to live?
Christ changes all of that: the same power that raised Jesus from the dead lives in those who believe. (vs 1:19-21, 4:20-24)

Are you without a family, lonely and longing for community?
Christ changes all of that: everyone who puts their faith in Jesus is a member of God’s household.  You are a part of the family of God.  (vs 2:19)

Do you feel like you have no purpose, that your life doesn’t matter?
Christ changes all of that: you are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for you to do. (2:10)

We could go on and on.  That’s what happens when you put on the belt of truth first.  Through Christ, God does immeasurably more than anything we can ask or imagine.

Through Christ.

“‘Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.’

Be very careful, then, how you live – not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.”  Ephesians 5:14-15 

Today, we have two options with our time, we either invest it or we spend it.  There’s no middle ground.

Time is a gift.  It’s life.  It’s opportunity and potential.  Viewing time this way should provoke us towards better choices.  What’s really concerning, though, is how most of us invest or spend our so-called ‘down’ time.  Sleeping in, television/Netflix, gaming, regularly working overtime: when did these things become ‘normal’ uses of the extra time in our lives?  Even the smallest moments today: what do we do with that time?  Instead of pulling out our phones or checking the various social feeds, what about looking up, taking in a breath, and pausing to reflect on our day?

CS Lewis wrote, “Our leisure, even our play, is a matter of serious concern.  There is no neutral ground in the universe: every square inch, every split second, is claimed by God (or) counter claimed by Satan.”

How will we steward the time God gives us today?  

“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms…And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.”  Ephesians 6:10-12, 18

Prayer is more powerful than we think it is.  Yes, it changes how we view God & what we think of our circumstances.  But it’s more powerful than that.  Prayer can change our circumstances.  It has the power to engage a heavenly realm that we don’t see with our eyes.  By faith, it fights in the cosmic war raging all around us.

Tonight at Mosaic, we’ll be talking about this spiritual warfare.  Pray for our conversation.  And whether you’re there in person or you listen to the podcast later this week, please join us in prayer for the Bay Area.