Element Christian Church
Ephesians Week 13 - Old and New
Locations & Times
Element Christian Church
4890 Bethany Ln, Santa Maria, CA 93455, USA
Sunday 9:00 AM
Sunday 10:45 AM
Welcome to Element
We strive to ensure the biggest thing people think when they hear about Element is Jesus! We are a Gospel centered community who finds our identity in Jesus.
TeamKids Roundtable - Raising Selfless Kids
April’s meeting topic is “Raising Selfless Kids.” Please come as we engage in conversation on what it looks like to instill in our children a love for God and a love for others, in an ever-growing self-centered culture. We will be meeting at 12:30pm in the eKids building on Sunday, April 14th. Pizza and drinks will be provided for both the adults & kids. To have a count for food & childcare, please sign-up each member of your family that are attending by Friday, April 12th.
https://ourelement.churchcenter.com/people/forms/716575Heroes Appreciation Day
Our eFamilies! Team has been working to put together a day of food, activities, and other ways to highlight and recognize the heroes in our community. Those that are active duty military, first responders, medical personnel, etc. There will be tacos and baked goods for sale and our heroes get free tacos! The event is 10a-3p and eFamilies is still looking for people to help with baking and donating items for the bake sale, setting up, cleaning up, and a few other things.
https://ourelement.churchcenter.com/people/forms/702140Young Adult Dinner and Game Night
If you are in your 20s or 30s and looking for a community to connect with, this is a great opportunity as you will all be in the same stage of being new to this group. The gathering will be taking place May 10th from 6p-9p here in the Barn.
https://ourelement.churchcenter.com/people/forms/729322Men's Game Night
Men 18 years and older are invited to come and enjoy a night of pizza, fun, connecting with others, and experience the epic Keinert game room! We are encouraging you to invite your friends, coworkers and neighbors to join us. May 31st 6pm-9pm
https://ourelement.churchcenter.com/people/forms/727648Save the date - Spring Baptisms
Our Spring Baptisms will be April 28th at 1pm<br><br>Details on what to bring will be announced next week.
Missions Newletter Update NEW
Get the latest on the various local and global ministries Element helps support.
https://www.ourelement.org/downloads/2024/2024_Winter_MissionsUpdate.pdfStart serving at Element
If you are looking for a way to meet more people at Element or feel more connected, one of the easiest ways is to start serving. From once a month for 15 minutes, to helping in our classrooms for a longer time, we have needs to fit your gifts.
https://ourelement.churchcenter.com/people/forms/395779Stay Connected - Download the Church Center App
https://ourelement.churchcenter.com/setupThis week's song list
Interested in looking for some of the songs we sang this week? Here's the titles and original artists:<br><br>Grace Alone - The Modern Post<br>Mighty Warrior - Elevation Worship<br>O Come to the Alter - Elevation Worship<br>To Know You - Citizens<br>Before the Throne of God - Kings Kaleidoscope<br>Shake the Dust off - Sean Curran
Old and New
Today in Ephesians we explore what it means to put off the old and put on the new. We put off our sin and put on Christ’s righteousness.
• How would you describe your “former manner of life”?
• What does it mean to be made new in Christ?
So far in Ephesians, we have looked at who God is, His great calling for us, and what His intention is for human history and the Church. God’s grace is ultimately demonstrated in His removal of our sin and clothing us in Christ’s righteousness. We continually put on sin when we should be taking it off. One person said, “Clothing can polish the image but not the soul.”
Read Ephesians 4:17-24.
John Stott outlined this as 1) hardness of heart moves to 2) darkness of heart, and then 3) deadness of heart, and finally 4) recklessness (unrestrained abandonment to sin). While not EVERYONE who lives apart from Christ goes to the depths mentioned here, it is still a portrayal of life apart from Christ in general. All lives without Christ are dominated by sin (even those in Christ still struggle with it).
• In what ways do you still struggle?
• What unbelief (lies about God) can you identify?
Hardness – The word for “hardening” meant “a stone harder than marble.” This is why we say, “a heart of stone.” A “hardening of hearts” describes not just an unwillingness, but also an inability to respond to God’s truth.
Darkness – This is an absence of spiritual understanding. In Romans 1 Paul says that the more we suppress the truth, the less capable we became of discerning spiritual reality.
Deadness – From hardness and darkness comes deadness. This is the state where people start calling “evil good and good evil.”
Recklessness – Recklessness means callous beyond feeling.
• Can you give examples of the above in people or relationships around you?
Paul tells us that if we are going to clothe ourselves with Christ we must get undressed from our sin; the only way to do that is by trusting in Jesus and then listening to His Spirit as He leads and guides us.
Here are 10 questions to ask yourself about things in your own life:
1. How is your thinking about that issue wrong? The Bible draws a correlation between the way we THINK and the way we live.
2. In what ways is your understanding about your sin growing darker? Meaning, how is it getting worse?
3. How have you tried to separate this sin/issue from God? Many people like to try to sin in private and act like God is not there.
4. In what ways have you made yourself more ignorant about the consequences of your sin? Paul says we reap what we sow.
5. Is your heart hard and growing harder (about this sin)?
6. How are you becoming more insensitive toward God and others (because of your sin)?
7. How are you giving your life over to this as if you were powerless to it?
8. In what ways do you indulge yourself in your sin?
9. How has this sin defiled other parts of your life?
10. How is this sin clamoring for your life?
Either Jesus kills our sin, or it will eventually kill us. Sin seeks to isolate us from others and bring about our death; the Gospel brings true, abundant life.
• Along with your community, practice confessing sin with one another, as well as confessing the “true righteousness and holiness” found in Jesus.
1. Do you know Christ
2. Are you learning about Jesus
3. Are you putting off and on