Seven Daily Sins continued at Element last night with Part 2 of the series, a message on gluttony. Here are the enhanced notes from my sermon . . .
We kicked off our new series Seven Daily Sins last night at Element, and the first sin we tackled was Lust. Here are some notes from my message . . .
Element's new message series Seven Daily Sins starts this Sunday.
We'll be exploring how the "seven deadly sins" aren't just things we do on occasion -- we carry them around 24/7, part and parcel of the brokenness of our heart. But we'll also hear how Jesus redeems this brokenness and kills these sins.
We are more wicked than we dared believe. But we are more loved than we dared hope.
Come join us at 6:30 p.m. Sunday, on the campus of Immanuel Church. More info here.
If you're looking for a place to worship in the Nashville area, you're welcome at Element.
Once there were two brothers. You know their story, more than likely. One was wasteful, exploitative, wanton, licentious. One was rigid, moralistic, uptight, legalistic. Two brothers with two personalities and two sets of attendant sins. But their father loved them both and all that he had belonged to both of them equally.
This is how staggeringly awesome the gospel of Jesus is.
Two sisters. One is a busybody, the other kinda poky. One rarely Sabbaths; the other makes every day a Sabbath. The prescription for both is focus on Jesus.
Two Americans. One is a practicing homosexual and proud of it. The other is a practicing Baptist and proud of it. One trusts his feelings, the other trusts his actions. Both are in desperate need of Jesus for pretty much the same reason.
This is how wonderful the gospel of Jesus. It's the skeleton key for all of humanity.
Medicine doesn't work this way. You don't treat spina bifida with drugs for leukemia. (At least, I don't think you do.) You don't give a decongestant to a kid with athlete's foot. For every condition, there is a specific treatment. Different symptoms, different fixes.
But the gospel isn't like that. It fixes everything.
We all exhibit a multitude of symptoms for our conditions, running the gamut from self-indulgent immorality to self-satisfying morality. Opposite ends of the spectrum and everywhere in between. Whatever your symptoms, the gospel is the answer.
There is no problem, pain, or perniciousness outside the universe-spanning scope of the gospel.
The gospel carries with it resurrection power.
So Jew or Greek, slave or free, male or female, rich or poor, smart or dumb, well or sick, bad or good . . . the gospel is the power to save for all who believe.
The gospel is the antidote to everything.
Our new series -- DWELL: Hope from Haggai -- continues tomorrow night at Element. Join us at 6:30 p.m. for DWELL, Part 2: "Downward" and find out how faithful God is even in times of trouble and suffering.
Campus of Immanuel Church
5253 Granny White Pike
See you there!
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We believe that every church has a unique culture, its own DNA formed by a variety of factors including but not limited to the multifaceted makeup of the congregation, pastoral influences and direction throughout its history, and the current vision and week-in-week-out shepherding and preaching it receives. These things contribute to the discipleship culture of a church, determining how deep or wide it is, how committed to spiritual growth and maturity it is on a corporate level.
And as societal cultures have personalities, so do discipleship cultures.
By combining the past and current Element community with our conviction about the future of our ministry, we believe Element's personality can be described thusly:
simple
gracious
missional
1. Simple
Our organization and our function are simple so that we may better focus on the things that are most important: God and our neighbors.
Our commitment is to a simple church structure that we usually call our three “tent pegs”:
a. worship gathering
b. community groups
c. service projects
2. Gracious
Grace will not just be the content of our messages but will be the prevailing spirit people encounter in the relationships within our community.
3. Missional
“Missional” encompasses many things, but for Element it essentially means that we do not exist to self-maintain but so that our neighbors will be transformed by the gospel. Being missional affects how we think and teach, and how we act and minister.
This is what we mean when we call Element a "missional community":
a. We treat our community as a place where followers of Jesus are equipped, trained, and inspired to be missionaries to their respective neighbors and “tribes.” Any unbeliever who visits Element will hear the gospel clearly proclaimed and we aim for conversions “in house,” but the impetus of personal witness for Christ is placed not on bringing the lost in but on sending the disciples out.
2. We commit to a regular service project, and in doing so we place our community in the ongoing work of serving our neighbors. We will continue to develop relationships and connections with local and foreign charities and mission organizations and with other mission-minded churches/pastors so that Element is truly living out its call to bring the gospel to the world.
3. By holding our main community group – PRAXIS – in a “third place” we are regularly “doing church” in the public presence of our neighbors. Also, third place meetings can be seen as neutral, un-intimidating locations for seekers interested in checking out church.
4. We employ a missional budget (that we call "Bold As Love") which stipulates that 60% of all tithes/offerings go to foreign and local missions and church planting/support. Element's total operating budget is 40% of all donations. This is our way of financially committing to loving others more than we love ourselves.
New series -- DWELL: Hope from Haggai -- begins this Sunday at Element.
UPDATE:
After some research, our administrative director David McLemore has discovered that those who have donated to Element in the last year CAN declare these gifts as exemptions in their income tax filings. It "pays" to have a professional accountant on the board!
Sorry for the confusion. Please disregard the previous notice.
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An update on Element's filing for 501(c)3 non-profit entity status with the state of Tennessee:
When Element moved to independence from Bellevue Community Church in early 2008, the board of directors immediately began drafting bylaws (a several weeks long process) for filing an application with the state for 501(c)3 non-profit status. This application was filed in Spring of last year.
As of this date, we still have not received approval or confirmation. Several calls to the state agency were fruitless. Last week, John Northrup, Element's technical director who has been coordinating our filing, followed up yet again and was told by the agency that they have likely "misplaced" our application.
A requisition number was theoretically sent to us once upon a time, but because of our problems with our original post office, it has likely been lost with other pieces of mail we did not receive. (We have since changed post offices and have had no problems with mail since then.)
This means two things:
a) We are done waiting for our original application to be "found" and approved, so we are re-filing for 501(c)3 status immediately.
b) Because we have not been approved all this time, if you gave financially to Element in the last year, your giving is not tax deductible.
We are really sorry for any inconvenience that may cause you. Please know it inconveniences Element corporately as well, including financially, as we will have to pay back-taxes on every dollar given in the last year as part of our filing process.
If you have any other questions or concerns, please email info AT elementnashville DOT org and someone will be in contact with you asap.
Elementers, please note, THERE IS NO ELEMENT WORSHIP SERVICE on Sunday, Feb. 1.
We will be worshiping with our brothers and sisters at Immanuel Church (same location as Element) at 10:30 a.m. that Sunday.
Then join us for our 3rd annual Super Bowl potluck fiesta at the Wilsons'.
Check your inbox for the Evite, or email info@elementnashville.org for details.
