Mosaic Church | at Walt Disney World Audio

In the second installation of our Elf-themed Christmas series, Sent, we centered around the “weirdness” of our Sent Savior, the One who is light that came into the darkness. We may have become so acquainted with the Christmas story that we have lost our wonder at the amazing absurdity of a Savior King, born in a stable. He who called those with influence to give everything up, and promised those with nothing everything. This Christmas we reflect with awe and gratitude on the beautiful absurdity of the God-man, who came as a baby to save the whole world.

Our new Advent series, Sent, will use the iconic Christmas movie Elf to illustrate the wonder of what God accomplished for us in Christ. We kicked off the series today looking at the true need of our world: not to be removed from the naughty list or to have Christmas cheer, but ultimately to be rescued from the power of sin and death. When we had no hope otherwise, Jesus was sent to us and for us! He is good at overcoming death because He is life, abolishing slavery because He is freedom, and casting out darkness because He is light. So, this Advent season and forevermore, we celebrate that Jesus alone is good at what we need most!

So as not to be tempted into pride after being instructed to “not let anyone look down on you because you are young,” Paul opens 1 Timothy 5 with a reminder for gentleness and humility when correcting others, whether they be younger or older. Paul reasons that we are all family in Christ and ought to treat one another as such. Then, in a passage that seems at first to be all about widow care, Paul gives practical guidance for leading and loving any who have true need within the family of God. If we are going to love the Church like family, we must be willing to humbly admit our own real needs in order to receive, and sacrificially lay down our own preferences in order to serve.

Paul continues to emphasize to Timothy the non-negotiable value of sound teaching always being matched with mature character. Despite what culture thought in Ephesus or even today in America, mature character isn't ultimately marked by age or talent, it is seen in immersing ourselves in the progress of becoming more like Jesus. As we become more like Jesus, stewarding our gifts to serve others, we get to have the unfathomable privilege of joining God in His work in the world.

After Paul clarifies what Timothy is to confront in the false teachers, he then qualifies Timothy's ability for such confrontation. Timothy was able to lovingly confront false teaching because he was trained in the sound teaching of the Spirit. If Timothy weren't trained in truth, he would have confronted out of speculation and division. Therefore, through Paul’s writing, God's invitation for all of us is to be a people trained and devoted to God's truth because it is valuable for all times in all things. Jesus is worth devoting our all to because He is the only living Savior able to save anyone who puts their hope in Him.

How did false teaching and destructive leadership get into the church in Ephesus in the first place? Some might have blamed the false teachers, but Paul brings us to the real source of false teaching. Any teaching, whether explicitly evil or seemingly good; but is opposed to the teaching of the Spirit of God is actually the teaching of demons! Therefore, Paul calls us to be a people who know God’s Word well in order to discern well and live well in God's world.

Jesus is on mission right now in all of the world through his followers to redeem unredeemed spaces. Because Jesus has asked, invited, and empowered us to join Him, we individually and collectively invest our resources, not in temporary things, but in eternal stories of gospel influence.

After calling out false and destructive leadership, Paul calls up noble and beautiful leadership. Rather than seeking authority, power, and position in the church, leaders who follow the way of Jesus should see leadership as an opportunity to serve others.

Continuing in the context of Paul writing to Timothy to correct false teachers in Ephesus, there is a further need for correction among those influenced by their false teaching. This included both men and women within the church at Ephesus. Both are called to lovingly seek the good of others, in a manner consistent with sound doctrine.

In this message, Eddie and René Taubensee talk about the importance of pursuing a biblical community made up of people who are those before you, those beside you and those you bring with you.

If “the aim of our charge is love” (1 Timothy 1:5), then what does love as followers of Jesus look like? Who are we to love and how are we to love them? What about people who have hurt us? Paul shows us that loving others is to go as far and wide as the love of God, which is for all people. God invites us to lovingly pray for our enemies, for rulers, and for all people, not only to work in their lives, but also in us, that God may shape our hearts to reflect his own.

Paul brings further clarity and correction to the false teachers in Ephesus, who had wrongly taught the purpose of the law and our relationship with it. Paul reveals that rather than make us perfect, the law reveals our imperfection, and reveals God as the only righteous one. It is only through Jesus that the law empowers us for healthy, right living rather than bondage. Paul uses his own life as an example of how Jesus is able to save even the “chief of sinners,” while the law would always be unable to do so. In 1st Timothy 1:17, Paul pauses in his letter to Timothy, and exalts God in poetic praise. In this we are reminded that the glorious realities of the gospel are not information that we move coldly past. Rather, the gospel is eternal power (Rom. 1:16) that calls for daily remembrance, which fuels worship, no matter our circumstance.

In this message, Aubry Stitt brings her passion and experience in discipleship into a teaching on the importance of making disciples of Jesus as we are continually being made into a disciple of Jesus.

As Paul begins to instruct Timothy to faithfully deal with the issues caused by the false teachers in the church at Ephesus, we are reminded of our need for faithfulness to truth and sound doctrine, while recognizing that this truth must be rooted in love of God and love of neighbor.

Before Paul begins to unpack the intricacies of how Timothy is to faithfully deal with the issues caused by the false teachers in the church at Ephesus he reminds his dear friend and child in the faith of the foundational goal for which the church was established by God. The people of God were created and gathered to love God and love people. And this love Paul focuses in on is the love Jesus demonstrated: self-sacrificially giving ourselves for the good of the other.

We are so excited to begin our journey through the book of 1st Timothy. This is an extremely significant book for our unique time in history but before we get too far, we must understand how this letter fits into the grand story of Scripture. Without context, we are far less likely to grasp the wonders of what God has actually revealed to us in His Word. Join us in the adventure of discovering the context and purpose of this beautiful letter.

Three months ago we began a series called Revive Us. This series was unique in that it was not simply a series of sermons, but a collective prayer that we sought to pray together. We desperately need God to do what only he can do! As we conclude this series, our prayer continues, but with one more ingredient, gratitude. We have so much to be grateful for, to rejoice in. So as we move on from this series, we don't move on from the desire for God to revive us and the gratitude for what he has done.

For this final message in our Revive Us series, we take time to draw near to the feet of Jesus through a few spiritual rhythms meant to focus our minds and hearts on Jesus.

When Jesus invites us to come to him he tells us that his yoke is easy and his burden is light, yet so much of this life feels hard and heavy. So how do we actually live in this world and not be crushed by the weight of it all? This week, we see that when Jesus ascended to heaven he didn't leave us on our own to figure it all out, but in fact, he left us fully equipped for the journey.

God's desire for His people is they would live united as a family, yet we live isolated and hurt by one another. Let's discover together how Jesus desires to restore us into His forever family to live and love one another in a way that delights our Father's heart and displays the Gospel to the world around us.

Society today tells us that we each have a life that is meant to be lived our own way, with our own truth. Jesus teaches something very different, He says, “I am the way, the truth and the life.” Walking the way of Jesus, believing the truth of Jesus, produces a life that looks like Jesus. That is the good life. That is a life that endures every storm. That is a life worth living.

The journey with Jesus was never meant to be a lone wolf adventure, but in an individualistic culture, this is exactly where our hearts naturally bend. In this message, we look into Jesus’ prayer for His Church for unity and oneness and discover how we can live in this reality together as a Biblical Community.

When we find ourselves upside down, flying through the air in the midst of an accident, it is too late to put on a seatbelt. Life is similar in that we encounter circumstances we didn't see coming and if we're not prepared, if we're just coasting without a seatbelt, we will end up far worse off than we could have. For centuries, the Shema has been for the people of God a tool of remembering and realigning themselves to the way of God. When we hear and obey this beautiful command, we will be prepared for any and every situation this life may throw at us.

If we are called to listen and obey God's voice, then the next question to wrestle with is, how do we know that we are truly hearing His voice in the first place? In this message, we will journey into the scriptures to discover four of the primary ways in which we can confidently hear His voice.

As we continue the journey with Jesus and towards Jesus, we recognize that the discipline of prayer is of upmost importance. The Lord's prayer is a prayer of recalibration that sets our hearts in line with the kingdom that Jesus is establishing on earth in and through his followers. In our gathering this week, we take time to slowly and intentionally move through the Lord's prayer so that our hearts might be aligned with Him as we ask Him to do a reviving work in us.

Obedience is not exactly a popular concept in today's world, yet the Bible is filled with stories and commands of God calling people into difficult realities that they would not naturally choose. Yet God desires more than begrudging obedience. Let's discover God's heart for us and how it is only out of a secure and loving attachment with God that we can truly listen and obey his voice.

We should not do things for Jesus simply to get things from Jesus. We should come to Jesus and then go with Jesus. Why? Because our gift is Jesus. Our “enough” is Jesus. Remember who He is and what He has done because that's where the revival of our souls exists; in Him alone!

Throughout the Scriptures the people of God are moved by Him through the chaotic waters and wastelands into a land of peace and promise, together let's discover the beauty of how baptism is instituted to be an external visual reminder of this inward reality.

For many, the Christian life is thought to be one impactful religious experience after another, leading to the pursuit of the next spiritual high and disdain for the in-between. That is not the Way of Jesus. The life of a disciple is not meant to be lived like a tourist who is jumping from one adventure to the next, but instead like a pilgrim who is journeying towards a wondrous destination. The pilgrimage we travel will lead to the joys of heaven, but the beauty isn't simply found in where we are going, but in the One who is with us on the journey.

Our all-sufficient King Jesus invites us to a table that is rich with goodness and full of everlasting satisfaction. Though we are undeserving, broken, and lame we are made sons and daughters of the King and He has called us by name to feast at His table. What a beautiful invitation!

The Scriptures teach that the way of Jesus leads to a different kind of life than most of us experience—one characterized by freedom, joy, peace, hope, and rest. Jesus calls it “life abundantly.” This life is a gift from God, but it requires us to say no to many things our culture promotes as the way to happiness. But, living in a counter-cultural way, saying no to what is easy takes discipline and commitment. The only way we can exercise the self-control it takes to fully embrace God's more difficult way is if we actually believe that God is good, that he loves us, and that he desires good for us. This understanding of God is foundational. Without a deep conviction of God's generous disposition toward us our desires will turn and our self-discipline will falter.

Every person has their own description of who they say Jesus us, but how does he describe Him and what difference should that make in our understanding of Him and our lives? In this message, we will focus on what it means that Jesus describes Himself by saying that at the core of His being He is “gentle and lowly” and why this is good news for weary and worried hearts.

The Scriptures make it clear that we were once dead in our sins but God's gift of grace makes us alive in Christ. This miraculous saving work of God is something that should leave us standing in great awe, yet we oftentimes find ourselves like David in Psalm 51 where we need to cry out to God to restore to us the joy of his salvation. Salvation, more than anything else gives us reason to celebrate, to rejoice, to sing, to shout and to dance. When the dead are made alive, we join in with heaven and we rejoice with joy inexpressible!

We each have things we fear, some come to pass, some never become reality, but the question is what do we do with them? In the book of Exodus, we discover a story calling the nation of Israel out of fear by instead receiving the fear of the Lord. How can you combat fear with fear? What does that look like? Let's journey together in this story and see how the fear of the Lord leads us to greater love, joy, and intimacy with God.

The narrative God writes throughout the Bible is the story of a loving Father who wants to give His kids the greatest gift ever—which happens to be Himself. In His kindness, He wired us to be dependent upon Him for every breath so that we would stay constantly connected to the gift. Without God, we'd cease to exist and that understanding is the foundation we need to fuel the fire of our unquenchable need for him.

We need to slow down and catch our breath…rather…catch His breath. We need a supernatural move of God to renew, restore, and revive us. That is not something we can muster up in our own strength. We cannot force God's hand…so instead, we let go, release control and draw near to Him, because the one necessary thing in life is to sit at the feet of our King Jesus and receive from Him whatever it is He has for us there.

As we conclude the book of Philippians we look back to recognize the incredible wonder of how God has gifted the church with this incredible letter to the church in Philippi. What grace it is from God to remind us that we are now living as joyful citizens of a new kingdom. And that because heaven is our home, our contentment is not found in our present circumstances but in the transcendence of knowing Christ our Lord.

This week we see the incredible impact that is made when the people of God choose to sacrificially partner together to make the gospel known. Paul expresses his gratitude to the Philippian church for their consistent, generous investment in the Kingdom, and his confidence in a faithfully sufficient God to meet all of our needs.

The invitation of the book of Philippians is to be joyful in light of the gospel despite our circumstances. Though we often rate the quality of our lives by our circumstances, God's kingdom provides us another way when we recognize that God has already provided for what we truly need. Then we can accept our circumstances with joy, because we can do everything through Christ who gives us strength.

After Paul encourages the followers of Jesus to cast their anxieties on Jesus through prayer, he turns our attention to our thought life and highlights the way of the kingdom of Christ. As we think the way Jesus calls us to think, we begin to live according to the new way of the kingdom He is establishing in and through His people.

Throughout life, we are confronted with a variety of conflicts and struggles. Whether the struggles are internal or interpersonal, how we respond when they arise matters greatly. In this week's passage, Paul invites us to stand firm in the Lord, to rejoice in the Lord, and to pray to the Lord and then see the peace of the Lord guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

This week we jump back into our series on the book of Philippians and explore what it looks like to live in this world as citizens of another. Though we are regularly bombarded with false gospels and the temptation to buy into them, there is one true gospel and one true Savior who secures our eternity and will come back to bring his people home.

As we conclude our Easter series, “Every knee shall bow”, we look at the events after the resurrection where Jesus appeared to his disciples and clarified the truth of who he is. These 40 days culminated when he gave the Great Commission and ascended into heaven to sit down at the right hand of the Father, signifying his kingship and authority over all creation. And we, his followers, are sent to declare the incredible wonder of who he is to the ends of the earth.

It is finished! On this Easter Sunday, we take time to line the streets to celebrate the reality Christ Jesus is victorious over sin and death. He is the conquering Lion and the sacrificial Lamb whose resurrection proclaims salvation and eternal life! This Easter, we celebrate that Jesus is the King of kings and the Lord of lords. He is the Christ and at his name EVERY KNEE SHALL BOW, IN HEAVEN AND ON EARTH, AND UNDER THE EARTH, and every tongue confess that he is Lord to the Glory of God the Father!

It is finished. On this Good Friday, we take time to ponder the reality Christ was exalted through his humiliation, and that EVERY KNEE SHALL BOW in heaven, on earth, and under the earth. Even as the enemy of God was reveling in his “victory”, Jesus is victorious! The Son of Man was lifted up, and now hope is fulfilled with his final breath. He is the conquering Lion and the sacrificial Lamb whose blood proclaims salvation!

We begin this Easter series by considering the events leading up to Jesus’ arrival to Jerusalem from 3 vantage points – heaven, earth, and under the Earth. We discover how every step of the way was ordained by God, nothing was merely circumstantial. Even a simple donkey was specifically preserved for this absolute declaration of the Messiah arriving to establish His throne and rescue His people.

The calling on our lives is to press on towards the goal of knowing Jesus and living for Him. The motivation for reaching this goal by running this race is that Jesus has already laid hold of us, and has run the race before us! Every day we must recognize that we have not yet arrived at the fullness of the knowledge of Jesus or the fullness of growing in the likeness of Christ, but that each step we take in this journey matters deeply in this life and in our eternal future.

We continue our journey through Philippians as Paul highlights his discovery of the utmost importance of knowing Jesus, recognizing the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ beyond all else. Because of this discovery, Paul was able to lose everything he had gained prior to Christ. Instead of counting his losses as losses, he counted them as gain because of the opportunity he had to know Christ in the midst of suffering loss, leading to an experience of His resurrection power.

The journey through Philippians has been an incredible opportunity to see the goodness of what Jesus has accomplished on our behalf. In this passage, Paul highlights the beauty of the gospel that is found when we recognize only the good of what Jesus has done for us is worth placing our confidence in, knowing that gaining Christ is by far the most important thing in this life.

Paul is calling the Church to a simple-to-understand but difficult-to-follow command, “Your attitude should be the same as Jesus”. In order to actually do this, we need to look at each other as examples and honor those among us who live in service of others for the sake of the gospel.

Paul has been showing the church examples to follow and emulate, beginning with the example of Jesus, who humbly served for our salvation. After pointing out His own example, He moves to the example of Timothy who emulates Christ’s character by showing genuine concern for the Philippian church. What a beautiful picture of the God we serve, who shows genuine concern for our lives in every circumstance! And when we recognize that He is intimately involved in every area of our lives, every circumstance can be viewed through the lens of God’s good work in our story.