10 Things Everyone Needs to Know About Christianity
Especially Christians!
The Bible is One Book Containing Two Different Covenants
November 27, 2022 • Walt Davis
Hey Mosaic,
Why is the Bible so hard to read and understand sometimes?
Don’t get me wrong, some if not most of it is clear. But there’s a lot that leaves us scratching our heads at best. Sure, there are cultural differences between theirs and ours. Sure, there are language and translation difficulties. But sometimes the difficulty is more than that— it’s the content.
For example, Jesus tells the Jews that God will forgive their sins only if they forgive other people's sins against them, but then Paul tells believing Christians in his letters that they are completely forgiven of all their sins—past, present, & future. Another example is that the same Bible says that God judged the Israelites because of their sins, but then we read Hebrews say that God remembers our sins “NO MORE!”
So which is it? How do we reconcile these differences?
I really hope you join us this Sunday at Mosaic, where we will try to unpack the truth that the Bible is one book that contains two completely different covenants. Knowing which covenant you are in makes a world of difference in what you believe about God, about yourself, and most practically, what you believe God thinks about you!
Hope to see you there!
Walt Davis
When the Old Has Faded Away
January 22, 2023 • Walt Davis • 2 Corinthians 3
Dear Saints,
We look forward to celebrating Jesus and His finished work with you again this Sunday at Mosaic. We will continue our count down of “The Top 10 Things everyone needs to know, ESPECIALLY CHRISTIANS, about Christianity!” We are on number 9 this week: When we see the Old has faded away, the veil hiding our new heart is taken away! - 2 Corinthians 3.
You see the New Covenant can be really hard for us to wrap our religiously trained minds around. We are trained to live based on morality. In the New Covenant we learn to live by the Life of Jesus within. Of course, Jesus’ life is a moral life, but Christianity isn’t learning about morality and trying our best to live up to it. Christianity is seeing the truth that our new spiritual core is the very glory of God. As we see this truth day by day we begin to live out who we now are in Him—not by trying but by trusting!
Are you tired of trying to live the Christian life and continue to fail over and over? Maybe it’s time to stop trying and start trusting in the good news that Jesus not only lived the Christian life but IS the Christian life and His life is now your life in you, joined to you, one with you. This veil of trying must be removed. As it is, the glory of God in you goes on display through you!
I really hope to see you Sunday!
Walt Davis
Once and For All
January 29, 2023 • Walt Davis • 1 John 1:1–2, 1 John 2:12
Dear Saints!
I hope you are each doing well! We look forward to joining with you again this Sunday at Mosaic as I continue down this list I call “The Top 10 things everyone, ESPECIALLY CHRISTIANS, need to know about Christianity!” This Sunday we are looking at #8 and possibly one of the most important: "Jesus’ Death cleansed us Once and For all, not over and over." 1 John 1:1-2;2:12.
For the first 33 years of my life, I thought that God would forgive my sins one by one as I asked Him to -- daily, weekly, or whenever. I was taught things like: “Bring your sins before the Mercy Seat each day for forgiveness so that you don’t face them at the Judgment Seat one day,” or “to be a good Christian, you must keep short sin accounts with God.” I’m sure you have heard something like this. You, like me for 33 years, may have even subscribed to this idea of God still holding your sins against you until you ask Him not to anymore. In fact, most Christians live their entire lives with this thinking that they are dirty then clean then dirty then clean over and over and over.
What is the truth? The truth might surprise you! The truth is that the Good News really is good news! We will see this Sunday that Jesus’ Death cleansed us once and for all, not over and over.
Hope to see you Sunday!
Walt Davis
What He's Done TO Us!
February 12, 2023 • Walt Davis
Dear Saints!
What an incredible testimony to God's grace Ben shared last week. I was extremely touched and encouraged by it. This Sunday we are continuing our series of messages "The Top 10 things everyone, ESPECIALLY CHRISTIANS, should know about Christianity!" If you have missed #s 10, 9, & 8, let me encourage you to https://api.fluro.io/correspondence/63e712d45300d400248ce71e/clickthrough/https://subsplash.com/mosaicva/media/ms/+pqrppwx. This week is another big one! "#7 - Jesus didn’t just do something FOR you, He did something TO you!"
You see all believers believe that Jesus did something wonderful FOR us, and He did! He lived a perfect sinless life FOR us. He died on a Roman cross FOR us. He took our penalty FOR us. He was raised from the dead FOR us, and so on. Yes, He did and we celebrate this! But He didn’t just do something FOR us. He has done something TO us!
If you have come to faith in Jesus, Jesus has done something radical TO you. He KILLED you—the old you. He BURIED you—the old you. He RAISED you up—the new you. He has JOINED you to Him. He has SEATED you with Him in the Heavenly Realm. Do you know what He’s done TO YOU?
I hope you see you Sunday. So often in this life we mourn and lament the things that other do TO us. This world throws all sorts of terrible things our way. Let’s pause this Sunday and celebrate what Jesus has done TO you!
Hope to see you then!
Walt Davis
Jesus is Our Life
February 19, 2023 • Walt Davis • Colossians 3:4
Dear Holy Ones,
Hopefully our time going through this list of “The Top 10 Things Everyone, Especially Christians, need to know about Christianity” has been fruitful, meaningful, and encouraging. So much of what we are seeing is so foundational but oddly enough, it just isn’t talked about much if at all. If you’ve missed any of the first four messages, let me encourage you to https://subsplash.com/mosaicva/media/ms/+pqrppwx to check them out!
This week we are on #6 - Jesus isn’t a priority in your life. He is your life! I’m sure you have heard and tried to implement the idea that Jesus is to be the #1 priority of your life, then #2 is your family, then #3 is your job and so on. And so we spend so much time, energy, and effort striving to put Jesus #1 in our life. Everything becomes in competition with Jesus. Family competes with Jesus—am I spending too much time with my family and not enough with Jesus? Our jobs compete with Jesus—are we spending too much time at work and not enough with Jesus?
Is this the way it’s supposed to work where Jesus is in competition with our families, our careers, our hobbies, etc? What if the reality is much, much better? What if, instead of Jesus competing for #1 priority in our life, Jesus is our life?
This is exactly what Paul wrote in Colossians 3:4. He says Jesus is our life. But what does that look like for Jesus to be our life? What does that mean for Jesus to be our life? We’ll dive into this on Sunday at Mosaic, but let me tease you by saying it’s a whole lot better than living with Jesus in competition with our family, careers, and hobbies!
I really hope you’ll be able to join us!
Walt Davis
Jesus is Grace Personified
March 12, 2023 • Walt Davis
Dear Holy Ones of the Most High!
We can’t wait to celebrate the risen Messiah with you on Sunday. We will continue our journey through the “10 things everyone, ESPECIALLY CHRISTIANS, need to know about Christianity.” This week we’ll be talking about “Grace isn’t God’s soft side. Jesus is Grace personified.”
You see, far too often, when people, even believers, hear the truth about the Grace of God, they like it for a while but then look for something “more,” something “else,” something “bigger,” something “harder.” Their thinking is that the grace of God is great, but it’s the milk -- the easy stuff -- and there has got to be more than just milk… there has to be meat and potatoes! So if grace is the easy milk, then what is the difficult meat and potatoes? Typically, they look to the commands, the rules, the do’s and don’ts found in the bible as the real meat and potatoes of Christianity. Grace is God’s easy side to get them in the door, but it’s the Law, the rules, the commands that keep them in the door.
So which is it? Is there something greater than Grace? Is there something beyond Grace that we are to graduate to? Does Grace get us in the door and then we have to move on to other things, more meaningful and fruitful things? Join us Sunday as we’ll see the REALITY!
Hope to see you Sunday at Mosaic!
Walt Davis
Living FOR Him vs Living FROM Him
April 16, 2023 • Walt Davis
Dear Holy Ones of the Most High!
We are excited to be back with you this Sunday. I was so excited to hear Brian share last week. What an amazing job he did! This Sunday we get back to our “10 things everyone, ESPECIALLY CHRISTIANS, needs to know about Christianity!” We are on "#4 We are sons, not slaves!” Most of us reading that are likely shaking our heads in agreement, but here’s the deal. Do you find yourself living your life FOR God, or do you find yourself living your life FROM God?
Generally speaking, living FOR God sounds wonderful but can insinuate a daily struggle and strife of trying your best do serve God as best as you can, living as committed as you can, and using all the strength you possess to do great and wonderful acts of ministry for God. But what is the source of this work? You see when we focus our lives as living FOR God, we may be living more as slaves than sons.
Sonship is different. As sons of the Most High, having been born of His Spirit and now partakers of His Divine Nature, we live not FOR God, but FROM Him. He is our source. He is our strength. He is our energy. He is our comfort. He is our delight. He is our everything. We live in this world FROM Him not FOR Him.
Maybe you have experienced the same “burn out” in life that so many have described in Christianity. If you have spent any time trying to serve out of your own strength, you will and should "burn out.” But what if you choose to see the reality—that you are inseparably fused to the GREAT I AM and He is your source for all things. He is the Christian Life already in you living and you simply live now FROM Him? See the difference! One is labor. The other is Rest.
Let us enter His REST as his SONS and DAUGHTERS.
Hope to see you Sunday,
Walt Davis
Just How Good We Are
May 14, 2023 • Walt Davis
Dear Holy Ones of the Most High,
We very much look forward to celebrating the risen Jesus with you this Mother’s Day Sunday! While I’ve never been a mother, I have had front row seats to watch two incredible women be incredible mothers—my mom and my wife. I’ve seen their sacrifice, patience, long suffering, tears, joy, sorrow, and celebration. My observation is that Motherhood is extremely rewarding at times but extremely hard at times, too.
Here is the trick of the enemy: during those hard times, he says things to you like, “You’ll never be a good enough mom.” With this seed of doubt, anxiety and depression become commonplace in our culture. This isn’t limited to mothers! No matter who you are, the enemy is constantly trying to get us to think we simply don’t measure up and we won’t ever measure up. His desire is for us to just throw in the towel and forsake everything that Jesus has done for us and to us.
Have you been there? Do you wrestle with the constant doubt that you’re good enough—a good enough mom, a good enough wife, a good enough daughter, a good enough husband, dad, friend, etc. etc? Of course you have. We all have. I hope you will join us this Sunday as we take a few minutes to listen to what the Father Himself has to say about us and just how good we now are as born again believers. The truth of what He says about our new life in Him is eternally better than what the enemy seeks to tell us about ourselves.
So here’s the question—who are you going to listen to?
Hope to see you Sunday!
Walt Davis
What is the Point of the Old Testament?
June 18, 2023 • Walt Davis
Dear Holy Ones of the Most High!
We are so excited to be back at Mosaic this Sunday on Father’s Day! We are nearing the end of our list of “The Top 10 Things Everyone Needs to Know, Especially Christians, about Christianity!” This week is #2 — “The Old Testament isn’t a collection of moralistic stories, but the revelation of Jesus’ Glory!”
Let’s face it, most of us have been taught certain select stories from the Old Testament and we have been taught to do our best to be like the good guy in the story and not be like the bad guy. "Be courageous like David! Fight your giants!” "Be righteous and upright like Noah!“ "Never waiver in your faith like Abraham!” Are we to read these historic accounts and try our best to be like the people in them? Maybe, but think about David’s courage. Didn’t he fearfully murder the husband of his lover, Bathsheba, because he was too scared for everyone to find out she’s carrying his baby? Think about righteous and upright like Noah. Didn’t Noah get slam drunk after the flood and lie around naked which ended up cursing some of his offspring? Never waiver in your faith like Abraham. Didn’t Abraham have sex with his wife’s servant because he didn’t think that God’s promise of a child through his wife would happen?
So maybe the point of the Old Testament isn’t just moralistic stories for us to mold our lives after. If that’s true, then what is the point? What is the whole purpose of the Old Testament? Well, we’re going to try to start answering that question this Sunday. Here’s a hint of what we’ll see. While the name “Jesus” doesn’t appear in the Old Testament, every last bit of it is about HIM! If we want to get to know Jesus, then we have to get to know the Old Testament because it isn’t a collection of moralistic stories but the revelation of Jesus’ Glory!
Hope to see you Sunday!
Walt Davis
God, What is Your Will for My Life?
July 23, 2023 • Walt Davis
Dear Holy Ones of the Most High!
This Sunday, we're going to wrap up this top 10 list with the #1 thing I wish everyone, especially Christians, knew about Christianity, and it has to do with GOD's Will! Specifically, what is God's will for your life?
Who of us has not wrestled with what God's will for our life is? Maybe it was when you were younger and you were trying to figure out what college to attend. Should I go to state school? To the Christian school? To the community college? No college? Trade school? GOD, WHAT IS YOUR WILL FOR MY LIFE?
Maybe it was when you were looking for a job! Should I go into this field? Should I work for that company? Should I try to go self-employed? GOD, WHAT IS YOUR WILL FOR MY LIFE?
Maybe it was which car or house to buy! Should I get a gas friendly car? Should I get a minivan? Should I get a customer friendly car? Should we buy the red house or the blue house? Should we live in this town and commute or be closer to work and live in the city? GOD, WHAT IS YOUR WILL FOR MY LIFE?
Should I go to this church, to that church? Should we have more kids… less kids? GOD, WHAT IS YOUR WILL FOR MY LIFE?
There are a million and one potential choices to make in life, and we truly desire to know what God's will for our lives is, don't we? What if we pick something that isn't His will? What if we pick the blue house, but His will is the red house? Are we now living outside of His will until we move?
GOD, WHAT IS YOUR WILL FOR MY LIFE?
I truly hope you join us this Sunday at Mosaic as we dive into this all too important question and discover the #1 thing I wish everyone, especially Christians, knew about Christianity—God's will for you is to be ONE with Him!
I hope to see you Sunday!
Walt Davis
