Elevating Life Church Messages: Recent Episodes
John Waters
We were experiencing equipment issues, therefore there is a segment where there is a moment or two missing. We apologize for the inconvenience.
Speakers: Executive Pastor Matt Wulf, Missions Elder Jesse Estrada, Missionary Kenneth Williams
It's truly amazing to discover happiness beyond material possessions. The message "Big People Embrace Contentment" will remind us of the importance of finding contentment in a world that often values power, fame, status, and wealth above all else. It will also show howto recognize the significance of being present and content and avoid negative consequences from envy and comparison. From there, we will see how trustworthy people understand this and know that embracing God's truth, beauty, unity, and goodness is the key to all of this.
At some point in our lives, we all face the decision to step up and become leaders who guide those around us, especially those who may be weaker or smaller. This week's message, "Being a Big Person in a Small Person's World," draws from Christ's powerful teaching, "Despise Not the Little Ones," to show us how to develop greater tolerance and understanding as we teach and mentor those with less faith. By fully embracing this perspective, we can become powerful disciples of Christ who transform the world for "Good" in the lives of those around us.
Being born a small person in a big person's world can be one of life's greatest challenges. This week's message explores the command of Christ, "Deny Yourself," and how it can help us cultivate determination, a trait exemplified by Jesus. The message also offers practical ways to develop determination, enabling us to overcome challenges, opposition, and problems that prevent us from living righteously with God and others. Join us as we discover how to cultivate determination in a big person's world, Jesus' style!
This week's message is "The Leaven of Judas or Jesus." It aims to inspire reflection about the difference between false and true beliefs and teachings. The message also urges people to be mindful of the people and ideas they surround themselves with, as they can either help them become more like Jesus or deceitful, like Judas. We invite you to join us as we explore the command of Jesus, "Beware of Leaven," in a manner that aligns with the wisdom and virtues of truthful living through the integrity of Christ.
Honoring our parents is a universal desire, but it shouldn't come at the cost of harming our Heavenly Parents' relationship - the love of God the Father and the expectations of Mother Wisdom. This week's message aims to guide us on honoring our Heavenly and earthly parents while living in the complete truth of "Goodness," where we uphold traditions and maintain an unwavering passion for eternal truth, both now and forever. Join us as we explore the path to honoring our parents in a way that aligns with our highest spiritual values and principles of reality.
All of us wear a yoke, either purposely or unwittingly. The question is…whose yoke are you wearing and what are the results? Do you tend to focus on problems or do you intentionally focus on the purpose of God in your life? We look at what this all means in the message entitled “The Yoke’s On You.”
This week's message is "A Father's Courage: Overcoming Fear Through Faith and Boldness for Life's Challenges." We'll explore the topic of courage and how to conquer fear, specifically "The Fear of Man" with "The Fear of the Lord." Come learn how to grow in bravery and gain insight into the importance of boldness on life's journey.
This week's message, "Religious People Believe There Is Never Enough; Spiritual People Believe There is More than Enough," highlights the differences between those with a scarcity mindset versus abundance. The message emphasizes the need for a growth mindset and gaining God's wisdom to make a positive impact for eternity. By being open and responsible, true disciples of Christ can gain a perspective of abundance and empower themselves to make a tremendous difference. Find out which response you have to Jesus and embrace God's Goodness today.
Being mature means listening attentively, gathering relevant information, and avoiding making hasty judgments. This week's message, titled "Religious People Jump to Conclusions: Spiritual People Listen to Conclusions," highlights the importance of fostering compassion and praying for people to join God's harvest. Additionally, the message will provide Christians with three essential components of compassion, namely serving, listening, and forgiving, to enable them to communicate and live a life of goodness with greater compassion and understanding.
Who is influencing you? There are people on social media known as “influencers” who become models of how to live for many, many people. The same is true in the church. There are leaders in the church who have great influence on thousands, or even millions of people. But are they actually wolves in sheep’s clothing? Jesus says we must beware of false prophets. Again, I ask who is influencing you? That’s what we’ll be looking at this Sunday in the message, “Religious People Are False Prophets; Spiritual People Are True Forecasters.”
Those who walk through the narrow gate understand that trust is earned, while those who walk through the broad gate demand it. This week's message, "Religious People Demand Trust: Spiritual People Earn Trust," will highlight the Christ trait of "Decisiveness" and its significance in developing trust in life and with others. The message will also provide three practical tips to help you make decisions confidently and promptly, aligning your trust muscle with Jesus' way of trusting with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength.
The golden rule of "Do unto others" is taught by moms worldwide to ensure that others are not harmed or manipulated by false promises and pledges. This week's message, "Religious People Make Promises; Spiritual People Keep Promises," will center around the importance of integrity to achieve spiritual growth and inner peace. Also, it will share Christ's ingredients that make up the virtue of "sensitivity," which guarantees to treat others as you would like to be treated and puts smiles on mothers' faces everywhere.
Jesus…almost too good to be true. Yet, not only is Jesus true, he is truth…not only is he good, he is goodness. Jesus is not A way, A truth and A life…he is THE Way, THE truth and THE life. There is no other. Only in him can we live abundantly for all eternity rather than just trying to survive another day. And that is the point of this week's message entitled "Religious People Survive by Scarcity; Spiritual People Thrive By Abundance."
This week, Dr. Steve Vanostran, Executive Director of ABCRM, will unscramble some things to deliver Sunday's message. Be excited and ready to receive God's word to understand the difference between scrambling and unscrambling life through Jesus and the church. Also, be awake and prepared to receive God's word from our Executive Director to support him as he casts pearls of wisdom to add value to the ministry God has given us in Morgan County and beyond.
One of the challenges in Christianity is understanding the difference between judgment and discernment. This week's message, "Religious People Are Judgmental; Spiritual People Are Discerning," will share the distinction between the two and give straightforward ways to cultivate the divine habit of discernment to kill the practice of judgment. Also, a secret ingredient will be revealed to expedite discernment in the soul, bringing it into a healthy existence where everyone is blessed.
Many Christians believe life is about living in this hell and surviving it until the next life, God's Kingdom. Wrong! God's Kingdom exists now through the Way, Truth, and Life of Jesus, allowing people to thrive in God's Reality in the present. This week's message, "Religious People Want Out of Hell; Spiritual People Don't Want To Return To Hell," will share the resolve of gnashing of teeth in the faith and what it means to live a redeemed life in the here and now.
Like Easter eggs filled with treasures for children, the empty tomb of Jesus gives hope for a fulfilled and fruitful life. This week's message, Religious People Grow Leaves: Spiritual people Produce Fruit, shares the expectancy of Jesus and how it feeds the soul to produce the Fruit of life where all enjoy its treasures. It will also show how people produce leaves rather than Fruit when King Jesus gets us, but we don't get him.
Belief plus actions equals faith! This week's message, "Religious People Go to Church; Spiritual People Belong to Church," will show how dividing the faith formula (belief + action) results in half of a faith where people go to church rather than belong to it. Also, it will show how to solve the problem of understanding that Christianity is not just another religion but a truth about absolute reality—a fact where people "get to" say, "I'm Lovin' It!"
Observing the faith today, encouraging others has gone by the wayside, and discouragement is how most Christians walk. This week's message, "Religious People Push You Down; Spiritual People Lift You Up," flips that upside down and will show how encouragement is the oxygen of the soul. It will also give creative ways to "Think Outside the Bun" to encourage others during disheartening times, even to your enemy.
If there ever was a person who had the right to think like a victim, it was Jesus. However, he never did. Just the opposite. This week's message, "Religious People Think Like Victims: Spiritual People Think Like Victors, will show how going the second mile creates "deference" in the soul to resolve defensive living and put offensiveness to rest. It will also give the secret of how to respond honorably in the best and worst conditions to show respect for all of life.
This week's message, "Religious People Dish Out Bologna; Spiritual People Bring Home the Bacon," reveals if a Christian is phony or trustworthy. It will teach the listener how to develop their "no" muscle to stop dishing out bologna towards their faith and beef up their "yes" to God. A "yes" that brings home the bacon to grow God's Kingdom through the way, truth, and life of Jesus.
Next to love, self-control is the most critical thing in life. This week's message, "Religious People Have a Relationship with Their Bible; Spiritual People have a relationship with God," focuses on Grace and truth and how they work together with time to grow life's grace-filled relationships with God and others. It will also show how self-control is essential to navigating God's Love and Word well to become mature image bearers of God, now and always.
The Christian idea of love means seeking the other person's good, even at the expense of my good. This week's message, "Religious People Say, I Love You Because I Need You; Spiritual People Say, I Need You Because I Love You,"focuses on the expectation of loving people responsibly through God's way. It will also show how a heart of reconciliation is vital to mending broken relationships to pave the way for Jesus, that always says, "I need you because I love you."
“Love” is a word that is thrown around a lot these days with little understanding of its true meaning. We tend to love things and use people rather than using things and loving people.
If you feel like your life is out of control, then remember these two words of Jesus..."Follow Me."
All people are born to matter and be significant in life. But they fail to do so because bad things take over their perspective and attitude. The result; they "fall" into the lostness of life. This week's message, "Religious People are Lost; Spiritual People are Found," shares the vanity of rules and good intentions and shows how life can be found. Found with a good attitude and intentional living to give birth to a new life where people's lives are redeemed and found.
A craze in Christian culture today is people know how to say "Sorry" but fail to apologize where they become better. This week's message, Religious People Apologize; Spiritual People Repent, will explain what it means to be "poor in spirit" to gain a repentance attitude reflecting a humble soul. Also, it will uncover the two lousy character traits stopping people from humbling themselves to reach their God potential in the image they have been created in.
Senior Pastor Drake Hunter, Lead Pastor John Waters, Executive Pastor Matt Wulf and Financial Elder Lanette Gimbel.
When hearing the word Apocalypse, many people think of the world's end and act accordingly. Unfortunately, that thinking and practice reveal true identity. The message, "Are Your Ready: The Apocalypse," uncovers the literal sense of who belongs to Jesus and who identifies with the Beast. By the message's end, a person will know if their forehead and hands are aligned with God's Love and understanding or marked with "The Number of the Beast."
Christians are to build their lives on the holiest faith derived from the Good News of Jesus. They are to concentrate and dedicate themselves to God's love through prayer and obedience by staying alert and keeping accountable to other true believers. The message, "The Epic Story of Us and God," will reveal how to be considerate to godly living and remind Christians that their whole lives indicate what they genuinely believe.
Many Christians want to curse the darkness when they should turn on the light. This week's message, "Walking in the Light," will remind Jesus's followers to reflect God's light and love as they stay true to their beliefs. It will also encourage God's children to remain strong in the LORD when friends walk away from the light of fellowship. In addition, it will teach the mystery of overcoming false news that happens when people abandon the truth.
Are you a "good" loser? Becoming a person who knows how to lose well is a significant advantage of the Christian faith. This week's message, Death Can't Stop Me, will show how all people experience loss, including death, and how it is just a new beginning. It will also instruct you how to cut losses and move on to relish The Day of the Lord, freeing you from corruption and opening you up for new things God has in store for you.
The favorite people of God to love are the ones who choose to praise and adore Him in the new life given through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. This week's message, "God's Favorite People to Love," will comfort believers and encourage them to stay strong through God's love as they continue to put their hope in the perfect future of Christ. Also, it will show how Jesus' expressed generosity and love through suffering will get God's beloved people through any persecution to taste victory over evil every time.
This week we will discuss the process of gaining wisdom, and then how we are to cultivate our wisdom into focused action. We are taught that living with one and not the other is useless, but using both in harmony is the ultimate expression of our faith.
Contentment isn’t an excited kind of happy, it’s more like a peaceful ease of mind. It’s being satisfied with what you have, whatever that is. I like to define contentment as a state of the heart and mind. It’s a restfulness, a place of trust, peace in the midst of plenty or want. And it’s something we can learn. This week, we'll find out how to be "Uncomfortable in the World" and find true contentment in Christ.
Faithfulness to Jesus recognizes that all followers of Christ are equal partners who share in the gift of Love. This realization is not just something we think about personally but something we do openly and gladly. This week's message: Personal, But Never Private, will reveal what it means to be "at one" with God and humanity. Also, it will give the secret of restoring life's broken relationships to enjoy the spoils of life authentically and generously together.
Many call themselves Christians but are ruining the faith with their wrong perspective and evil actions; it's destroying God's Way of life, the faith! It's time to put things back into order according to Christ's outlook and attitude, personally and collectively. This week's message, "Living Good with Bad," will reveal God's strategy to transform corrupt and harsh people into a culture that lives and reflects the integrity of Christ. Also, it will give the key to living with God's goodness to fight the destructive influence of two-faced living.
The day people are born, a web of lies is seen and experienced because of humanity's fall away from God. If our belief (view) remains the same, mediocrity is the result. This week's message: A Web of Lies, will reveal Jesus's extraordinary calling to reverse the meagerness of the fall. Also, it will give answers on how to transform a halfhearted life into an astonishing one through the excellency of God, guaranteeing outstanding outcomes for all.
A Christian and the church should be known for their devotion to Jesus and the way of love. This type of affection means God's people are shaped by the new ways of Christ rather than by the old religious painstaking habits of hypocrisy. This week's message, "Confronting Old Ways," will show how to oppose bad habits and replace them with good ways. Good practices to gain the integrity needed to serve life well out of devotion to King Jesus.
It's not easy to feel hopeful in many situations and relationships. But biblical hope means trusting in God's character and choosing hope despite our circumstances. This week's message, "Living on Hope," will clarify the difference between worldly and Christian hope and show how to make wise choices based on God's expectation to anticipate a better day through Jesus.
Why does it seem that God is sometimes absent from the life of the Christian. In this message, Lead Pastor John Waters gives some insight into how to move from spiritual darkness back into the light.
We too often avoid pain because it makes us uncomfortable. However, if we step into God's plan of using heat to burn off bad habits and people in our life, pain can be our best friend. Turning pain into the power of Love is what God does best. This week's message: Punishment with Purpose, will share how God will ultimately resolve the pain we experience today to make us the people we need to be now and always.
It's time to reap what was sown! Harvest time lets us know our days are getting shorter and nights are getting longer. It's also a time we harvest or reap what we sow in the springtime of Life. This week's message, "Torches in the Darkness," will share the secret of keeping Life's torch lit in the darkest of seasons to reap the abundant harvest of Christ. A crop guaranteed to feed others and self the success of God usefully where everyone is satisfied from His plentiful harvest.
The first stone set in constructing a brick building is called a cornerstone. All other materials are placed on this stone to construct a united and well-uniformed structure. Likewise, the church is built with a chief cornerstone of creating unity and uniformity among God's blended people. This week's message, Legion of One, will reveal how Jesus, the chief cornerstone, and his combined people form the structure of God. The House of the LORD stands firm to fight this world's divisions and differences to reap God's Goodness as one unit under God, now and all Eternity.
The goal of every Christian is to gain divine wisdom to produce the outcomes of Christ. Those results are known as The Fruit of the Spirit. This week's message, Fruit Salad Christianity, will share the secret of producing good fruit in a Christian's life. Good tasting fruit that will make a sweet and tasteful experience when serving others.
When people experience you, what do they see? Will you pass the test as a Christ-follower? This week, Pastor Drake Hunter explores how we can pass the test of Jesus.
In this week's message, Pastor Drake Hunter helps us to understand how to examine life's goodness through God's perspective...the goggles of goodness.
What banner are you flying in your life? Are you flying the banner of "self" or the banner of Christ? This week, Pastor Drake Hunter challenges us to ask ourselves that question.
We often hear the statement, "Act like an adult and don't be childlike." This week's message, "Acting Like Grown-Ups," will share what it means to be an adult in the faith and show what childlike Christianity looks like when people fail to grow up in the Trust of the LORD. Also, it will share three insights on how to become a mature person under God's control to transform them from acting like a grown-up to actually becoming one.
In this week's message, Pastor Drake Hunter helps us to understand how to uniquely live for God.
The New Testament book of Matthew gives us an account of the birth of the promised Messiah, Jesus Christ. Pastor Drake Hunter takes us inside this amazing story in this week's message.
In this week's message, Pastor Drake Hunter introduces the Good News of the New Testament.
Sometimes Old Testament prophets had to provoke the powers that be in order for God's message to be heard. Pastor Drake Hunter looks at how they would do it.
One of the best known Old Testament prophets was Daniel. In this week's message, Pastor Drake Hunter looks at the prophetic formulas found in the book of Daniel.
The prophet Jonah was a very reluctant prophet, even trying to run away from God because he did not want to bring anything good to the city of Nineveh. In this week's message, Pastor Drake Hunter looks at the actions and anger of Jonah.
Throughout the Bible we find parables, stories, that are meant to help us understand more fully what God is saying. The same was true with the Old Testament prophets. Pastor Drake Hunter delves into the prophets parables in this week's message.
This week, Pastor Drake Hunter continues exploring the messages of the prophets in the Old Testament.
Throughout Old Testament times, God sent many prophets to "forecast" what God was planning to do. Pastor Drake Hunter explores this subject in this week's message.
Just like our own children can often be disobedient, the children of God are many times disobedient as well. Pastor Drake Hunter talks about it in this special Mother's Day message.
What is the "Breath of God?" Pastor John Waters explores that topic in this week's message.
What do you worship? Who do you idolize? Questions that Pastor Drake Hunter wants to help us to answer correctly in this week's message.
Are you passive or active in your faith life? Pastor Drake Hunter talks about it in this message.
One of the most interesting books in the entire Bible is the book called "Song of Solomon." Pastor Drake Hunter helps us to understand God's purpose in giving us this particular book.
There is often more going on than meets the eye. We have a limited perspective, so we must strive to see life through God's perspective. Pastor Drake Hunter gives us insight in this message.
Throughout the Bible, we see God using women in some very special and powerful ways. Pastor Drake Hunter introduces us to some of these amazing ladies.
God wants to free us from the things that bind us, but too often we are unwilling to give up our idols. Pastor Drake Hunter gives us insight into how to be cleansed after emerging from captivity to sin.
There is a whole lot more to the story of Job than is immediately apparent. Pastor Drake Hunter helps us to meet the real man, Job.
Pastor Drake Hunter is back in the pulpit after a short sabbatical and reminds us that God is always at work...even when we don't see it or realize it.
In this week's message, eLc member Harvey Baker helps us to understand the importance of discernment in following leaders.
Dr. Kim Skattum, retired pastor of Crossroads Church in Thornton, dives deep into reasons to love the wisdom of God.
In this week's message, Dr. Steve VanOstren from the Rocky Mountain area of the American Baptists joined us to talk about the importance of remaining faithful through hard times.
God loves to use seemingly ordinary people to achieve extraordinary things. Pastor John Waters highlights some of those who God used in special ways to move His plan forward.
Are Christians called to judge? Pastor John Waters will examine the role of the judges in the Old Testament and what we can learn from them.
Did you know that we are invited to enter the Promised Land as well? Pastor Drake Hunter tells us more in this message.