In Ephesians 4 Paul will talk about the spiritual “people” gifts of Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Pastors/Shepherds, and Teachers (APEST). Paul picks these gifts here (because there are more gifts in other books of the Bible) for a purpose, that purpose is to help us see Jesus better. WATCH FULL SERVICE ON YOUTUBE DOWNLOAD PDF SERMON NOTES HERE …

As we end our series in Matthew we are given our great mission by Jesus, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing and teaching them to observe. But what should motivate us? Ultimately, our desire to see those close to us and far from God worshiping Jesus should be our fuel for missionעל ידי Luke Baker

Luke's Gospel highlights female disciples and gives us three names from among that group: Mary Magdalene, Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod’s steward, and Susanna. Mary Magdalene’s story is an Easter story. WATCH FULL SERVICE ON YOUTUBE DOWNLOAD PDF SERMON NOTES HEREFIND THIS WEEKS ANNOUNCEMENTS, SONG LIST, NOTES, AND MORE AT YOUVERSION…

True change in our lives is only possible because Jesus rose from the dead, and here's whyעל ידי Luke Baker

As Paul starts this section of his letter, he moves his focus to our lives and the unity that Christians are supposed to have inside the church. We are to love one another as Christ has first loved us. Within the Church, we will have people of different political views, different tastes in music, differing parenting styles, different food choices, …

In the second half of Ephesians Chapter 3 Paul prays (again) for us to walk in power and love. Most of the first 3 chapters of Ephesians is about doctrine, but that doctrine is shown to us through Paul’s prayers. Paul continues to praise God and pray for this church. For Paul, prayer and action are not opposite ends of the scale of Christian activi…

In today’s passage, Paul reminds us how salvation entails being brought into God’s family. We are to be unified in our love and worship of Him; only by getting our eyes off ourselves and on Jesus will we ever see true and lasting unity. It’s important to remember that our very security in God’s family is a result of the work of Jesus Himself. WATCH…

In today’s passage, Paul reminds us how salvation entails being brought into God’s family. We are to be unified in our love and worship of Him; only by getting our eyes off ourselves and on Jesus will we ever see true and lasting unity. It’s important to remember that our very security in God’s family is a result of the work of Jesus Himself. WATCH…

Today we are going to walk through one of the most profound things in the Bible, being saved by grace through faith…and then being sent out to be God’s workmanship in the world. Ephesians 2:1-3 shows us what we are saved from: our trespasses and sin. Ephesians 2:4-7 shows us what are saved through: God’s mercy and kindness (we go from spiritual dea…

While Ephesians 1 sees salvation from God’s point of view, Chapter 2 examines salvation more from a human point of view. Chapter 3 will combine both perspectives so that the following chapters (4-6) are very practical in their theology. The truth is we cannot live practically unless we know what we believe; doctrine is important. WATCH FULL SERVICE…

We have spent the last 4 weeks looking at Paul’s prayer about who God is and what He does in the world. While Paul normally starts his letter with a greeting before launching directly into how he is praying for a particular church or people, in Ephesians, He focuses on who God is first. WATCH FULL SERVICE ON YOUTUBE DOWNLOAD PDF SERMON NOTES HERE F…

Ephesians 1:3-14, in the Greek text, is one sentence and one prayer. Paul seems so excited about God that he doesn’t have time for punctuation! He starts and ends with “praise God,” and in the middle, he proclaims who God is and what He has done. Paul is trying to get us to see the magnificence of Jesus as the King over all things. WATCH FULL SERVI…

When it comes to a book like Ephesians, our brains and rational leanings almost do us a disservice. We are in a world of deep theological truths, but can get distracted by certain words and phrases (e.g., election, predestination, etc.). WATCH FULL SERVICE ON YOUTUBE DOWNLOAD PDF SERMON NOTES HERE FIND THIS WEEKS ANNOUNCEMENTS, SONG LIST, NOTES, AN…

Before Paul gets into his specific prayers for others, he establishes the appropriate context for all Christian prayer, reflection, and exhortation: The worship and adoration of the God who has lavished His love upon us. WATCH FULL SERVICE ON YOUTUBE DOWNLOAD PDF SERMON NOTES HERE FIND THIS WEEKS ANNOUNCEMENTS, SONG LIST, NOTES, AND MORE AT YOUVERS…

“To the saints who are in Ephesus, and are faithful in Christ Jesus,” is to whom the letter of Ephesians is addressed. The letter itself is written in a more formal way than some of Paul’s other writings, which tend to have a rapid-fire pace. Ephesians has a trajectory to it that shows us salvation from God’s point of view in Chapter One, salvation…

Yes, it is 2024 and we are doing one last message in our Not So Little Women series by looking at a forgotten mother named Hannah. Hannah is the mother of the prophet, Samuel, who would go on to become the most known prophet in ancient Israel. Samuel will anoint Israel’s first king, Saul, and their greatest king, David. Aside from Samuel’s legacy, …

The Not So Little Women series focuses on stories of different women in the Bible. Today, we look at Martha, on of Jesus' disciples. Who was Martha? – She was a disciple of Jesus. Martha was from Bethany, a 2-mile walk from Jerusalem. She was the sister of Mary (of Bethany) and Lazarus. Martha was a ‘get things done’ person and likely had a gift fo…

Merry Christmas Eve. We tend to see Mary and Joseph as people who were overflowing with blessings because God had provided them with the miraculous birth of Jesus. Instead, the reality is that they had just as many questions as we would about a “virgin birth.” Mary and Joseph most likely lived with rumors and innuendos following them most of their …

In the genealogy account of Matthew’s Gospel, we see that we can’t understand Christmas or the birth of Christ without first understanding Jesus’ family tree. If you look at ancient family trees and genealogies, there are almost never any women in them, but in Jesus’ genealogy, there are quite a few women named. Ruth is one of those women (as well …

We often prefer to learn lessons from people we like or have an affinity toward. We do not often think that we can learn lessons from those whose lives or choices are “questionable.” All too often, we want to write off the ugly parts of the Bible and only focus on the happy places…or reframe the narratives so people do not look as bad as they actua…

Deborah was the only female judge in the Old Testament book of Judges. Her story is the dream we should have for all the children at Element: that they would grow up to know God, walk with God, lead others to know God, and to speak honestly and truthfully. WATCH FULL SERVICE ON YOUTUBE DOWNLOAD PDF SERMON NOTES HEREFALL/WINTER UPDATE FIND THIS WEEK…

Today in our Not So Little Women series, we look at a woman named Abigail who was married to a “worthless” man named Nabal. We meet a few men in this story, yet all of them look terrible and make bad decisions. The only time we see them come back from the brink is when Abigail speaks wisdom into their folly. WATCH FULL SERVICE ON YOUTUBE DOWNLOAD P…

When we see things that look sexist or misogynistic in the Bible, we must understand that those things came about because of the Fall. Rather than a reflection of God’s heart/character, such things reflect the damage of sin in our world and our own rebellion against God. Misogyny is a distortion of God’s original intent and design. Therefore, it’s …

Today in our Not So Little Women series, we are looking at Vashti, a Babylonian queen who was married to the Persian king, Xerxes. • Who is Vashti? Xerxes had many wives and concubines; God shows us what happened to Vashti, one of the relatively unknown wives. The Babylonian rabbis cast Vashti in a negative light, saying she was a “wicked Jew-hater…

Today we’re looking at Jesus’ remarkable encounter with the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well in John 4. It’s the longest conversation recorded in the Bible that Jesus has with anyone—man or woman. He disrupts the status quo by speaking with her, crossing cultural and gender boundaries. In this encounter, we witness the boundless nature of God’s grac…

We are doing a series, called Not So Little Women, where we look at the stories of different women in the Bible. Today we look at an unlikely ancestor of Jesus, Rahab. Who was Rahab? – Rahab was a prostitute living in the city of Jericho when the Israelites were about to invade and conquer the land. • What is her story? – When Joshua sent two spies…

We are doing a series, called Not So Little Women, where we look at the stories of different women in the Bible. Today we look at a matriarch of Israel, Rebekah. • Who was Rebekah? – She was Isaac’s wife, the granddaughter of Abraham’s brother, and the mother of Jacob and Esau. • What is her story? – Through specific answers to prayer, God chose Re…

We are doing a series, called Not So Little Women, where we look at the stories of different women in the Bible. Today we look at an evil woman named Jezebel. • Who was Jezebel? – She was the daughter of Ethbaal, king of the Sidonians. She worshiped false gods and led Ahab in the same direction. • What is her story? – She was raised in a cult and t…

Through the end of the year we are doing a series on stories about women in the Bible. We want to see how God uses all of us for His glory and our good; today we spend time looking at Eve, “the mother of all the living”(Gen 3:20). WATCH FULL SERVICE ON YOUTUBE DOWNLOAD PDF SERMON NOTES HERE FIND THIS WEEKS ANNOUNCEMENTS, SONG LIST, NOTES, AND MORE …

על ידי Collin Campbell

When reading the scriptures, some people walk away feeling like women are shown to be less than men in their worth or calling. There is much division today about how gender, roles, and God’s calling all intersect. We can see that before the Fall, however, men and women were called to complement each other instead of be in competition with each othe…

This sermon marks the end of our 11-week series on forgiveness. Throughout this series, we have seen how forgiveness is a reflection of the gift God has given to us through Jesus— grace and mercy from the Cross in response to our sinful rebellion. This series ends on a practical note of what it means to extend forgiveness and pursue reconciliation …

When someone wrongs us, Jesus says we must “pay attention to ourselves” and be aware of our own tendency toward resentment and unforgiveness. The Gospel challenges us in that we must identify with the wrongdoer as a fellow sinner in need of grace. Forgiveness means we inwardly pay the debt of the wrongdoer ourselves instead of seeking revenge; this…

This sermon focuses on understanding the difference between true guilt (for objectively wrong deeds) and false guilt (disproportionate feelings). Secular approaches to “self-forgiveness” fall short because they leave out our vertical relationship with God that was broken by sin. True repentance before God involves fully owning our sin without blame…

This week’s message focuses on the role of guilt/shame in understanding our need for forgiveness. Many today seek to avoid or dismiss the concept of guilt or shame, or even attempt to cover it through their own efforts. A Biblical worldview clearly names and describes the implications of the Fall—humankind’s rebellion against God and the unraveling…

This week’s message on biblical forgiveness focuses on how forgiveness aims to restore community. God’s forgiveness of us individually is meant to be reflected in our own relationships with other broken people. Scripture calls us to rebuke those who sin against us, but also to forgive endlessly. This combines confronting wrongs while being willing …

A reading of the white paper “Justice: The Foundation of a Christian Approach to Abuse”, written by Jacob and Rachael Denhollander. Read by Nicole Pruett WATCH FULL SERVICE ON YOUTUBE DOWNLOAD PDF SERMON NOTES HEREDOWNLOAD READING PLAN HERE FIND THIS WEEKS ANNOUNCEMENTS, SONG LIST, NOTES, AND MORE AT YOUVERSION…

This week’s message focuses on balancing justice and love when forgiving others. Scripture condemns seeking revenge, hating others, and bearing grudges against those who wrong us. Instead, it calls us to rebuke those who do wrong while also loving them. True forgiveness requires both justice and love - if we only forgive without confronting the wro…

As we’ve discussed in this series, the vertical dimension to forgiveness is our starting point. It is God’s own extension of mercy to us that serves as the motivation for our forgiveness of others. An important aspect of this vertical dimension is the nature of God’s love. In His perfect love, God demonstrates wrath against sin, which is an affront…

This week’s message explores how Christianity introduces an ethic that challenges our innate self-centeredness. Because of who Jesus is and how He has loved us, we are compelled to sacrificially love others. We go from self-regarding to self-giving as followers of Jesus. It’s understandable, then, that forgiveness would be especially difficult for …

This week’s message explores different models/views on forgiveness that are popular today. Those that refuse to understand the costliness of grace (as shown by the Cross) distort the reality of what forgiveness entails. As opposed to forgiveness being blind, transactional, therapeutic, weaponized, or withheld, forgiveness is a reflection of God’s o…

In this week’s message, we explore the parable of the unforgiving servant in Matthew 18. We can learn a lot from this parable, as we see that we have been forgiven of an impossible debt by a generous King. We also see that King, God, desires for us to extend the same mercy He has shown us to others. Realizing the gravity of our own wrongs will dest…

This message marks the first in a series of 11 messages on the topic of forgiveness inspired by Tim Keller’s book Forgive. As we progress through the series and come to understand what forgiveness looks like in our own lives, we have to start with a broader exploration of what forgiveness even is - renouncing revenge and being open to reconciliatio…

If we look to use Galatians for its intended purpose, we can gain so much valuable understanding from it. The end of the letter is more than a wrap-up; it is a reiteration of the letter’s entire aim. Galatians 6:14 is one of the best verses in Galatians and most of the Bible, because it explains the meaning and the power of the cross. (NIV) “May I …

Galatians 6:6-10 is technically part of Galatians 6:1-5; both passages are two parts of the same thought. Last week we talked about being nothing and something; the week before that, we spoke about burdens and loads. All these concepts are meant to go together—just as we, as parts of the same body of Christ, come together. WATCH FULL SERVICE ON YOU…

God sends His Spirit to dwell in us so that we are no longer orphans, but family; we become adopted children of God. We must continually return to the means by which we were saved—the Gospel. One of the greatest ways others can see the transformation of the Gospel in our lives is how we love one another. Gal 5:26 Let us not become conceited, provok…

God sends His Spirit to dwell in us so that we are no longer orphans, but family; we become adopted children of God. We must continually return to the means by which we were saved—the Gospel. One of the greatest ways others can see the transformation of the Gospel in our lives is how we love one another. Gal 5:26 Let us not become conceited, provok…

Galatians 5:16-25 is one of the most well-known passages in Galatians as it talks about “the fruit of the Spirit.” Tim Keller wrote that he doesn’t think there is any better passage in all the Scriptures than Galatians 5 in showing us what spiritual life results in. WATCH FULL SERVICE ON YOUTUBE DOWNLOAD PDF SERMON NOTES HEREDOWNLOAD READING PLAN H…

Churches can be messy places because they are full of people. God knows His church is messed up because it is full of people, people He purchased with the blood of Jesus. Todd Wilson writes, “Clearly, God is convinced the church is a mess worth making!” WATCH FULL SERVICE ON YOUTUBE DOWNLOAD PDF SERMON NOTES HEREDOWNLOAD READING PLAN HERE FIND THIS…

In these verses, the Apostle Paul will write about wisdom by showing how looking at the end of our journey can influence our present—our motivation. Why do we do what we do? Why is motivation so important to how we live? To put it simply, foolish people and wise people can start off with the same goals, but foolish people give up because they focus…