Elim EFC Sermons: Recent Episodes
Elim Evangelical Free Church
The video was removed from the audio recording but is available at the "View Slideshow Video" link above.
In Pastor Martin's farewell sermon, Martin and Kim reflect on 25 years of ministry at Elim.
What battles are you fighting today? What inclinations, attitudes or actions are fighting against your soul? How are you winning the fight or loosing the fight? Who is fighting with you on your behalf? Who are you fighting for?
Processing Questions: We are Jesus’ inheritance. What do you think it will be like for you when this promise is fulfilled? How was delight shown in your family? Church? How was delight withheld by others? By you? How can you give to others—family, neighbors, workplace, church—the gift delight? Read Matthew 16:27. Watch Francis Chan’s short video. Go to YouTube and search “Francis Chan rope illustration” and consider the following: How does the truth “What we do now will matter for eternity” refocus your priorities and choices? In light of eternity, what priorities and choices are you willing to change?
Processing Questions: 1) When you consider or are confronted by your sin, does it lead you to gratitude? Or to shame? 2) What do your feelings to question 1 tell you about how you understand grace and the Law? 3) What are you sacrificing this week, or this month, so that others can experience Christ’s love? 4) If you have no answer yet to question 3, why is that? What is holding you back?
Process Questions: Are there personal plans, hopes, dreams, and longings that have been thwarted due to unforeseen circumstances beyond your control? How did you respond? What does your response reveal about hidden or false expectations you may have about God? When our lives are interrupted and our plans are thwarted, it hurts! How did you process this with God? Were you or are you angry at God or others because of this? If so, have you made your peace? Are you at peace? What does James 4 13-17 teach you about our Father? What does it teach you about being His child? How can these realities guide you into your future as His child?
Pursuing hope application questions: In your life, are you feeling hopeful or hopeless? Why? What is your hopefulness or hopelessness based on? What does this reveal about what your hope is based on? How does your Father want to re-orientate your heart and hope?
How has your relationship with God changed over the years? What means has He used to grow this relationship? Are there specific experiences you can share and lessons you have learned? What advice would you give to those who are early in this journey?
The final portion of this sermon was a time of personal and communal prayer. We removed that time from the sermon recording, but we recommend that you spend some time praying through: Adoration (Recognizing who God is and His attributes), Confession (Declaring your sins to God and asking for forgiveness and repentance), Thanksgiving (Praising God for what he has done for us), and Supplication (Asking for something from the Lord on behalf of others, our church, and for our self)
The questions to consider that Jeff mentioned in this sermon are available on the last 2 slides of the sermon slides. Click the "Download Sermon Slides" button to see these questions along with all of the slides from this sermon.
We highly suggest that you watch the video of this sermon on our website (link above). There, you will also be able to find links to all of the full Challenge speaker videos.
Think about it: Are you willing to take the next steps to address these challenges? Explain. Whom can you invite to join you in this transformation process? Whom can you show hospitality to over the next few weeks?
Common Ground Student Ministries recently visited the Philippines to work with Threads of Hope. Today, we heard from Pastor Brian Sharpe and the students who were on that trip. A large portion of the sermon was a video that showed what the team did while in the Philippines and what God taught the students through this experience. This video portion of the sermon was removed from the audio recording, but can be viewed in it’s entirety at "click to view video" link.
Walking Out of Shame:
Do you agree or disagree with these statements: • Shame…we all have it. • We don’t want to talk about it. • The more we hide it, the more power we give it to sabotage our lives, relationships and families.
Please explain…. • What does shame feel like to you? What emotions accompany your shame: I’m afraid; I need to be perfect; I’m not enough; I’m dirty; I’m a looser; Everyone would be better without me . . .? • How does shame hold you back from others and taking risks? • What are the messages of shame you hear from others or you tell yourself on a daily/weekly basis? • What is said (by you or others) that triggers these messages in you? • What are any habits you have that continue to catalyze shame in your life? • Are you willing to invite one or two people who can help you navigate a path toward freedom from shame?
A special post-sermon note from Larry Short:
I really appreciated the opportunity to share my heart with you all yesterday on the topic of "Betrayal and the Faithfulness of God." I hope it met people where they were at, just as God has been faithful to meet me in my current situation.
One thing I love about writing is the fact that if (or when) you say something dumb, you have the opportunity to go back to your draft and erase it before it'...s published! This is obviously more of a challenge when it comes to speaking publicly.
I realized (after listening to the tape) that I owe a lot of people an apology after sharing something that came off differently than I intended it. In my passion for sharing about the reasons I love Pulse (one of which is the great Bible study we have), I think I unintentionally made it sounds as if other groups are sub-par by comparison.
Obviously, I don't really think that (truly can't know that, since I'm not a part of other groups!), and didn't intend to marginalize anyone. So I do want to assure everyone I think ALL of Elim's Bible studies are AWESOME ... just like Pulse's! Any time you spend in the Word of God, is time well spent, right?
And lastly, if I offended anyone with my comments about not liking Turkish Delight ... oh well, just deal with it, okay?
There are several times in this sermon in which we give you time to pray for specific topics. The prayer times have been shortened in the recording- we suggest you pause the recording during each prayer time until you are ready to move on with the sermon.
We had some technical difficulties with the recording for this sermon. Although the audio quality is lower than we normally upload, we have decided to post it anyway. We would like to say “it will never happen again,” but we recognize that we are human (and you know how technology is) so we won’t make that promise! We thank you for your understanding and apologize for any inconveniences.
Our Common Ground Student Ministries recently returned from the EFCA Challenge 2016 youth conference in Louisville, Kentucky. In this sermon, they share with us some of the things God is doing in their lives through this trip.
We highly encourage you to listen to the full speaker messages from all the main sessions at Challenge 2016 (and prior years). See those videos and other videos from the Challenge conference at the EFCA Vimeo page (link above).