Element Christian Church of Santa Maria

DOWNLOAD PDF SERMON NOTES HERE The story of Ruth is meant to remind us that our past doesn’t have to decide our future and whatever curse you may feel upon your life can and will be broken by the grace of God. Jesus, because He is God, can bring hope to any situation because the Gospel is true and all things rest in the providential hand of God.

God is big enough to handle it when we are faced with ideas or things that make us say “What in the world?!” This week is no exception. But this week, there is no black and white answer. This week’s What in the World question is: “The Catholic Church just released direction to Catholics about what they can and can’t do with cremated ashes in order for the soul to be ready when Jesus returns. I tho...

This week’s question is, “Why did Jesus curse the fig tree in Mark 11:12? It says that figs were not in season. There must be more to this than it appears.” In Mark 11 Jesus uses a living example, in a fig tree, to illustrate not just His own power and authority, but also what the deadness of cold religion brings. Too often in our own lives we settle for less than eternal life because our own idea...

Today we look at the question of Jesus being called “good” in the midst of a question about eternal life. In Jesus’ answer He will talk about camels, needles, and God being able to do the impossible. This week’s What in the World question is: “In Mark 10:17-27 I am confused. Does Jesus imply that He isn’t good? Does He say it is bad to have riches? AND what is the eye of a needle?”

Today we are in week 15 and this is the question we are answering today: “It has always bothered me that Jesus said stuff like destroy this temple and I will raise it again in 3 days,” and not expect that people would think He’s a nut! They had no way of knowing He was referring to His body, so why didn’t He say it more clearly?”

The consistency of God is important because it guarantees that the promises of God, made 2000 + years ago, are still applicable to us today. God’s consistancy leads us to trust Him and we do not have to worry about Him changing His mind or regretting what He has said. He is good despite the ever changing nature of humanity and we do in the world.

If God is a God of love, as clearly shown by Jesus, the What in the World question is: [then why] “did God command genocide?” This week’s question comes about because of a focus in our culture where people want to discount God’s sovereign goodness. Many people today see a disparity between the God of the Old Testament and who Jesus portrays God to be in the New Testament. This disparity is not som...

We believe that God inspired and led human beings to write the Bible as His revelation to us; meaning that all of Scripture is written by Him for our teaching, reproof, correction, and for training us in righteousness. And yet this all knowing, all powerful, all loving God forsakes His own son on the cross. This week’s What in the World question is: “When Jesus says, “My God My God, why have you f...

At the end of last year, Element did a series that answered some questions about scripture that people have commonly asked. As the series ended, we asked the people of Element to write down their own questions that we would answer in 2017. This week’s question deals with one of the most bizarre stories recorded in Scripture. Here is the question: “[In] Judges 19-21. There is a Levite and he throws...

In our current What in the World Part 2 series, we are answering questions you had asked us at the end of last year. Sometimes, when we read the scriptures, there are questions about the text that we don’t know how to ask (or maybe verbalize); this series was a way to try to answer some of those lingering questions. It seems the questions that many have about the scriptures come from personal expe...

In our current What in the World Part 2 series, we are answering questions you had asked us at the end of last year. This was the question this week: We lost our son 11 years ago and so many even now still tell us we have an angel in heaven. Can this be explained? I have always felt it was that we have a saint not an angel. Where in the Bible is this concept explained? Our son was silently born an...

This week’s question is: “Why is Paul rejoicing that people are proclaiming Christ out of selfish ambition?” Last week Aaron reminded us that the story of the Bible is about an ultimate love story between a kindly intentioned Creator and us, His creation. All of the Bible is written by God and is for our teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness. Our Creator’s words...

At the end of last year, Element did a series that answered some common questions about scripture that people have commonly asked. As the series ended, we asked the people of Element to write down their own questions that we would answer in 2017. Here we are in Part 2 of this series and the question, “What does the Bible say about homosexuality?” is definitely one of those topics that makes us tak...

In our current What in the World Part 2 series, we are answering questions you had asked us at the end of last year. This is week 6, and this was the question: In Genesis 15:17 it says that a smoking fire pot and flaming torch passed between the halves of the animals Abraham cut in half at God’s direction. What is the significance of the fire pot and torch moving between the halves? It’s a good qu...

We are continuing our What in the World Part 2 series where we answer your questions about the Bible in an in depth setting. We also encourage you to check our website www.ourelement.org/blog for more What in the World questions that we answer in written form. Today’s question comes from a book that was on the New York Times bestseller list called, “ZEALOT, The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth”...

What happens every day in our homes defines what normal is for our families! It may be normal for you to eat a hamburger every Friday night, it might be normal for you to get ice cream every Tuesday after school, it might be normal for your family to have a game night each week (where you shut off the TV), but we must make sure to make Jesus a normal part of our family life. We must become a peopl...

This is Week 2 in our “What in the World?” Part 2 series where we tackle different biblical passages or questions that make us say “What in the world does that mean?” The question this week is: “What in the world is the Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit?” In the New Testament, Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit is also called the unpardonable or unforgivable sin. As we will see, by the very words of our Lord...

At the end of last year, Element did a series that answered some common questions about scripture that people commonly have. At the end of that series, we asked Element to write down their own questions that we would answer in 2017. Here we are, and here is one of the first questions that was asked: “In Genesis, lots of dudes are lying about their wives being their sisters and then God blesses the...

Anyone can die, but only the Son of the Father could resume His existence at will. The entire Gospel is motivated by the will of the Father, Jesus’ love for the Father, and the Father’s love for us; not because we are worthy, but because He is good. Easter is about Jesus’ authority to resurrect and call all of us to Himself. When we submit to His authority we become sheep who hear/listen to His vo...

Matthew rounds out His two chapters that focus on the authority of Jesus by reminding us that Jesus has sent His people out on mission with and for Him. He tells us to pray that the “Lord of the harvest” would send His workers out into that harvest…those workers are us. In an agricultural metaphor, Jesus is saying that God has done the work in people’s hearts before we ever go out and reap the har...

Most people want to shy away from anything that deals with demonic oppression or possession in the Scriptures. In our modern world, we don’t want to seem like we are weirdos so we try to ignore and to deny things like demons. There are those on the opposite end of the spectrum who want to blame everything on demons as well, from failed relationships to job loss.

We have to understand that it is NOT our faith that saves us, it is the OBJECT of our faith. What does Jesus mean when he says “According to your faith be it done to you?” It means that they actually believed in Him as the Messiah. It was the OBJECT of their faith, Jesus, that was the factor behind the healing of their blindness. They are crying out for Him to heal them and they call Him, “son of...

Without meaning to be morbid, today we will talk about issues of life and death all the while looking at Jesus as the Resurrection and the Life. The New Bible Dictionary states, “From one point of view death is the most natural of things: ‘man is destined to die once’ (Heb. 9:27). It may be accepted without rebellion: ‘Let me die the death of the righteous’ (Nu. 23:10). From another, it is most un...

Today, in part, we will look at the question of Jesus’ seeming confusion over who touched Him during a healing and what it really means, but we will also examine His authority over what makes a person clean and unclean. We will look at how Jesus intends to restore people into community because the community around us matters.

Parables are illustrations or stories that Jesus used to convey deeper spiritual concepts. In the Greek world, parables were well known; the word “parable” even comes from a Greek source. Rabbis for ages used the idea of parables not just for moral storytelling, but they used to use it as broadly as possible. Parables became fictitious narratives that would generally refer to something that might...