Elements City Church Podcast

We Learn to Serve. We learn to be generous with our time. This value, this virtue is not natural it is taught. Serving Last Longer than just in that moment! Its about engaging in a practice that helps us move closer to Jesus, helps us be a part of something BIGGER than ourselves!

We're leaning into this practice of yielding - learning to submit ourselves to God's lead and not always searching out for things to be about "me". It's a tough concept given our culture. But we want to live by this simple principle: a yielded life gives priority to God and promotes others above themselves. We unpack how to make this more of a rhythm in our lives.

Reflecting on Scripture is an indispensable part of experiencing the life that Jesus calls us to live. By engaging prayerfully, thoughtfully, and repeatedly with a small portion of the text, the thoughts of God drive themselves deep into our hearts and minds. When that happens, our actions follow close behind and we begin to experience life transformation.

Most of us can identify with a hurried pace of life, because it’s the speed of your life – the speed of our culture. Many people wear their hurried pace as a badge of honor and significance. But when you examine the life of Jesus - we see that he was busy, but never hurried...and there is a drastic difference! Living hurried leads to reactionary living, but when we live unhurried it allows you to respond intentionally and lovingly.

We're looking into the pattern of prayer that exemplified the life of Jesus. Most of us pray. Many feel like they do it enough. What's the goal of prayer? We examine some patterns of prayer we're to have that can make LIFE better. Prayer is all about nurturing our relationship with the Father. It’s attuning more to His provision, protection and presence. Prayer is me, as one who IS limited - connecting, leaning, listening and resting in the ONE who has NO LIMITS.

We're going to be leaning into the life of Jesus in this series, not just examining his words, but his habits and rhythms of living and activity. In picking up some of his spiritual habits, we might experience better life with God. Life with God begins with faith IN Jesus and then it continues in following after Jesus. Spiritual growth has less to do with our performance for Jesus (works) and more to do with our proximity with Jesus. Tonight we examine his invitation to "learn from him". (Matthew 11:25-30)

We run after things, we run toward relationships, we run away from things and sometimes we run INTO something that causes us to think, to consider, to decide. Tonight, we're leaning INTO the event that defines all of the Christian faith. A singular moment in history that altered all of it. We're invited to run into Easter and now run life with God.

There is a difference between shouting AT & speaking INTO. And James ends his book challenging us as the family of God, to speak INTO one another's life. We are to also open ourselves up to be spoken into. When love speaks it's ALWAYS about building up and pointing people forward; it’s NEVER about tearing down or pointing out (shamefully). There are 3 ways in which we speak the truth in love.

Much like learning to hit a baseball, prayer can just be trying to make a connection. James 5 gives shows us different times and how to pray whether you are a new believer or a long-time Christian.

How we view celebrities and other people is a big deal to God. Favoritism is the opposite of love! We tend to lift up or choose to be with people so we can get something from them. Love is offering to serve, help, and show mercy no matter who they are!

Tonight we're examining some tug-a-war pulls that James ch. 4 says competes for our heart's devotion. Conditions of having an elevated heart or a divided heart can get us detoured from the kind of heart God most desires: humble hearts. A humble heart is an open heart before God, a yielded heart to God and one with no secret compartments where we restrict His access.

There is great power in our words. We can use them to build up and we can use them to tear down. So it’s no surprise that James offers some challenging and convicting statements about the importance of our words.

There's a deep connection between faith and works. Tonight, we're looking into one of the passages that often causes confusion for some as they approach the Bible. James writes about what an alive and active faith looks like. Grace is God’s gift we receive in faith – it saves us FROM something (His wrath, separation from God) AND it saves us INTO something (God’s work in this world). A Saving faith will generate an Active / Alive faith - it will have an effect and will always express itself in a growing love for God and people.

Each one of us faces temptation as we navigate life. It calls us to turn away from God's best and settle for something less than. Temptation plays no favorites, it’s an equal opportunity problem. No one is immune or invincible to it. And though we each may have different temptations that call our name, we're all invited to ignore the "temptation trade".

Everyone one of us has faced hardships and challenges in life. James challenges us to discover joy despite the trials that we face, because trials can produce some beautiful things within them. Perseverance only grows in the soil of difficulties and pain. God can take some of our darkest hours and leverage them for our greatest growth. He may or may not provide us a way out, but He ALWAYS promises a way through.

We're launching a new series making our way through the Book of James in the New Testament. It's a book that describes the rescuing love of Jesus and how that love calls us to reciprocate love. The gospel changes us; it impacts how we now live. The world desperately needs Christ followers today whose actions match their convictions. Enter James. His book is full of challenge and encouragement to let the love of Christ influence how we now live. Today, we get a bit of the backdrop to the book and the one who authored it.

For many of us, our identity is closely tied to our achievements. When we succeed, we feel good. When we fail, we feel miserable. This destructive cycle leads us to a place where we look to our achievements to provide what only God can provide – a true sense of identity and purpose.

In our culture of materialism - 'get more' is one of the driving heartbeats within people. There's a constant pull to pursue MORE. But more stuff and more money doesn't automatically bring more peace. There's some illusions that we'll see tonight. The problem is not in having riches – it’s found in trusting IN your riches more than IN God. We're invited to find the full life in managing our resources for the good of God's kingdom work and our enjoyment.

As we begin this new series: "Empty?" - we're examining the ways our hearts wander and pursue things to find fulfillment, only to discover that most things leave us wanting and empty. Jesus spoke of himself coming that we might discover a full life by pursuing him. Tonight we look into how we can recognize the wandering and realign to the full life in Christ. Our hearts wander when we look to something that does not have God’s power to give us what only God has the power and authority to give. A great realigning prayer is found in Psalm 139:23-24.