Seven Mile Road

We live in a post-Christian context, so we are neither surprised nor thrilled when we see Jesus moving toward those who are hurting with compassion." He's Jesus, That's what He does, right?" But this is not how it had to be. This Sunday we are (hopefully!) going to be surprised and thrilled as we see Christ - moved with compassion - give a grieving widow her son back.

This Sunday we jump back into Luke's gospel. At the start of chapter seven, Christ is caught happily off guard at the insight that a most unlikely character (Roman military) has into His person and work ... an insight that only a man humbly oriented to the reality of authority in this world could have. May we share it. Luke 7:1-10  

Matt and Sara give a quick update on some changes to viewing our Sunday services online. 

This Sunday we welcome 6 new sons and daughters into the life of Seven Mile Road. In the coming years, these boys and girls are going to bring us joy in so many ways. But they are also going to disappoint and hurt us, sometimes deeply. How does a gospel-centered father or mother respond when their kids hurt them? For that matter, how does any of us respond when we are hurt by those in our marriage...

According to the gospels, whenever Christ preached, he would end his sermons with a bang: an urgent and direct call to action. This is because His listeners (then now) tend to hear His words and nod their heads ... but not do much about them. But that's not how the gospel life works. The gospel life is never one of merely paying Christ lip service, but of evidencing our faith with actual obed...

Jesus looked at his disciples and told them the way God’s world works: the poor are the blessed ones, the rich are the distressed ones. It seems upside down or backwards to conventional wisdom but it’s true, God has good news for the poor and words of warning for the rich. We are located in an affluent time and place, how do Jesus’ words apply? Are we poor or rich? Sunday we get to wrestle with th...

“Do Not Judge” are some words from Jesus that most everyone can get behind in this cultural moment. The basis of these words though go to root of the gospel and the reason the God-man, King Jesus instructs His followers to live this way. This Sunday we’ll explore the contours of this text in Luke and talk about how we put this into practice as followers of Jesus. Reference: Luke 6:37-42

Up until this point Luke 6, we haven’t heard Jesus tell us what his disciples do. In this week’s passage, we will explore how Jesus tells his disciples to engage “Them”. Jesus’ people love their enemies & actively choose to do good to them. This is not our default, but has deep implications for how we posture ourselves to outsiders.

15 months ago COVID-19 hit. Everyone on earth's plans got wiped out overnight. Including ours. And there was nothing we could do about it. This happens often in life. When it does, God is in it. This Sunday - the last of this crazy church year together - we learn how. James 4:13-16

Sometimes an up close photo can capture the true quality or personality of a friend or loved one. The photo, in an instant, depicts so much of what we’ve come to know to be true about a person over years of their life. Luke gives us an insta glimpse of the twelve disciples, but this informs us not only on what they were like, but also what is true of all disciples of Jesus for centuries after.

Seven Mile Road exists to see every Bostonian Jesus gives us loved and gospeled well. One thing this requires is - whether by office, by circumstance, or by natural gifting - leaders leading well. So over the years we have tried to build a gospel-shaped leadership culture at Seven Mile Road. This Sunday morning we are going to consider the roots in which strong gospel leadership grows. The Word: 2...

There is a lot of info to keep you informed this month! Listen as Matt, Michael, and Sara get you updated on what to expect at Seven Mile Melrose in the coming weeks. Click below to listen.

Every one of us is, to some degree, a creature of habit. When we find something that works for us, we stick with it. This is not necessarily a bad thing, as long as it doesn’t mean we are no longer open to embracing change for the sake of gospel advance. A gospel-shaped heart is always at the ready for a fresh work of the Spirit, and is willing to flex to be a part of it. This Sunday Jesus presses...

An unlikely title? There is a sense in which all of us are unlikely to be following Jesus, and any who are outside of Christ can seem so distant. We see in the Luke’s gospel this week the way Jesus moves toward the unlikely and the truth that gives hope for everyone. As followers of Jesus, we are sent to similar unlikely people, and we can follow Jesus in the ways we love & gospel folks howeve...

Every story Luke gives us is like the richest, heaviest little piece of fudge you ever ate. How could so much (gospel) goodness be jammed into something so small? This week is no different. Four friends hustle to get their paralyzed fifth before Jesus. How Jesus responds sends shockwaves through the room. Jesus drives through the physical to the spiritual, making a provocative statement about who...

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 b...

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. R...

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.”

Sara, Matt, and Michael talk about Easter weekend, gospel communities, childcare and a few other things to get you updated this month!

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’...

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...

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 dri...

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.

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.