In wisdom and love, our Creator infused five senses into the human experience, one of which is called “touch.” We were made to touch and be touched in holy, warm, appropriate, affirming ways. To never touch or be touched is to lose something essential about being human. So, it’s no surprise that Christ touched people often. Or that when He healed a leprous man – a man would not have been touched by anyone in forever – He touched Him . This Sunday we’ll think on this beautiful story and it’s impo...
May 02, 2021•30 min
Salvation often looks something like this --> We are busy constructing a life for ourselves, and then Christ shows up in a crane and swings a wrecking ball through the whole enterprise. He does this in love, because He has something infinitely better in mind for us. It's a glorious imposition. This Sunday we'll see how Jesus did this with Simon Peter and, hopefully, with each of us. Reference: Luke 5
Apr 25, 2021•35 min
Dr. Luke gives us an important scene of Jesus’ ministry that helps to signify much about the forthcoming message & mission in the book. This charged and very memorable scene takes place none other than in Jesus’ hometown of Nazareth. The critical lesson for all of us is to guard ourselves from making this “hometown gospel mistake.”
Apr 11, 2021•32 min
Sara, Matt, and Michael talk about Easter weekend, gospel communities, childcare and a few other things to get you updated this month!
Mar 30, 2021•15 min
As Bostonians, we’ve been taught to establish our own identity. We proudly declare “I am” and fill in the blank as we see fit. But in the gospel life things work differently.We don’t establish our own identity. We receive it as God declares to us “You are.” This Sunday we hear the Father speaking those glorious words to the Son as Jesus steps into His redemptive mission through the water of John’s baptism.
Mar 28, 2021•35 min
In Luke 3 we see Jesus’s cousin, aka John the Baptizer, aka John the Forerunner, aka John the Way-Preparer, burst onto the scene. He’s a Prophet, the last of the older covenant. This means he is sharp. Intense. Unlikable. But he didn’t come to make friends. He came to ready people for Christ. How? Why? And what does that have to do with all-set Bostonians like you and me? In this sermon we’ll find out.
Mar 21, 2021•37 min
Unlike the silly apocryphal gospels with their many Marvel-esque legends about angsty superteen Jesus showing off His divine powers, Luke’s gospel gives us just one powerful but understated look at the person of Christ between the ages of 3 and 30. It’s a coming of age story, and by it we are all instructed in what it looks like to live with God (and the advance of His gospel) as the unrivaled driving-force in our lives.
Mar 14, 2021•40 min
Growing old is never easy and recognizing it can be even harder. We take a look at two older saints who testified and announced the birth of Jesus. From them we learn a bit more about Jesus’ life, and a bit more about what our aging years should look and sound like as we continue trusting God.
Mar 07, 2021•33 min
Sara, Matt, and Michael recorded a podcast episode to get you caught up on what's happening at Seven Mile Melrose. Listen to this 16 minute update for what to expect this March.
Mar 03, 2021•16 min
“When I was shipwrecked, I thought of you.” What a sacred thing it is to be the person that someone would say that about. This is who Elizabeth was for Mary. While not “shipwrecked” exactly, Mary’s life was suddenly spun upside down. Without hesitation, she hurries to be with her older cousin Elizabeth, who receives her with warmth, gladness, and encouragement. In this sermon we’ll hear their story and think on what it could like for us to build that kind of culture at Seven Mile Road. Luke 1:39...
Feb 28, 2021•36 min
Not the way you imagine. Not like anyone else. Not how a story usually starts. The unique life of Jesus, the God-man, has a unique beginning –a Virgin Birth. It is impossible, there is no denying it. Yet the angel Gabriel gives account explaining, “Nothing will be impossible with God.” This impossible beginning is necessary for all the possibilities that Jesus would bring to humanity. Join us this week as we look closely at the meaning of Jesus’ Virgin Birth for what it means for us. It is of gr...
Feb 21, 2021•39 min
As Luke’s gospel begins to unfold, a weathered priest and a betrothed teenager each receive a wild promise from the Lord about sons soon to be born into their lives. Both ask what seem like similar questions, but each receives a very different answer. In this sermon we’ll talk about why that is and what it means for how we are to respond to the promises of the gospel. Luke 1:5-38
Feb 14, 2021•41 min
In this sermon we begin a deep dive together into the breathtaking waters of Luke’s gospel. His narrative begins with one super long sentence meant to rope us right in. The Gospel is true - for real true - and there is a certainty the Spirit wants us to have about it. So He inspired the brilliant and beloved doctor (Luke) to write it all down for us.
Feb 07, 2021•37 min
Sara, Matt, and Michael get you caught up on what's happening this month at Seven Mile Melrose.
Feb 02, 2021•20 min
When Jesus' Apostle Paul was invited into a non-church space called the Areopagus, he quoted to his listeners from ... their pagan poetry books? Yes. This Sunday we'll talk from Acts 17 about one of the ways we are working to love and gospel locals from inside-out of the words of some of our culture's most famous novelists, singers, and screenwriters. Acts 17:16-31
Jan 31, 2021•33 min
As you know, we don’t “chase the headlines” in our preaching, but there are times when we do choose to preach from texts that speak directly to our cultural moment with gospel clarity. Four years ago, we took a Sunday to do this as a new president was assuming a four-year term in office. This Sunday, we will be doing that again. What would you say to a new president if you had a few minutes with him? And what would you say to Jesus' Church as she receives a new president? No one sermon can answe...
Jan 24, 2021•1 hr 17 min
In this sermon, we talked about the why ( and a little about the when! ) of Christian baptism, that glorious means of grace, given to us by Christ, by which we are welcomed into the family of God and the fellowship of the church. Whether baptism is on your radar or in your rearview, we are praying that this sermon will be a big help and encouragement. Colossians 2:12
Jan 17, 2021•43 min
All across the world, every week, on the first day of the week, Christians gather together in public to do the work of worship. And for the last 9 months many have lamented being kept from doing that by the COVID-19 pandemic. Why do we love to gather? Why do we hate not being able to? This Sunday we'll allow the words of Scripture to give us the big why of public worship. Hebrews 10:24-25
Jan 10, 2021•44 min
Sara, Matt, and Michael recorded a quick conversation to help catch you up on the new year and the new month at Seven Mile Road Melrose.
Jan 06, 2021•20 min
One of our dreams at Seven Mile Road is that we would live together in "supertight community." One of the threats to that "supertightness" is the temptation to look at others in the body and be like, "Eh. We don't need you." or "We'd be just fine if you weren't around." This Sunday we'll mine the poisonous root of that sentiment and consider ways to dig it out of our life together in 2021. I Corinthians 12:14-26
Jan 03, 2021•40 min
A quick 10 minute conversation with Michael Prevett as he moves into a more pronounced way of serving Seven Mile Road.
Dec 22, 2020•10 min
The author of the book of Ruth finishes his love story with a ... genealogy? Yes! Rather than words to be glossed over, the genealogies in Scripture are reminders that God accomplishes HIs purposes over time through real people. So Ruth ends as the Gospels begin ... with a list of names that tell a gospel story.
Dec 20, 2020•29 min
In one sense, we are to have one Hero: Christ with no rivals. In another sense, we are to have many heroes and heroines … and Ruth is one of them. She is called a “worthy woman” who was “worth more than seven sons.” This Sunday we’ll see what made this statement so beautifully true and consider how Ruth’s life shapes our vision for the women God has given us at Seven Mile Road.
Dec 13, 2020•34 min
Matt and Michael sit down to talk about an upcoming book club for anyone interested that will start up in January. Listen to hear about the whys and the whats of this book club.
Dec 11, 2020•13 min
Yes, it’s true: due to Sin/sin*, this life is filled with pain and suffering. And yet … it’s also filled with grace. This Sunday we arrive at the end of Ruth’s love story, and we are bombarded with grace after unexpected grace. I mean, how many happy endings can a single love story have? This one sets the record! And in all of them, we’ll get a window into the heart of God for His children. * By “capital-S” Sin we mean to the original sin that marks our race and dropped a curse on our experience...
Dec 06, 2020•37 min
Instead of a typical sermon, in this special we hear from some Seven Milers. Each year on the Sunday after Thanksgiving we pause to reflect and share about God's recent graces in the lives of Seven Milers. This year we tie things directly to the big gospel truths we've been discovering in the book of Ruth and hear from some of you how those truths have landed on your soul recently.
Nov 29, 2020•39 min
One of our dreams is that Seven Mile Road would be jam-packed with strong men who care and contend for the women in their lives. Boaz was such a man. Ruth knew she would be safe coming “under his wings.” Naomi knew, instinctively, that he would take bold, selfless, decisive action when given the opportunity. Woah. In this sermon we focus in on what it takes to be this kind of man.
Nov 22, 2020•41 min
As Christians, we are called to pursue gospel ends by gospel means, entrusting ourselves fully to God not only in what we are going for but in how we get there. This Sunday we’ll see our father-in-the-faith Boaz do just this. In love, He entrusts himself and his future to God, not only by committing himself to the costly redemption of Ruth, but by refusing to sinfully usurp the right of the first redeemer on his way there. In doing so he typifies Christ, who took no shortcuts in His redemption o...
Nov 15, 2020•36 min
We said that the book of Ruth is a love story … but not the kind you’d expect! It begins with the love of a daughter-in-law for her mother-in-law (surprise!). Then we are caught off guard again as we realize that Boaz and Ruth’s marriage is about more being in love: it’s about a bigger, deeper mission that God is accomplishing through them for the good of others, not just for themselves. In this sermon we’ll see this beautiful reality unfold and consider how all marriages are meant to work this ...
Nov 08, 2020•45 min
This month Pastor Matt had a special opportunity to sit down with not one but two Katies! Katie Barker and Katie Ryou give an update on this fall's Kalos Team initiative. Some of the newest married women that are a part of the life of Seven Mile Road are participating in a newly-married-women's-intensive. Listen for a glimpse into what is happening in that intensive and how the Spirit is working through it.
Nov 04, 2020•17 min
