Elm City Church Podcast

In verses 12 through 15, Peter states the big purpose of why he’s writing this letter: he wants this church to remember and put into practice what he’s told them. It’s important for us to know that even though this church was doing well, Peter felt very strongly that they consistently needed to be reminded of the truths they already know. For many of us, our greatest need is not to know more truth...

This past Sunday was our third message looking at what the Apostle Peter has to say about spiritual growth in the opening paragraph of his letter. The big theme of 2nd Peter is “Strive to Grow in the Knowledge of Jesus.” Peter instructs us that we need to make every effort to grow in our faith because the virtue list he gives are some of the marks that our faith is authentic. Peter’s big concern f...

Followers of Jesus need to take spiritual growth seriously. As Ruth Haley Barton said, “Spiritual formation is central to the message of the Gospel and therefore central to the mission of the church." Peter makes it clear that growth requires effort and involvement. At the same time, we must never forget that our own efforts are doomed to fail if the Holy Spirit is not working in us to produc...

Is spiritual growth only a gift from God or is our effort an integral piece of the process? Does God choose us or do we choose him? These are questions followers of Jesus have wrestled with for centuries. To reconcile these questions, Albie introduced the idea of an "antinomy." An antinomy is when you have truths that are “not contradictory but which we cannot neatly reconcile.”  

We see the world in stories. Stories are the primary way that communicate. Discover how your story finds its place within the larger Story of God.

Check out the overview of 2 Peter, the book of the Bible that we will be studying at the start of this New Year!

What is God's way of making a fresh start? What is God’s way of getting us ready to step into the future? How do we take that first step? These are just a few of the questions we explored for our first Sunday of 2022. Listen as our friend and guest speaker Jeff Ebert unpacks the idea of looking to God as we plan for a New Year. 

One of the oldest Christmas Carols, estimated to be older than the United States, dating back to before the 16th century. In the mid-18th century it seems to have gained traction and was further popularized by its inclusion in Charles Dickens’s classic A Christmas Carol. Christmas is all about Jesus destroying the works of the Devil!

This hymn was written by Charles Wesley and packs an incredible amount of theology into three short verses. The full arc of the hymn looks at how Jesus not only came for individual salvation, but also came for the healing and restoration of all things. It is such good news that peace and reconciliation are available through Jesus, the one who made a way for us to be reconciled to God and who is hi...

What Child is This? is the natural question to be asked when reading the birth narrative of Jesus in Luke 1-2. So many incredible things happen and what is said about Jesus is astounding. For example, the angel declared to Mary, “He (Jesus) will be very great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David. And he will reign over Israel fore...

This message based out of Luke 8:4-21 is a parable of Jesus commonly called the Parable of the Sower. This parable could also be referred to as the “Parable of the Soils” because Jesus uses it to highlight four different responses to his message. This parable is designed to be a warning and a word of encouragement.

One of the most important things you can have is the assurance that you are at Peace with God. Discover the grounds for and assurance of this peace.

In the midst of difficulty, we are prone to functionally forget Jesus and his kingdom. It is so easy to become focused upon and animated by the suffering happening to us rather than Christ within us. 

Forgiveness can be really hard and many of us carry with us the weight of unforgiveness. We are all people who have both sinned and been sinned against. As difficult as forgiveness can be, the cost of unforgiveness can be even greater.

To pray “Give us this day our daily bread” is to ask God to give us everything we need for the coming day. We all need our basic needs of food, drink, shelter, and safety met. We also need courage, patience, and wisdom to live into the Kingdom life Jesus has on offer. And we also need to experience more of Jesus as the bread of life, the one who can truly satisfy our every need.  

To pray, “your will be done” is to pray that God’s purposes be accomplished, what pleases him comes to pass, and that his commands and precepts are followed. Often God’s will for our lives is more about WHO we are becoming than WHAT we doing are or WHERE we are going.

The Kingdom of God was the central theme of Jesus' entire earthly ministry. But what exactly does it mean to pray, "Your kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven?" Find out in this weeks episode.

To “hallow” means to holy-fy. Since God is already holy, he can never be made holier. What we are being taught to pray is, “Father, your name be treated as holy” or “Father, make yourself real here on earth as you are in heaven.”

This episode serves as the kickoff to our new series, "Teach Us To Pray," a 7-week deep dive into The Lord's Prayer from Matthew 6:9-13.

In Mark 4:30-32, Jesus compares the Kingdom of God to that of a mustard seed. Discover why this was likely confusing to his original listeners and why it tells us so much about how Jesus works in our world.

The home is the first place we should be “Practicing the Way of Jesus Together” and is the testing ground for the genuineness of our faith. One of the major roles of a disciple of Jesus is to make other disciples and pass along the way to them. Because following Jesus is about a new way of life and not just a set of beliefs, the home is the perfect environment for discipleship. 

Think about a time this past week where you felt like you blew it, sinned against someone, or made a relationship more complicated. For example, “I blew it with my kid this week. I lost my temper and yelled when I should have been patient.” How is the Gospel good news in this situation? It starts with the simple truth that if we confess our sins God wants to forgive our sins. He also wants us to s...

Confession means to announce what is true . In modern liturgies, this could include a declaration of faith or reciting a historical church creed, but confession can also be an acknowledgement of how we have lived contrary to God’s way. Confession is part of what it means to be a Christian.