Element Christian Church of Santa Maria

Last week we looked at Paul's prayer in Ephesians 3. Today we want to flesh that out in how we truly view God. We want to become a people who know that the reason we pray is not to get things from God, but to know Him better. Prayer is often misunderstood because we think it is about getting from God rather than being with God; this is why Paul prays that we would be reminded who God is. WATCH FUL...

Statistics and surveys today tell us that most people in America (and around the world) say that they are spiritual but not "religious." They are not interested in what would be called "institutional religion." They also say they value "spirituality" and are "spiritual" themselves. It is important in this series to understand what "spiritual-ness" actually is and is not. Paul's prayer, which we lo...

Daniel is one of the most famous Bible heroes of all time. He prays to God and recognizes where his country failed, but also where God showed Himself as faithful. The book of Daniel, historically speaking, is written while the nation of Israel is in captivity in the nation of Babylon. Daniel was probably, scholars say, somewhere in his middle school years when he went to Babylon and yet you see a...

During the last few weeks of this series on prayer, we want to look at examples of how people prayed in the Scriptures so that we can have insight into what real prayer looks like. Today we look at a prayer by Heman that is dark; as a matter of fact, the last word in the Psalm is darkness. There is a reason we want to study a dark prayer like this. Growth, for us, happens most often in the darkest...

This week we begin to make a transition from talking about what prayer is, to how certain people in the Bible prayed. We have walked through unanswered prayers, real prayer, the "Lord's Prayer," ceaseless prayer, and what "praying in the Spirit" means. Now we want to see how some people in the Bible actually prayed and what their examples can show us. The Bible says real spirituality is not just b...

Praying in the Spirit can sound other-worldly and spooky, but that is what the Scriptures tell us to do. The Greek word for "pray in" means "by means of," "with the help of," "in the sphere of," and "in connection to." Praying in the Spirit does not refer simply to the words we are saying, but it refers to how we are praying. Praying in the Spirit is praying according to the Holy Spirit's leading....

One of the dangers in “spiritual life” is thinking that we know what the Scriptures are saying when we don’t; we at times get so used to Bible language that we fail to stop and think, “What did the writer mean by that?” This is why an understanding of prayer is so important, because prayer is always connected to a very deep truth: God is always present, which means He is right wherever and wheneve...

People everywhere have at least some difficulty knowing how to pray. We tend to default to the way we have heard others pray. Because we've heard people being "eloquent" as they pray, we think God wants us to step up our vocabulary to a higher level, so we try to learn the new spiritual dialect, but God wants to have a relationship with us as we are. Today and this week we are going to take a look...

It is interesting that Jesus' disciples never asked Him to teach them how to prophesy or preach, but they did ask Him to teach them how to pray. Most often, Jesus taught others how to pray by simply praying. He would pray where the disciples could see and hear Him, but He also went off to pray by Himself (sometimes at the most inconvenient times) and the disciples had to take care of themselves. T...

Some people pray and are constantly wondering if God hears them. If and when we do pray, we usually expect God to interact with us in a way that we find acceptable. When He doesn't, we may think there is something wrong with the relationship or with God Himself. We are told that God is like a Father, which is wonderful, but some people view that relationship as one where God must always give us th...

Unanswered prayers can be challenging for us on an individual level. They can be especially challenging in a group/community setting, where different opinions/interpretations of why they've gone unanswered come to the forefront. This sermon challenges the misconceptions we often have and shows us how we can offer Gospel encouragement to one another in the midst of our waiting-when we've yet to see...

In order for us to have a deep relationship with God, we must know and trust who He is in His person. Too often, we make up who we want God to be and then worship that image as God. Rather than living in the truth that we are made in His image, we try to remake God in our image and that never goes well. One of our biggest obstacles to prayer is that often we are praying for what we want rather tha...

Christie and Aaron sit down and discuss why she began journaling and how it has helped. Offers some simple ways to begin journaling for others. WATCH FULL SERVICE ON YOUTUBE WATCH THIS WEEK’S TALKING ELEMENT EPISODE

This week kicks off our sermon series dedicated specifically to prayer. There are many ideas about what prayer is or isn't throughout the world, and prayer can seem overwhelming or intimidating to a lot of people. However, the Christian faith is centered on a personal God revealed in Jesus Christ, and we are allowed to approach Him anytime and in full honesty through prayer! Prayer is not about ou...

Church discipline sounds controlling; yet Jesus teaches us that in love and grace confrontation may need to happen. Why should one Christian confront another? WATCH FULL SERVICE ON YOUTUBE DOWNLOAD PDF SERMON NOTES HERE

Aaron and Russ Sharer sit down to discuss 1 John 3:9, and how this series (Never Read A Bible Verse *without context) has helped Russ. WATCH FULL SERVICE ON YOUTUBE WATCH THIS WEEK’S TALKING ELEMENT EPISODE

Matt 28:19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations… God has called His people to be on mission for Him in the world, but what does that mean? Kevin DeYoung says, “The mission of the church is the task given by God for the people of God to accomplish in the world.” We make disciples by bearing witness to Jesus and what He is doing as the Son of God. • Mission is not just for other people tha...

Starting with Jesus and going down the line, the Bible is mostly about people whose faith in God not only does not prevent their suffering but very often causes their suffering. No one consoles someone else in the Bible with, "God won't give you more than you can handle." WATCH FULL SERVICE ON YOUTUBE DOWNLOAD PDF SERMON NOTES HERE

Anxiety is real and can have a myriad of causes; if you struggle with it, please understand that you are not alone. The Greek word for anxious in Philippians 4:6 literally means to “have cares”; it has the connotation of letting your thoughts be overly focused on one thing. A lot of the advice in our world regarding anxiety is unhelpful, but Scripture offers much wisdom in how a healthy view of Go...

This week, we continue to explore how reading Scripture out of context can lead us to wrong or dangerous conclusions. The verse Steve covered (Philippians 4:13) has often been used to boost morale or celebrate human accomplishments, centering the focus on us and what we can do (with God’s help, of course). Essentially, it has been interpreted as a “Christian” version of, “You can do anything you p...

We live in a time and place of significant material blessings. Because of this, it can be deceptively easy for us to live as if we don’t really need anything from God—to live as practical atheist—becoming complacent and self-reliant in our relationship with God. This is what happened to the Church in Laodicea. They trusted in wealth rather than in Jesus, and in doing so, they lost their zeal and f...

Aaron and Joy Snyder sit down to discuss her question, “I have a friend who is a Jehovah’s Witness, how do I talk to her about Jesus? WATCH FULL SERVICE ON YOUTUBE WATCH THIS WEEK’S TALKING ELEMENT EPISODE

Aaron sits down with Christina Sultan, the director of CareNet Pregnancy Center to discuss the Dobbs case, abortion, and what CareNet does and is doing. WATCH FULL SERVICE ON YOUTUBE WATCH THIS WEEK’S TALKING ELEMENT EPISODE

When Jesus dies for our sin and rises from the grave, He sends His Holy Spirit to be our advocate, our counselor. The Holy Spirit is not just limited now to prophets, the Spirit now dwells in those who have placed our faith in Jesus. In the New Testament we see Jesus’ followers start to change the world, men and women both. The first people Jesus revealed Himself to after the resurrection were wom...

Genesis 1:27 “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them…” These words were unique in the ancient world, men do not bear or reflect the image of God any more than women. All humankind is made in God’s image. WATCH FULL SERVICE ON YOUTUBE DOWNLOAD PDF SERMON NOTES HERE