Elements City Church Podcast

Tonight, as we begin a New Year, we set our hearts on seeking and praying for God's best. That His blessing and hope would refresh our city and the lives of those we love. Join us as we begin the year in worship & prayer.

Everyone's invited to participate and find their place in the Christmas story through the greatest invitation of God in the gift of His Son. The Church champions the most inclusive message every given. Everyone's invited. Each one matters. Jesus wants us NOT just to celebrate that inclusive notion in principle - Jesus now calls You and Me to be radically inclusive in practice.

As we enter this Christmas season – we’re reminded again that a ‘light’ was given that shatters the darkness around us because light has transformational power. Jesus is that light and he enlists us through faith, to be carriers of His light. We can choose to be concealers or revealers of it. This Christmas and beyond, choose to shine. (Genesis 1:1-4, John 1:1-4, Matthew 5:14-16)

We are all crazy busy with jammed packed schedules, trying to cram everything into only 24 hours a day. How do we decide what to put in, what to take out, or what gets priority? Moses gives us ONE thing to focus on to help us with how to spend our TIME!

In a culture that promotes and pushes us to grab and clutch on to our time and all our things, Jesus calls us to live a life that is open handed...and only there, will we actually experience real fulfillment. Tonight we examine a command and an invitation God gives us as we seek to honor Him with money. We'll discover as we become a caretaker in God's kingdom, He promises to be a caregiver over ours. (Malachi 3:7-10, Proverbs 3:9-10, Matthew 6:20)

We're looking into what the Scriptures say about how we tackle inadequacy. We all may struggle with feelings of inadequacy from time to time, but the truth of God is: what you know about God and what He says about us, trumps how we feel. Here are 5 principles we can hang on to as we face those feelings and replace with them with God's truths. (guest preacher: Chris Collins, Fellowship of Christian Athletes)

In The Den

As we look into Daniel ch. 5, we see into a king who lived for himself and how Daniel once again calls us to HONOR GOD with our LIFE and LIVING. This is a theme throughout all the Scriptures - calling us not to just live for the little story we can write, but be enfolded into the GREATER STORY that is being written by the Creator of the Heavens and the Earth.

As we continue the story of Daniel (ch.4) we look into a moment where someone changed their outlook from 'look at me' to 'look at Him'. The creep of pride is something we must all be aware of in our lives as we seek to live out a lifestyle of humility. Learn to live in the shadow of GOD’S SOVEREIGNTY! (see Daniel 4:37) All our power is on loan & temporary. Remember: God is in charge; we're not.

As we continue our look into the book of Daniel in the Old Testament, we come to a chapter (ch. 3) all about a big time decision. We all make decisions in every day life and the culmination of those decisions actually makes our lives. We all must decide WHO we will follow. And as Christ followers, we're called to be set apart, not just blend in. Biblical faith is not confidence in particular outcomes; it is confidence in our Sovereign, Good & ‘for us’ God first and foremost.

Given our cultural backdrop of "me-ism" and self-promotion, there is a lot of push to point toward ourselves, seek the spotlight and build our reputations. But in the life of Daniel we see a humility to promote something different. He teaches us to live with a heart that promotes and points out God’s reputation over carving out and protecting ours. Build God’s Kingdom and promote His reputation first and foremost, trust him to provide and establish yours as needed. (Daniel chapter 2; also see Matthew 6:31-33)

God is looking active agents for Him, His love and His good in this world. This is NOT about isolating away from culture, nor imitating the way of culture, this IS about modeling and sharing the Good News & Way of Jesus TO our culture. Daniel lived with the conviction that a life of trusting God and following God was better than anything else the world (or Babylon) could offer. Daniel lived with an inner fortified faith.

We're beginning a new series into the Old Testament book of Daniel. Looking into his life and lessons we can learn. Daniel was thrust into a complex, chaotic culture with pressures that pushed against his faith. He chose to live out faith with godly convictions and graceful interactions. God is not looking for influential people he can make faithful. God is looking for faithful people, so he can leverage their influence.

Conflict is going to be a part of your relationships. No one gets a pass at this one. It doesn’t matter how mature you are. Conflict itself, isn’t the main issue or problem – it’s really centered around how we resolve it and navigate it that matters most. Tonight we look at 4 keys to navigating conflict well from a biblical perspective.

We have a lot of focus in our culture on how we START a relationship, but we don’t seem to have a lot on how to MAINTAIN it. We put tons of energy into 'falling in love', but don't seem to emphasize how to enlarge love within our ongoing relationships. So learn to keep love a verb and seek to meet the needs of the other and your relationships will grow and deepen.

Relationships are complex because it involves two imperfect people. We need to focus on being the right person God wants us to be not finding the right person we want!

Often times we ask WHY ME when negative things happen in our life. Sometimes God uses pivotal circumstances to grow our faith BIG!

As we continue our look into 5 Key things that can grow your relationship, your faith and confidence in God. Tonight: Personal Ministry - how using your gifts, time and contribution builds God's kingdom and grows your faith. Stepping out to serve those around you will develop the faith growing in you. Trust God to guide in using your talents and abilities to serve others in the Church and through your life. It will impact them and grow you! It all starts when we do what we can and trust God to do the rest.

Tonight we see a pattern in Jesus' life and a couple private disciplines or habits he's teaching to help us grow in our faith (Mark 1:35 & Matthew 6). Jesus is modeling and teaching: God rewards individually and specifically those that trust in him most and seek him first. Bottom line: Give God your first few minutes and first few dollars and watch Him grow your faith and be at work in your life.

Relationships are powerful and they are one of the primary ways that God grows our faith! Relationships will wither bring you closer to Jesus or many times the wrong type will pull you further from Him.