Solitude & Community

January 26, 2014 • Shane Sikkema • 1 Peter 2:1–12

Did you play any team sports as a kid? I know it's out of season, but baseball was by far my favorite. I was a pitcher, and I used to spend hours practicing with my dad in the back yard. It was those hours of practice that prepared me for game day. But imagine if I never left the back yard. If I never joined a team, put on a uniform, got in the game... would I really know what it was like to be a pitcher?

God hasn't just chosen us for himself, he's chosen us for his team. He's given us a purpose and new identity in Christ! Join us tomorrow as we take a look at 1 Peter 2:1-12 and the surprisingly interconnected disciplines of Solitude & Community.

Meditation

December 29, 2013 • Psalm 1

Have you ever heard someone say something like: "I'm not religious; I'm spiritual'? At Mosaic, we're cool with that statement, as long as it points us back to Jesus, his saving Work, and the spiritual life he calls us to experience, daily. However, we don't want the quip, "I'm spiritual," to be excuse for spiritual vagueness and laziness. We want to grow in true spirituality by exercising our souls regularly in the manner our Lord has prescribed for us.

Giving

January 5, 2014 • 2 Kings 7

Last week, we started a sermon series called "Mystic" to help you train yourself in the disciplines of the Christian soul. Tomorrow, we'll be talking about "giving" as a spiritual discipline. Jesus said, "It's more blessed to give than to received," and to receive more of this blessing on a continual basis, we need to train ourselves to give systematically and develop a lifestyle of generosity. Giving is to become the muscle-memory of our souls, becoming the natural response of our souls to the needs around us.

Prayer

January 12, 2014 • Matthew 6:5–15

I don't know about you, but I'm totally incentive-driven. I always need to know why I should be doing something and why it's worth my time, especially when the activity takes effort or seems counter-intuitive. Whenever I was told I should be doing something, my knee-jerk reaction is to ask, "Why?" Floss your teeth; why? Eat your vegetables; why? Do your homework; why? Exercise; why? Obey the speed limit; why? Be smart with your money; why? Stop asking so many questions; why? I've found that prayer is in the same category for most people: we know it's supposed to be sort of good for us, but it's hard to do, so we push back with: Why? Well, tomorrow, we'll attempt to answer that question.