Colossians Pt. 2 // Four Marks of a Jesus-Centered Church // Ryan Patrick Murphy

This week, Ryan Patrick Murphy shares a message from Exodus 40 and Joshua 3 titled "The Culture of the Presence," continuing the church's series People of the Presence. On the occasion of the church's sixth anniversary, Ryan traces how the Israelites followed God's glory out of the wilderness and into the promised land, and asks what it looks like for the church today to carry that same presence into the city of Boston.Ryan walks through Exodus 40, where the glory of the Lord fills the tabernacle and the Israelites learn to follow the cloud by day and fire by night, and into Joshua 3, where that same presence leads them across the Jordan into land they have never walked before. From there he builds out three marks of a people who carry God's presence: they are followed, learning to discern the Spirit's leading rather than defaulting to human reasoning, even when that leading costs comfort and convenience; they are formed, pursuing holiness and guarding their words and relationships so as not to grieve the Holy Spirit; and they are filled, receiving the same outpouring described in Acts 1 and 2 and 1 Corinthians 14. Ryan closes with his own testimony of receiving the gift of tongues as a teenager, framing it as evidence of a Father eager to give good gifts to his children.The theological anchor running through the message is that the presence of God, once confined to a tabernacle and later a temple, now dwells inside every believer through the Holy Spirit. What Israel followed as a cloud in the wilderness, the church now carries as a person, meaning ordinary believers become, in Ryan's words, walking carriers of God's glory into their campuses, neighborhoods, and workplaces.Ultimately, this sermon is an invitation to stop settling for cozy, comfortable faith and to ask God for a fresh filling, whatever form that takes. As the church continues to follow, be formed, and be filled, Ryan casts a vision for revival breaking out across Boston, one life at a time.This week, Ryan Patrick Murphy continues our series "People of the Presence"

This week, Ryan Patrick Murphy shares a message from Exodus 24:15–25:40 titled "People of the Presence." Walking through Moses' ascent up Mount Sinai and God's detailed instructions for building the tabernacle, Ryan unpacks what it means for a church to actually host the presence of God rather than simply gather for an event.Ryan works through three key pieces of the tabernacle's furniture, drawing out present-day application for each. The Ark of the Covenant, God's royal seat at the center of the tent, reveals that God's heart has always been to dwell close to His people rather than remain distant — and it points the church toward submission to Scripture and ongoing communion with God, "like a person speaks to a friend." The lampstand, shaped like a tree and tied to the Garden of Eden and the tree of life in Revelation, reframes the church's call to be a light to the nations rather than a people who consume God's presence for private satisfaction. The table of the bread of the presence points to God as the only true satisfaction for the human heart, with Ryan sharing candidly from his own story about mistaking community and relationships for what only God can supply. Along the way, he calls the church to let go of shame, unbelief, and skepticism in order to step more fully into this way of life.At the center of the message is the conviction that holiness and freedom are not opposites — God sets His people free specifically so they can worship Him, and the tabernacle's layout, as Hebrews confirms, is not a relic but a prophetic picture of the New Testament reality that Jesus makes available to every believer. Because the veil has been torn, communion with God is no longer mediated through a priest or a building; every follower of Jesus now carries what Ryan calls a "tabernacle mindset," able to access God's presence anywhere, at any time.Ultimately, this sermon is an invitation to trade a small, event-based faith for a life fully oriented around God's presence — reading Scripture expecting to meet Him there, releasing shame at the foot of the cross, and carrying His presence into workplaces, campuses, and neighborhoods across the city. As the church leans into this identity, Ryan casts a vision far bigger than a single gathering: a community caught up in God's plan to cover the whole earth with His glory, starting right where they are.This week, Ryan starts our series on "People of the Presence"

This week, Ryan Patrick Murphy shares a message from Galatians 6:7–9 titled "Don't Give Up Before the Harvest." Using the biblical metaphor of sowing and reaping, Ryan unpacks what it looks like to partner with God for breakthrough rather than waiting passively for a "lightning zap from heaven."Ryan walks through five principles drawn from the text: the law of sowing and reaping works because of who God is, not because of our effort or performance; everything in the Kingdom starts small, like a redwood seed or the eight people who first gathered to plant the church; a seed is worthless unless it's planted and watered, meaning dreams require participation, not just waiting; you reap what you sow, so planting bitterness, gossip, or fear yields more of the same, while planting love, joy, and gratitude produces a harvest of the same; and finally, that there's a real delay — a "summer" of watering and tending — between planting and harvest that demands grit rather than giving up at the first sign of difficulty. He then names five practical seeds believers can sow: finances, words, prayer, service, and tears, each illustrated with personal stories and testimonies from the church's history.At the center of the message is the conviction that sowing and reaping is anchored in the nature and character of God — He is a good provider and a good Father, not a distant force to be managed through effort or earned through performance. Ryan pairs this with a theology of redemptive suffering: because Jesus's own suffering was not the end of His story, our tears and hardship are never wasted either, but are transformed into the seeds of a coming harvest.Ultimately, this sermon is an invitation to keep sowing — in prayer, in community, in generosity, in the words we speak — even when the ground feels hard and the harvest feels far off. Ryan calls the church to trade discouragement for grit, believing that God is faithful to bring a harvest to those who don't give up in seasons of small beginnings and slow growth.

This week, Ryan Patrick Murphy closes out the church's series on Colossians with a message from Colossians 3:18–4:18 titled "Joining the Mission." Continuing our study on the marks of a Jesus-centered church, Ryan lands on the final mark: a church centered on Jesus joins the mission of Jesus — not just through evangelism, but through every ordinary corner of life.Ryan walks through Paul's household instructions verse by verse, reframing them as an invitation rather than a rulebook. In marriage, he unpacks an egalitarian reading rooted in Genesis, arguing that marriage is meant to prophesy mutual co-reigning between husband and wife, not hierarchy — while also honoring Paul's high view of singleness as its own prophetic witness to a satisfied life in God. He then turns to parenting as training kids to steward authority well, to work as an act of worship where the kingdom breaks in through ordinary jobs rather than only "paid ministry," and to Paul's language about slaves and masters, which he contextualizes historically through the story of Onesimus and Philemon — showing how the gospel changes social status from the inside out. He closes with charges toward prayer, speech about the city, time management, and relationships, tying each back to the same mission.The sermon's theological anchor is the idea, borrowed from Christopher J.H. Wright, that "the church doesn't have a mission — the mission has a church." In other words, God is already at work redeeming and restoring the world, and the local church doesn't manufacture that mission but joins one already in motion. Ryan uses this to reframe everyday relationships and responsibilities — marriage, parenting, work, prayer, speech — as places where heaven is actively breaking into the city of Boston, not just personal disciplines to manage.Ultimately, this message is an invitation to stop compartmentalizing faith from daily life and to see marriages, jobs, parenting rhythms, and even small talk as places where God's kingdom is already advancing. Ryan calls the church to become a "signpost" of heaven in Boston — praying for open doors, speaking hope over the city, and building the culture of heaven wherever they are sent. As the series closes, the charge is forward-looking: this community, hosting God's presence, preaching the gospel, growing in maturity, and now joining the mission, is being sent — not just gathered.

This week, Jordan Verner, guest speaker from River House in Boise, Idaho, shares a message from Acts 1:1–8. Jordan invites the church to see their own seasons of confusion and loss through the lens of a faith that trusts God even when His promises appear to be unraveling.Jordan opens by unpacking Luke's claim that the book of Acts records what Jesus is still doing and teaching through His church, then names a pattern he sees throughout Scripture: the continuing work of God's kingdom is often hidden beneath what looks like discontinuity, death, and loss. He illustrates this with the image of a caterpillar dissolving inside a chrysalis, tracing it through Abraham's ascent up the mountain with Isaac, Joseph's descent into the pit and prison, and the disciples' bewilderment as Jesus left them. Jordan contrasts the popular "escalator" picture of Christian growth with a spiral staircase, where believers keep circling back to old wounds and old themes, but each time from a higher vantage point of humility and intimacy with God. He grounds this in his own testimony, describing a season of depression and demonic oppression at seventeen, a prophetic word that carried him through it, and a return to similar struggles of pride and insecurity twelve years later, now met with far greater depth.The sermon's anchor is this: the continuity of God's kingdom work is hidden beneath the discontinuity of death and resurrection. Put simply, what feels to us like the death of a promise is frequently the very place where God is forming something new. Jordan calls this the "shape of the gospel," reenacted again and again in ordinary places like marriage, parenting, and even a conversation about a child's piggy bank.Jordan's invitation is to stop asking caterpillar questions and start trusting the Father building wings. Jesus, he reminds the church, has already gone into the chrysalis ahead of us as a guide who knows the way through, not around, suffering. As the message closes in prayer and ministry time, Jordan calls those in their own dark season to bring their weakness and need honestly before God, trusting that He will carry them through into a fruitfulness they cannot yet imagine.

This week, Katia Adams shares a message from Genesis 26 titled "Faith on Repeat." Walking through the life of Isaac, Katia unpacks why his story so closely echoes his father Abraham's, and what that repetition has to teach us about the shape faith takes over a lifetime.Katia traces Isaac's story through four recurring movements: famine, fear, favor, and frustration. In famine, Isaac is instructed not to flee to Egypt as Abraham once did, but to stay and plant seed, reaping a hundredfold in the very land of scarcity. In fear, Isaac is caught off guard and echoes his father's lie about Rebecca being his sister, revealing how pressure exposes what's already inside us rather than creating something new. In favor, Isaac grows wealthy and is envied by the Philistines, illustrating Katia's central point that favor increases complexity rather than removing it. In frustration, Isaac digs well after well, some blocked and some contested, and keeps digging anyway, because the promise is worth the repetition. Katia weaves in her own stories, from planting a church during COVID to a moment of being caught off guard by anger with her husband, to show these patterns aren't ancient history but present reality.The sermon's theological anchor is that faith is not a single event but a muscle built through repetition, and Jesus himself walked this same cycle of famine, fear, favor, and frustration with perfect faith. Katia points to Galatians 2:20, clarifying that it is not merely our own faith in Jesus but Jesus' own faith now living in and empowering us. In other words, the pattern we see in Isaac and ultimately fulfilled in Christ is not proof that God is distant or repetitive for its own sake, but that he is training a people who can walk in famine without panic, in fear without shame, in favor without ease, and in frustration without giving up.Ultimately, this sermon is an invitation to stop waiting for a future "one day" when life will finally be easy, and to recognize this famine, this fear, this ordinary Monday as the main event. Katia calls the church to grow the muscle of faith on repeat, not by white-knuckling through in our own strength, but by inviting the same Spirit that empowered Jesus to empower how we live and believe, so that the Kingdom of God would come near in this city, one contended-for well at a time.

This week, Ryan Patrick Murphy shares a message from Colossians 3:1–17 titled "Revelation, Relationship, Transformation." As part of the Colossians series on becoming a Jesus-centered church, Ryan unpacks the third mark of that kind of church: a community that grows into the maturity of Jesus.Ryan roots the whole message in Paul's opening move, that our transformation flows from a new identity in Christ rather than toward one. From there he walks through Paul's two "put to death" lists, sins of the body and sins of speech, before addressing the harder line about God's wrath, reading it through the lens of the second coming as a wedding feast where every wrong thing gets made right. He then turns to Paul's "put on" list: compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, along with forgiveness and love, and closes on Paul's charge to let the peace of Christ rule in our hearts.The theological anchor Ryan returns to again and again is a simple three-step process for how people actually change: revelation of who Jesus is, real relationship in community where that revelation gets tested, and only then, transformation of action. In other words, growth doesn't happen by absorbing information alone. It happens in the mess of real relationships, which is exactly where a lot of us would rather not do our growing.Ultimately, this is an invitation to stop performing spiritual maturity and start letting Jesus reshape how we actually treat the people in front of us, our spouses, our roommates, our church family. As we let go of the identity our sin tries to hand us and lean into the one Christ has already given us, we become a community that hosts God's presence not by singing louder, but by loving better.

This week, Ryan Patrick Murphy continues the Table Boston's Colossians series with a message from Colossians 1:24–2:23 titled "Jesus Alone." Building on the previous week's teaching, Ryan unpacks what it means for a local church to be truly Jesus-centered — hosting his presence, proclaiming his message, growing into his maturity, and joining his mission.Ryan opens by revisiting Paul's declaration that "Christ in you" — the church, plural — is the hope of glory, arguing that the local church is God's primary vehicle for redeeming and restoring the world. He walks through Paul's temple language in Colossians, showing how the fire that once rested on the Old Testament temple now rests on the gathered church, and how believers are called to belong, forgive, serve, and give as expressions of that reality. From there he moves into Paul's teaching on the "rulers and authorities," addressing the demonic and spiritual warfare with pastoral nuance — neither dismissing it as outdated nor treating every setback as demonic activity. The sermon's second half turns to circumcision as a first-century identity marker, using it to explain Paul's warning against "Jesus and" false gospels: Jesus and politics, Jesus and supernatural experience, Jesus and external security, and Jesus and personal autonomy.The sermon's theological anchor is captured in that recurring phrase, Jesus alone. Ryan's central claim is that nothing — not political affiliation, not spiritual experience, not financial security, not personal preference — can be added to Christ as proof of belonging to God. Colossians 2's warning against human tradition and "elemental spirits" becomes, in Ryan's hands, a mirror held up to modern substitutes for the gospel. In other words, the temptation to supplement Jesus with something else is not a first-century problem; it's a present one, and the cross alone remains sufficient.Ultimately, this message is an invitation to examine what we've quietly placed in the box marked "the thing that will save me" and to release it in exchange for Christ alone. Ryan calls the church to burn again with the same gospel fire that swept through the early believers in the upper room — not chasing a moralistic checklist, but rooted, built up, and established in a faith that needs nothing added to it. As the Colossians series continues, the invitation stands: to be a people who host his presence, preach his message, grow into his maturity, and go on his mission.

This week, Ryan Patrick Murphy shares a message from Colossians 1 titled "The Local Church: The Hope of the World," opening a new series through the book. Reading the chapter in full before unpacking it verse by verse, Ryan sets out to correct a common instinct — reading Paul's letters as private, individual messages — and instead frames Colossians as a letter written to a "you all," a local church learning to center itself on the person of Jesus.Ryan walks through Paul's opening moves as an apostolic father to the Colossian church: commending them for faith, hope, and love, then praying over them for the knowledge of God's will, spiritual wisdom, fruitful living, strength and patience, and joyful thanksgiving. From there he turns to Colossians 1:15–20, the early church's worship hymn about Christ as the image of the invisible God and head of the church, and traces what it means for Jesus to be reconciling "all things" — poverty, sickness, broken families, division — back to himself through the church rather than through politics, money, or influence. He closes on Colossians 1:27, "Christ in you, the hope of glory," reframing it away from private spirituality and toward the corporate presence of Jesus among a gathered people, weaving in personal stories from his family's move to Boston and his son's question about who in their life doesn't know Jesus yet.The sermon's theological anchor is that the local church, because Christ is its head, is God's primary strategy for putting the world back together — not a program or an event, but what Ryan calls "the vehicle of cosmic restoration." Every practice of a healthy church, from forgiveness to generosity to gathered worship, becomes a small enactment of heaven meeting earth, because Jesus has bound his own identity to his body.Ultimately, this message is an invitation to bring whatever has made church hard — wounds from leaders, cynicism about community, words spoken in bitterness — and lay it down in exchange for fresh hope. Ryan closes by praying for healing over past hurts, repentance for critical words spoken about the church, and a renewed belief that real community is still possible, inviting the congregation to see themselves not as spectators but as participants in Christ's ongoing work of making all things new.

This week, Bekah Sankey shares a message from Matthew 19:13–26 titled "Asking the Answer for the Answer." Working through the account of the rich young ruler, Bekah invites us into three places in the story that don't initially make sense, and shows how each one holds a hidden treasure about who Jesus really is.Bekah walks through the encounter in three movements. First, she notices that Jesus responds to the man's question about eternal life with a question about goodness instead, inviting us to question our own questions and notice what we're actually valuing when we bring something to God. Second, she unpacks why the man leaves "extremely sorrowful" after getting the very answer he asked for, tracing it back to a cultural misreading of Deuteronomy 28 where wealth had become flipped into evidence of righteousness rather than a byproduct of obedience. Losing his possessions meant losing his only measuring stick for whether God accepted him. Third, she turns to the disciples' bewildered response, "who then can be saved," and shows how their confusion makes sense once we see they, too, believed prosperity was a shoo-in for salvation. Bekah connects this to the story's bookends: children who bring nothing and are still welcomed into the kingdom, framing the whole passage as an upside-down exclamation point pointing toward grace.The sermon's theological anchor is that Jesus is not merely the teacher offering access to eternal life, righteousness, and treasure — he is those things himself. Drawing on Psalm 16 and the priestly inheritance in the Old Testament, Bekah shows that where others receive land, the priest receives the temple itself. In the same way, our portion isn't the job, the relationship, or the outcome we're chasing, but the presence of Jesus. What we're really asking the answer for, she says, is the answer.Ultimately, this message is an invitation to let God untie the belief systems we've built our security on, even the ones that have quietly shaped how we measure our own standing with him. Bekah calls us to stop striving for evidence of righteousness and instead receive the kingdom like children, coming again and again to ask for more of the one who is already the treasure we're searching for.