Element Christian Church of Santa Maria

“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 from a human point of view in Chapter Two, and ho...

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 for hospitality. What is her story? – While hosting...

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 life. WATCH FULL SERVICE ON YOUTUBE DOWNLOAD PDF S...

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 actually are. The Bible is not a book that shows us sup...

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 HERE

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 PDF SERMON NOTES HERE

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 important to understand God’s redemptive work, as...

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.” The rabbis of Erez Israel (meaning from the lan...

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 grace and love. Jesus challenges us to break down our...

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 to scout out Jericho before attacking, Rahab hid...

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 Rebekah for Isaac’s wife. Isaac prayed for Rebekah a...

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 then offered in marriage to King Ahab in Israel. As...

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

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 other. Even in Christian circles, many have lost sight...

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 with others, including when we have wronged others...

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 is a reflection of what Jesus has done for us thr...

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-shifting, self-pity, or self-flagellation. It req...

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 of our world—and depicts how we are unable to res...

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 to reconcile when the other party is willing. The...

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 HERE

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 wrongdoing, we enable further harm, but if we only se...

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 a self-regarding people. Because we have been tran...

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 own forgiveness of us in Jesus. In Jesus, we see th...

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 destroy any sense of entitlement and humble our hearts...

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 never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus...