Reality Boston

Where is Jesus? After His victorious resurrection and appearances to His earliest followers, Jesus up and disappeared. Literally. Forty days after Easter, Jesus ascended into heaven leaving His followers to live in a difficult tension. While He promised to be with us until the end of the age, He is also in a very real way absent. Together, we'll explore why Jesus' ascension is more than just a historic occasion, a miraculous event, or a doctrinal curiosity. It's actually good news with massive implications for apprentices of Jesus today.

The longer you live, the more uncertain life seems. From Romans 8:28-29, Al Abdulla explores why scripture says followers of Jesus can face their past, present and future with strong confidence.

Jason Hood shares with us from one of the great chapters in the Bible, Romans 8. Paul shows us what we receive from the Spirit: new life in sanctification, adoption, suffering, glory, and patience.

How does real Change happen in a believers life? How do we live free of sin’s enslavement? Many Christians try to control themselves with law centered mini-sermons. But is that what God has in mind for lasting transformation? From Romans 8:12-16, 26-27, Al Abdulla explores the role of the Spirit in our transformation and why delight must always precede discipline in transformation.

Shame has become an epidemic in our modern culture. Social media allows us to see the cropped lives we should be living, and aren’t. So we hide—from others, from ourselves, and from God. From Romans 8:1-11, Al Abdulla explores why Life in Christ rids us of our shame and while also giving us the power to overcome sin.

Do you feel the tension that comes when shedding off your old self and living into the freedom Jesus offers? From Romans 7:1-9 and 18-25, Rashad Clemons speaks truth into the honest struggle to live a Christian life and our longing for ultimate detention and renewal.

How do you find true freedom and transformation as a follower of Jesus? From Romans 6:1-7; 11-18, Al Abdulla explores why the Christian Doctrine of Union with Christ is key to finding our true selves leading to the freedom and lasting change that we long for.

Older generations were largely taught to distrust their emotions. Younger generations are taught to follow their emotions. Since we are made in God’s image, we are therefore emotional because God is emotional (Look at Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane). But what part do emotions play in our motivations and life decisions? From various Proverbs, and from Matthew 26:36-39, Al Abdulla explores the wisdom we all need to deal with the complex feelings of our psychological life.

Wisdom is the key to living life rightly— rightly ordered lives. Wisdom is the Path of the Good Life. From Proverbs 5, Dave Lomas explores what sexuality actually means, and what God’s good intentions are for all of us.

Communication is a large subject in the book of Proverbs. Since life and death are in the power of words. The proper use and reception of words was critically important to the sages. From Proverb 26:17-28, Al Abdulla explores how our words can be healed so that our speech is healing to others.

A life well-lived is a life of deep listening. God invites us to step out of the center of our own lives and swear off self-sufficiency so that we can make space for deep friendship and love of neighbor.

From Proverbs 3:9-10; 30:7-9, Al Abdulla shows how Money is far more than the ability to buy things and create experiences. Money holds a spiritual power in our lives. In order for money to remain a blessing and not a curse, we need wisdom to know how to steward money well in God’s world.

In ancient cultures, a city with a broken down wall was in danger of being ruled by the enemy. Proverbs likens a person who lacks self-control to a city with broken down walls. From Proverbs 18:10; 23:19-21; 25:28, and Titus 2:11-14, we learn about the importance of self-control, the problem behind it, and how to practice it.

The Bible gives us a glorious vision of work- to cultivate the world. Yet ever since the Fall, our work has been cursed and we struggle to find meaning. The Proverbs teach us to avoid paths of sloth and pride in our work and find deep joy in being wise sons and daughters, working with God in the renewal of all things.

At the core of what it means to be wise is a concern for social justice. You aren’t wise unless you are living a life passionately committed to justice.

Our future is made or lost on the basis of choices. But with so many options in the modern world, how do we know what God would have us choose? From Proverbs 4, 16,19 and 21 Al Abdulla explores what it means to apply wisdom to our decisions.

Wisdom is proficiency in choosing the right paths when right and wrong isn’t the issue. To become proficient in wisdom we must train in wisdom. From Proverbs 3:1-12, Al Abdulla explores what the good life looks like and the path we take to get there.

Should I take this job? Marry this person? Make this move? Go to this school? Lease or buy? Stay or leave? There are so many decisions that the Bible doesn’t explicitly address. How can we know what to do? From Proverbs 1, Al Abdulla addresses what it means to fear God, and walk in his wisdom.

Research shows that new year resolutions fail because they’re rooted in intention and not identity. From Luke 4:1-2, 13. Al Abdulla shows that when Jesus faces the wilderness temptations, the basis of his victory is his God-given identity. But, no sooner than Jesus receives perfect love from the Father, does the enemy pervert that love with lies about God, himself and others. In this talk we learn the three ways to defeat those lies and find victory in our identity.

At the start of Epiphany, we explore the story of Christ being revealed to the world from Matthew 2:1-11. From this passage, we lean into what it might mean to lay down our expectations and fears, and practice the permanence (faithful presence) of God.