Element Christian Church

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

We are starting a new series today that takes a trek through the book of Proverbs. Proverbs is not a linear book that travels a straight path from A to B, it is a textual/topical book with wisdom shared from various sages who lived during the Old Testament time period. Proverbs is about wisdom that teaches us to live in true freedom. As followers of Jesus we aren’t against the culture in which we live, we are for creating something that honors Jesus in all things. One of the first things wisdom brings is humility (not arrogance). Becoming wise means you have probably made many mistakes in life and that tends to make you humble. True wisdom comes from God and causes humility, unity, good deeds, and the forward proclamation of the Good News of what God has done. DOWNLOAD PDF SERMON NOTES HERE DOWNLOAD PDF SERMON NOTES HERE

This week, we finish our series on the Gospel, the definitive news about what God has done to save us, by talking about our lives in terms of eternity. Part of what makes Christianity unique is its certainty of a material future that is God’s future for us. God made creation good and promises to restore it, and us, by His grace, love, and the work of Jesus. The certainty of Jesus coming for our sake should override all other things in our lives; it should cause us to rest in hope and trust of who God is. This Week's Gospel Statement: “The Gospel is the good news of the present and future love of God that teaches us to live eternity now by worshipping Jesus in all ways, including loving others by living in redemptive relationship with them no matter the race or culture.”

This week, we talked about how the reality of both Jesus’ life and the Gospel are real and tangible for us living in the “real world.” So often we want God to come and remake our entire lives so all of our mistakes simply disappear, but Jesus comes and walks with us through our mistakes so that we learn and grow from them. God doesn’t take away our consequences for our sin; He takes away the eternal penalty for our sin by removing our shame and adopting us into His family. This Week's Gospel Statement: “The Gospel is the good news that Jesus came as God in the flesh to proclaim the final word of grace and truth to all the world, that salvation is found in Him and Him alone.”

This week, we talked about how the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus was not the end, but the continuation of the Gospel. The Gospel is ongoing in how God works in the world. We are not a people who are missing out, or have missed out, on anything…we are a people who have all the riches of God in our hands, and we get to distribute freely and generously in terms of money, time, joy, hope, and reconciliation. This Week's Gospel Statement: “The Gospel is the good news that Jesus died and rose from death for our redemption and He promises a future hope in Him where there is nothing we will miss in this life that does not find its fulfillment in Him, because we will have all eternity to experience Him.”

This week in the church calendar is called Holy Week or Passion Week, and is celebrated as the time leading up to the cross and crucifixion of Jesus. The cross becomes the culmination of all salvific human history, because it is the moment, at least in human time, that the sin of all of us was laid upon Jesus. There is nothing more important than the death and resurrection of Jesus. Without Jesus, there is no eternal life, no forgiveness of sin, and no relationship with a good and holy God. The Gospel is the good news that it is God who reconciles us to Himself; we don’t pay for our sin—Jesus does. This Week's Gospel Statement: “The Gospel is the good news that Jesus has come in fulfillment of all of God’s promises in the Old Testament to provide a way for us to come into the Kingdom of God by removing our sin through dying on a cross and rising from the grave; He has restored and redeemed us to be His people in the world by His sacrifice.”

This week we looked at how Jesus, as God in the flesh, welcomed all people into His family. Many religious people, then and now, tend to view people with issues as beneath them or unworthy of their time or respect. In the ancient world, this could happen because someone was poor or even the wrong gender (female, in case you were wondering)…something most people had no control over. This Week's Gospel Statement: “The Gospel is the good news that even though we have segregated ourselves from God and others, God has not left us in that state; Jesus has come and liberated us through His death and resurrection to restore our broken relationship with God and others.”

This week we talked about God’s call in our lives to return to our original purpose, being His image bearers and light in the world. All the prophets God sent included a “return” as part of their message. This return was a call to come home and be restored (just like the story of the Prodigal Son in Luke 15); this theme is consistent with the entirety of Scripture. This Week's Gospel Statement: “The Gospel is the good news that though we have lived and walked in darkness, our God has restored us to Himself because of the work of Jesus; He now sends us out to be His light in the world.”

This week, we looked at what Israel lost in their exile and how this affected their hope and expectations of the Messiah. When Israel received a human king they started to behave like the cultures around them, and not like a “set apart” nation (exactly as God said they would). Through this assimilation, their disobedience continued to grow. This Week's Gospel Statement: “The Gospel is the good news that our God has called us out of the slavery we have placed ourselves in and given us a calling, an identity, and a new hope centered in the person of Jesus Christ.”

Our culture places huge emphasis on freedom from external constraints (e.g., freedom of speech, 2nd amendment, “don’t tread on me,” etc.). However, our culture also has a poor understanding of freedom for—meaning being set free for a purpose. “Freedom for” encapsulates the ultimate design; it acknowledges that we are not the center of the universe, and that there is a God that is not us. God has created us to live in relationship with Him, and freedom comes when we live in line with how He created us to be. What do you think of when you hear the word “freedom.” What about “obedience” or “disobedience”? This Week's Gospel Statement: “The Gospel is the Good news that even though we have destroyed our lives with our own selfishness, Jesus has come not just to redeem, but restore us to be those who live in His kingdom where He rules and reigns forever.”

This week, we explored Israel’s transition from a theocracy to a nation ruled by a human king. While the entirety of Scripture highlights God’s plan for redemption through His people, it’s important to remember that Israel exists among many different cultures. These surrounding cultures influenced Israel, resulting in Israel wanting a human king to demonstrate power and influence to the surrounding nations. This Week's Gospel Statement: “The Gospel is the Good news that God is ruling and reigning and He has restored us to relationship and life with Him, so we would be His image-bearers of who He is to the world by words and actions.”

This week we continued to look at the Exodus story. So far, we have learned about people’s ruin, the culture of death, and the restoration by the power of the Gospel. We heard about God delivering His people out of Egypt, and this week, we talk about God leading His people to a place called Sinai, which is on the way to their country. (This is all due to God’s grace and no one saw it coming). This Week's Gospel Statement: “The Gospel is the good news that through Jesus’ rescue and redemption of mankind, we are sent to be His message of redemption to the world.”

DOWNLOAD DIDN'T SEE THAT COMING DIGITAL BOOK HERE This week, we rocketed out of the book of Genesis and plunged into the Exodus story, where we learn of the Israelites’ enslavement by the Egyptian people. During this horrible time of oppression, the Israelites cry out to God and God hears their cry and is moved to action. This is a remarkable picture of an empathetic God that is active in our redemption, and it is a powerful theme that is presented throughout Scripture. In the first four weeks of this sermon series, we began to understand that sin does not just pertain to individuals. Sin is something that moves from the individual to a society at large, and that is how the stage is set for the Exodus. We see the atrocities of systemic evil at work, and a redeemer is desperately needed to rescue those harmed by sin. This Week's Gospel Statement: “The Gospel is the Good news that God has established His Kingdom that cannot be shaken and has restored for us citizenship in that Kingdom where we now live

DOWNLOAD DIDN'T SEE THAT COMING DIGITAL BOOK HERE In our series about the Gospel, Didn’t See That Coming, we just finished the flood narrative, which is designed to show us that God gives us grace when we don’t deserve it. It is to serve as a reminder that we are sinful and prone to forgetting the good and loving character of God. This week, we talk about people messing up again and forgetting God’s promises to His people; once more, God displays His graciousness by blessing them anyway. This Week's Gospel Statement: “The Gospel is the good news that God has remembered us in our lost state and has come to redeem, rename, and restore us from our brokenness to be in renewed, life-giving relationship with Him and others.”

DOWNLOAD DIDN'T SEE THAT COMING DIGITAL BOOK HERE The story of the flood can conjure mixed emotions because it entails so much death and so much grace at the same time. It is part of our favorite Sunday School stories, probably because of the animals and not the fact that, essentially, all of humanity dies. The story of the flood introduces us to three theological constructs: - Total depravity: Which means our thoughts, actions, and lives are corrupted and stained by the sin of the fall. - Grace: That God gives us favor because He is good, not because our actions are worthy of praise. - A covenant-keeping God: That God remembers us and cares for us. This Week's Gospel Statement: “The Gospel is the good news that though the inclination of our hearts is bent towards ourselves and our own glory, Jesus has come to us in grace and love to restore us to live for His glory and invites us into His mission which focuses us outward from our own lives to live in and help usher in the Kingdom of God.”

DOWNLOAD DIDN'T SEE THAT COMING DIGITAL BOOK HERE This week we delved into the Fall in Genesis 3, where we see the tov (good) and shalom (peace) God created disrupted by sin. It is a tragic contrast to the paradise described in the first couple chapters of Genesis, with the consequences still seen today. As bleak as sin and death are, we can know that God’s work entails restoration, renewal, and reconciliation through Jesus, and that is the hope of the Gospel. “The Gospel is the good news that Jesus Himself has come into the brokenness humanity created, He died for what separated us from God, others, and life; He has promised to renew all things, including us.”

DOWNLOAD DIDN'T SEE THAT COMING DIGITAL BOOK HERE This week, we kick off our new series exploring the story of the Gospel throughout the entirety of Scripture. Today's Gospel Truth: “The Gospel is the good news that in Jesus, God came to restore and renew humanity to what He meant for it to be - image bearers who love and serve Him and others in humility.”

The Christian life, our service, is not lived to earn the favor of God, it’s lived in response to the favor of God. we serve, we work, we follow Jesus not to earn grace, but in response to grace!

DOWNLOAD PDF SERMON NOTES HERE John Piper calls adoption the Heart of the Gospel. He writes, “The deepest and strongest foundation of adoption is located not in the act of humans adopting humans, but in God adopting humans. And this act is not part of his ordinary providence in the world; it is at the heart of the gospel.” Galatians 4:4-6 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” The word “Abba” is the most intimate word for “dad” (it derives, most say, from a baby’s first words), yet Paul combines it with the word “Father” to show the far reaching implication of the statement. What does it mean that God has adopted you? How could the truth of being wanted and chosen by God change our view of not only ourselves, but how we interact with the world around us?

DOWNLOAD PDF SERMON NOTES HERE This week, in our series "Jingle All The Way," where we look at the stresses of Christmas, we look at family members or people who are Hazardous. Before you start thinking, “Hey, it’s Christmas time! Let’s talk about all things merry and bright!” keep in mind that with the reality of Jesus’ birth, God provided a way to restore not just our eternal hope for salvation, but our view of family. Restored relationship with God is the ultimate gift…we can’t get more of a merry Christmas than that! Synonyms for hazardous include: Risky, Dangerous, Unsafe, Lethal and Insecure.