Element Christian Church

Today in our Reason for God series we are talking about the biblical concept of a place called Hell. In the book, Keller will talk a lot about how the doctrine of Hell isn’t as bizarre as modern hearers think, it’s actually not only practical, but logical. Where divine judgement for our culture is one of Christianity’s most offensive doctrines, it can also be shown to be one of the greatest testimonies about God’s righteousness, justice, and grace. DOWNLOAD PDF SERMON NOTES HERE

Tim Keller quotes Emma Goldman as saying that Christianity was, “The leveler of the human race, the breaker of man’s will to dare to do…an iron net, a straight-jacket which does not let him expand and grow.” Many people hold views like this of Christianity: that Christianity is straightjacket of sorts, and most Christians don’t know how to rationally answer them. Today we are going to talk about how some people see Christianity as a straightjacket that confines and stifles creativity. DOWNLOAD PDF SERMON NOTES HERE

Keller quotes Philosopher J.L. Mackie who said, “If a good and powerful God exists, he would not allow pointless evil, but because there is much unjustifiable, pointless evil in the world, the traditional good and powerful God could not exist. Some other god or no god may exist, but not the traditional God.” By “traditional God” he means the God that we proclaim on a given Sunday. The argument of Mackie is a false one. Just because we can’t see a reason in human suffering at times doesn’t mean that there isn’t one! DOWNLOAD PDF SERMON NOTES HERE

John 14:6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. Jesus’ statement is pretty exclusive and is considered to be one of the most controversial statements He made; even in the culture of His day. In Rome you were allowed to worship any God you wanted as long as you also worshipped Caesar; Christians and Jews said “No, we will worship God alone.” It is why Rome labeled Christians as Atheists, because Romans would worship all the other gods and Christians would only worship one.. DOWNLOAD PDF SERMON NOTES HERE

In the past few decades, faith in God has been presented as mere belief in something invisible that we have to muster up that over looks facts. Many religious people have said that faith is “believing in something you can’t see, it’s something you feel.” But the truth is that nowhere does the Bible describe faith like that. The word we translate in the bible as “faith” is the Greek word “pistis” and it means TRUST. DOWNLOAD PDF SERMON NOTES HERE

God wants us to enjoy Him... and through enjoyment of Him enjoy life. One of the best ways we as a people can be missional is by being people that find joy in life. Knowing who God is, and being satisfied with just that, is the only way to stop sinning; it is the love of God that changes our hearts. DOWNLOAD PDF SERMON NOTES HERE

This Sunday’s message was about the idea of Contentment. Like the other things we are learning in Proverbs, this one is Counter Cultural, in that the culture around us discourages it, but God delights in it, and encourages us to be content with what we have. DOWNLOAD PDF SERMON NOTES HERE

If you have to choose money or wisdom, choose wisdom. If we are wise we can always make money, but if we get more money and don’t have any wisdom, we will lose it all. DOWNLOAD PDF SERMON NOTES HERE

This week we look at a topic that is very near to our hearts, the topic of money! Did you know that 10% of the Bible’s verses are about money and approximately 25% of what Jesus said is related to money one way or another? DOWNLOAD PDF SERMON NOTES HERE

If you are continuing to act foolish, please know that your foolishness does not separate you from God, but instead you are offered grace and invited to live in true wisdom with God. DOWNLOAD PDF SERMON NOTES HERE DOWNLOAD PDF SERMON NOTES HERE

John Chrysostom, an early Christian preacher, summarized the biblical understanding of anger this way, “He that is angry without cause sins, but he who is not angry when there is cause sins. For unreasonable patience is the hotbed of many vices.” DOWNLOAD PDF SERMON NOTES HERE DOWNLOAD PDF SERMON NOTES HERE

This week we look at what counter-cultural friendships look like and how they are unique, how to discover a friend, how to forge a friendship once discovered, and where we get the power for friendship. The 4 marks of true friendship are: - Constancy - a friend has chosen you not to make you a means to an end, but an end in yourself. - Carefulness - friends give the gift of emotional connection voluntarily. - Candor - truth telling. - Counsel - graceful truth telling with reassurance and sweetness. It is only the Gospel of Jesus Christ that makes true friendship possible. Friendships based in Christ can be radical and exhilarating at the same time. Don’t be afraid to reach out in friendship. DOWNLOAD PDF SERMON NOTES HERE DOWNLOAD PDF SERMON NOTES HERE

Jesus was God in human flesh and as such He was the perfect human being, yet He was single. His lack of sexual activity in no way reduced his humanity. Jesus enjoyed friendships with single and married men and women and committed His life to the Father’s glory. DOWNLOAD PDF SERMON NOTES HERE DOWNLOAD PDF SERMON NOTES HERE

King Solomon taught his sons to Be Wise, Be Humble, and Be Faithful. Yet, Solomon’s life contradicted his teaching because his heart was divided. We need an undivided heart to truly live as God intended, a heart that only God can cultivate in us. Only then can we live in wisdom and lead our children to live wisely. DOWNLOAD PDF SERMON NOTES HERE DOWNLOAD PDF SERMON NOTES HERE

Today we are discussing the Fool. The best way to describe a Fool today would be someone who is out of touch with reality. When the Bible talks about a Fool, it is not speaking about one area of life alone (because a lot of people are ‘Fools’ in one area.) When the Bible talks about a Fool, it’s talking about someone who is out of touch with two basic fundamental facts about reality: • That there is a created order to the world. • We are to live within that created order. What Proverbs teaches us is that we cannot live any way we want and think there are no consequences in our lives. If you try to act as if there’s no order to the world and live any way you want (make up the rules as you go), then you are a Fool. Proverbs tells us there are varieties of Fools. Proverbs gives 3 essential types of Fools. • Simple Fools - Proverbs 14:15 The simple believes everything, but the prudent gives thought to his steps. A simple fool is not someone who is unsophisticated, it means that you can’t discern between good an

Today we cover the issue of our hearts because our hearts lead us into trouble. If we fail to understand our hearts we will continue follow them and not produce a God honoring culture. The word for heart and its derivatives are used over 900 different times in the Bible. Our hearts shape us and consequently we shape culture then culture completes the circle by shaping our hearts. We have to take responsibility because we are the ones who are helping create the culture in which we live. In Proverbs the heart is the seat of understanding (2:2), learning (2:10), memory (3:1-3), faith (3:5), obedience (4:4, 10:8), rebellion (5:12), planning (6:14,16:1), imagination (6:18), lust (6:25), will (7:25), perversity (11:20:17:20), deceit (12:20, 26:24), folly (12:23), anxiety (12:25), hope (13:12), joy (13:25, 15:30), hurt (14:10), grief (14:13), peace (14:30), wisdom (14:33, 23:15), happiness (15:13), discernment (15:14, 16:21, 18:15), cheerfulness (15:15, 17:22), contemplation (15:28), pride (16:5, 18:12, 21:4), spe

Last week we talked about what is meant when the Bible says to “fear the Lord.” There are two words for fear in the Old Testament, one means terror and the other one means reverence. In the New Testament the context of a passage will determine what is meant by the word and what type of fear it is. Tim Keller wrote, “The fear of God, the holy fear, is an inward condition of awe and amazement before the glory and the wonder and the power and the grace of this God.” There are cultural effects of fearing God and not fearing God properly. When we don’t properly “fear” God our lives begin to suffer and it leads to a misunderstanding of our knowledge. Not fearing God leads to us running to our own desires because we think we are the king. Not fearing God also leads us to a place where we start to create our own truth, and listen to others above Him. When we have a proper fear of God we begin to listen to what He says; we trust Him in all things. Proverbs reminds us that we don’t follow God because of what we get

There are different words used for fear in the scriptures, one type means terror and the other type means reverence. In the Old Testament it’s not that hard to tell the difference because the words are easily identified, but in the New Testament we always have to look at the context of how the words are used to understand it correctly. DOWNLOAD PDF SERMON NOTES HERE DOWNLOAD PDF SERMON NOTES HERE

A Conversation with Jon & Michelle Gee of their first Mother's Day after the twins were born.

Collectively seeking God, trusting His grace, and living in His wisdom is how we will birth this new culture around us. We need to look beyond where we are as church, as a culture, and by God’s grace see where we need to be. DOWNLOAD PDF SERMON NOTES HERE DOWNLOAD PDF SERMON NOTES HERE