Element Christian Church of Santa Maria

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 YOUTUBE DOWNLOAD PDF SERMON NOTES HERE

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, provoking one another, envying one another. This is how...

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, provoking one another, envying one another. This is how...

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 HERE

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 on the now and not the finish line. We can become...

For thousands of years, fellowship with God had been established through observance of the Law, but the Law was always a time of winter—a time of waiting. There are different modes of travel that are appropriate during the winter season. If you try to use winter modes of travel (e.g., snowshoes, snowmobiles, etc.) during springtime (when everything has melted), you will get stuck and no longer be...

Galatians is a book written to churches where false teachers came in and began to contradict Paul’s original Christian message. • The false teachers were saying: “Believe in Jesus, obey the law, and as a result, you’ll be saved.” • Paul said: “Believe in Jesus, be saved, and as a result, you will want to obey God.” There is a huge difference between belief + obedience = salvation and belief + salv...

Galatians is a book about grace and how we so often misunderstand it. Today, Paul breaks his tone with the Galatians and reveals part of his heart, because it is necessary for him to emotionally convey what he is thinking and feeling. He starts with an appeal to friendship Gal 4:12Brothers, I entreat you, become as I am, for I also have become as you are…and will end with a desire to change his to...

Paul’s admonition today in Galatians is to stop worshiping false gods (or “elementary principles of the world”). In our current mindset, it may be easy to think, “Of course we shouldn’t worship false gods.” All too often, however, we easily fall into the trap of doing so. False gods (or elementary principles) do not just include pagan rituals or Norse mythology; false gods include anything we focu...

Paul’s admonition today in Galatians is to stop worshiping false gods (or “elementary principles of the world”). In our current mindset, it may be easy to think, “Of course we shouldn’t worship false gods.” All too often, however, we easily fall into the trap of doing so. False gods (or elementary principles) do not just include pagan rituals or Norse mythology; false gods include anything we focu...

The book of Galatians, unlike some other books in the New Testament, is not written to a specific church. Rather, Galatians is written to an area that contained multiple churches who were all having the same problem: people claiming to have authority were coming in and steering these churches toward a form of legalism. These false teachers believed that the only way for the people in these Galatia...

At the end of 2022, Element went through a 13-week series on prayer. We said that, “Prayer is a continuing conversation that God has started through His Word and provided by His grace, which eventually becomes a full encounter with Him.” Prayer starts with God revealing Himself to us through His Spirit and His written word. In response, we can know Him and enjoy and experience relationship lived w...

The Jewish people held Moses as the greatest messenger of God’s will and blessing because he brought the Law to the people. Paul will say something both amazing and offensive at the same time: Moses was a mediator Moses was a terrible mediator When Moses showed up (as a mediator), he made things worse, because the Law only revealed the depth of our sin; the Law was powerless to actually save us. W...

In Galatians 3:6-14 Paul shows the disaster that can happen when people go down the path of religious law-keeping in order to find righteousness or acceptance before God. Paul has been on this journey before with many others, and he knows how to keep us on the path, as too often, we get lost seeking God’s acceptance of us. WATCH FULL SERVICE ON YOUTUBE VIEW WINTER MISSION UPDATE HERE DOWNLOAD PDF...

The Law of Moses, as found in the first five books of the Bible, has been a hotbed of debate ever since God gave it to us. There are those today who say that in order to be a Christian, you must also follow the law (just like they said to the Galatians). Paul has been arguing that we are saved by the mercy and grace of God through faith in what Christ did for us at the cross. False teachers said,...

How we live the Christian life is a topic of endless books, seminars, camps, and conferences; in Galatians Paul speaks of living in the Spirit’s power. When he speaks of the Spirit’s power, he is referring to God the Holy Spirit and the restored relationship that is provided in Christ. When we understand the truth of the Gospel, we have a transformative and supernatural power to live for Christ in...

In this long form bonus episode, Aaron and Michael interview Kevin, our new hire for High School and post graduation ministries. This get-to-know you episode is for you to hear Kevin’s journey getting here and his heart for ministry. CLICK HERE TO EMAIL KEVIN WATCH THIS WEEK'S SERVICE ON YOUTUBE

Up to this point in Galatians, Paul has been recounting his story of how and why he preaches grace and the Gospel. He has been giving a couple of stories about his life, his interactions with the church in Jerusalem, and his confrontation between Peter and himself. This confrontation was about the nature of the Gospel, the essence of the Christian faith, and what a Christian really is. WATCH FULL...

Truth is a big deal in our culture, but the truth we adhere to is often personal truth based on what we feel, and not on what is objectively true. Christianity believes there is absolute truth and it is found in Jesus. That claim has caused a lot of people to shy away from Christianity, because we are often taught that if someone claims they have absolute truth, it undermines others’ freedom. WATC...

In this section of Galatians, there is an encounter that feels like one of the most awkward moments in the early church: Paul goes after Peter for separating himself from Gentiles he was eating with previously. After a group of Jewish men show up in Antioch, Peter reverts to the old ways of keeping distance from those who were not Jewish. WATCH FULL SERVICE ON YOUTUBE WATCH THAILAND INFO MEETING D...

Paul has a passion for the Gospel. It is why he continues to tell his own story about what God did and continues to do. Sometimes it is easy to talk about the need for grace in our lives, but it is another thing to see or believe how much we really need that grace. Paul has been telling his story of coming to understand God’s grace in Galatians 1. He will do a 3-year time jump in chapter 1 by talk...

We all have a grid for how we view our life—the things that happen around us and the things that happen to us. At Element we are constantly trying to get people to see their lives through the larger narrative of God’s story. Very often, we tend to narrate life through the lens of our past. All of our joys, sorrows, ups, and downs filter through and inform how we interpret the world around us. If w...

The Apostle Paul was an interesting case in his authority as an Apostle. He was one of the most learned men in the history of the church, being trained by the best scholars of his day, but when it came to the Gospel message it was Jesus who took all that learning and applied it in real ways. Paul was independent of most influences of his day, but not independent of God’s influence. WATCH FULL SERV...

In week one we started by talking about what the Gospel is, who Paul was writing to, and Paul’s apostleship and authority. People have now arrived in the area of Galatia who are trying to tear Paul’s teaching down by saying he was a secondhand apostle and wasn’t actually sent by Jesus. WATCH FULL SERVICE ON YOUTUBE DOWNLOAD PDF SERMON NOTES HERE

Galatians is a book about God’s grace as seen specifically in the Gospel. This book was the central theological work that brought about what we now call “The Reformation.” Martin Luther’s commentary on Galatians says, “…tyrants and enemies of ours may accuse and frighten us, but they dare not condemn us, for Christ, whom God the Father has raised from the dead is our righteousness and our victory....