Element Christian Church of Santa Maria

The complete picture of an intercessor is found and fulfilled in Jesus. He was God and Man, yet died in our place and rose three days later and now lives as an intercessor between us and God forever.

When God speaks, He fulfills what He says. This is a statement you hear a lot at Element, so much so that we almost take it for granted and almost always over look the very simple and yet extraordinary thought: THAT GOD ACTUALLY DOES SPEAK.

Jesus, as God, can bring hope to any situation; even Lot’s and even yours.

It’s easy to condemn the people of Sodom and Gomorrah when we read this story. Pride, injustice, sexual immorality, and violence were the ways of their people. Whether in great ways or small ways, these are not the ways of the kingdom of God. We are called to forsake the ways of Sodom and Gomorrah, both great and small, and flee to Jesus to save us from the wrath to come.

Damnation is walking our own way, but salvation is shown as OVER abundance. When the Kingdom of God TRANSFORMS our lives, in understanding of who He is by His own revelation; the abundance of His life in us should work itself out of us in abundance, truth, and grace.

Romans 2:28-29 For no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical. But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man but from God.

Genesis chapter 16 contains allusions to other important passages in Genesis; by bringing the events of Hagar and Abram into the larger context of these other passages, Moses enlarges the reference of the story beyond Abram and Hagar as individuals and ties their actions to the themes of the book as a whole.

Throughout the scriptures we are constantly reminded that our faith is in a big God who saves people despite their continued indifference and sin. We are also reminded that our righteousness before God has nothing to do with ourselves and everything to do with Him.

This covenant has called us to believe in Jesus Christ. It has called us to understand that without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sin. We are all covenant breakers, and yet Jesus trades Himself for us.

2 Corinthains 5:21For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

If we don’t understand Jesus, nothing in the scriptures will make sense, especially

when it comes to money and our “things.” God spoke and created everything with

His words; therefore, there is nothing that does not belong to Him. All things were

made for His glory, to reflect His Glory, and be used for His purposes.