There are plenty of different kinds of struggles out there. Some people struggle with financial issues, loss, addictions, doubt, job loss and the list could go on and on. There is no shortage of struggles in this world. If you’re not struggling with anything right now, chances are you have or you will be at some point in the future. But there is one struggle that seems to be common to all people and that is the struggle with our own thoughts. When you think about it, no matter what the other obstacles in our life happen to be, our thoughts usually contribute to the problem.

The mind can be our greatest ally or our greatest enemy. God blessed each of us with a brain and the ability to think. The human mind is able to do extraordinary things. Take a look at the Cistine Chapel, the Eiffel Tower, or the way technology has progressed. The amazing human brains that created all those things were designed by God. What an amazing God we have. But as wonderful as the human brain can be, it can also be a dangerous thing if we do not learn to control our thoughts. God knew we would struggle with this. It’s why He gave us the verse found in 2 Corinthians 10:5:

“We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”

That verse may be one of the most important verses in scripture, at least for me. Like most people, sometimes my thoughts can get the best of me. Think about it, any fear, doubt, depression, or worry stems from the thoughts that we think. If we don’t learn to control these kinds of thought patterns, we can become pretty miserable. If we give into this way of thinking, we can let the fear paralyze us. We can let anger eat us up inside. We can become so consumed with depression that we begin to despair. We can worry ourselves into a corner, become incredibly self involved and self destructive, and get totally off course. This will happen, and does happen, when we don’t take our thoughts captive and make them obedient to Christ, as the verse in Corinthians advises.

I often hear people say things like, “I can’t control the way I feel” or, “God just wants me to be happy, so whatever makes me happy is okay”. It’s a faulty way of thinking and it’s a way to justify bad behavior and bad thoughts. The truth is, you can control the way you feel, because you can control the way you think. I’m not saying it’s easy. Taking your thoughts captive is not easy. In fact, it’s probably one of the hardest things that a person has to do. But if you want to experience peace, positivity, and learn God’s will for your life, it’s a necessary step. Philippians 4:8 says,

“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable–if anything is excellent or praiseworthy–think about such things.”

We have a choice everyday. We can give into the negative and worrisome thoughts that enter our minds or we can choose to focus on the positive things in life, our blessings, and trust that God has everything under control.

Let me leave you with this excerpt from the book Praying God’s Word, by Beth Moore:

“In any warfare waged by the enemy against the individual believe, the primary battlefield is the mind. The goal of our warfare as stated in 2 Corinthians 10:5 is to steal back our thought life and take it captive to Christ instead. “

Let’s steal back our thought life and take the good advice in Philippians 4:8. Let’s use our brains for what God intended them to be used for.

Of course, one form of worship through creativity is to write music. Reflecting His words to you, back to Him. Our first public worship song created from within Element is by Pastor Terence, and here it is!

We are your people, by Terence Sullivan from Element Church on Vimeo.

Art and music may be the first forms that come to mind when you think of the word “creativity,” but it doesn’t stop there: how you choose to communicate with those around; how you raise your family; what you do with your day; cooking, cleaning and other forms of self-care; how you solve problems in life, family and work; what you choose to be thankful for; even recognizing and appreciating the creativity of others. All of these involve the use of creativity.

So what will you be creative with today? How will you choose to worship Jesus, right now?

Want more information about how we worship God at Element?

-From The Gospel of Healing by A.B. Simpson

Healing is a treasure, if you will, an inherited gift from the Father. The work of the cross-guaranteed it! We are not meant to be slaves to sickness or debilitating ailments. We are meant to be free from disease, able to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ. For how can we share the good news when we ourselves don’t receive it?

On Sunday I spoke about the miraculous power Christ has to heal. We discovered that due to His sacrificial work He has the authority to bear our sufferings, transgressions, and pain. According to Isaiah 53: 4, 5, our healing has already been arranged. “And by his wounds we are healed” (emphasis on the ‘are’). This statement flushes out any excuses, doubts, or discouragements. Jesus has already healed us! You might be thinking, “Then why haven’t I been healed yet”? Well there are several possible answers to that, but when it all comes down to it, only God knows. Either way, here are some possible explanations.

First of all, is their any sin in your life? This can be hidden, habitual, or painstakingly obvious (i.e. pornography, adultery, un-forgiveness, hatred, anger, jealousy, addiction, idolatry, lack of faith, etc.). These rebellious acts or sins separate us from the reality of God’s love and His ability to heal us. 2 Chronicles 7: 14 gives us the perfect solution to this problem. This verse says, “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”

Secondly, do you believe the Bible? This is a pretty easy question. If you struggle agreeing with certain texts than chances are you have a really big faith issue. People don’t realize how essential faith is to your relationship with Jesus. It’s like the dough to your pizza! From what I’ve perceived, healings have always been tied to faith. Someone in the equation believed Jesus could heal and so He did it. For example, it was by ‘faith’ the hemophiliac woman in Mark 5 was healed and it was by ‘faith’ the lame man in Acts 14 walked again. Quite contrary, in Mark 6 very few people in Jesus’ hometown were healed due to the lack of faith.

Thirdly, do you see God as good? There are a lot of people out there who imagine God to be quite the opposite of who He really is. They actually believe God wants them to be sick, as if it gives Him some perverse pleasure to see us in agony. This is crazy! Read 1 John 4: 9. It gives quite the reverse portrayal of God, “This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.” God’s idea of fun is not inflicting pain on people; instead He likes to inflict ‘life’ on people! Isn’t that a relief? Now brace yourselves for this…Jesus actually likes to heal people. In fact, if He had it His way He’d heal the whole lot of us.

The truth of the matter is Christ is the All Encompassing Healer. He has and will always have the power to restore, revitalize, and renew. His desire is for us to depend upon Him and the finished work of the cross; That our physical, mental, spiritual, and emotional redemption lies therein.

What it all really comes down to is this one clear-cut fact, “Is Jesus our everything?” If that remains true than sickness will never interfere. We are surely free!

Mark 10:13-16 says,

13 And they were bringing children to him that he might touch them, and the disciples rebuked them. 14 But when Jesus saw it, he was indignant and said to them, “Let the children come to me; do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. 15 Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.” 16 And he took them in his arms and blessed them, laying his hands on them.

Jesus wants us to be like a child because they are fully dependent. A child relies on the parent to give them all that they need. A child sees no barriers to receiving love from Jesus. A child has full faith that they will be provided for. Children are our example.

Jesus wants you to come to him for all of your needs not some fleshly desire. Jesus wants you to come to him when you need love and care. Jesus wants you to put your full trust and faith in Him like a child. As we get older things happen that cause us not to believe. Things happen that cause us to try and control our lives better. Someone might hurt us and so we promise our self that will never happen again. Then we control our environment and don’t trust.

There are times when my sons will climb to the top of something and see me nearby. They will just shout to me that they want me to catch them and then they jump fully expecting me to catch them. I do catch them and they want to keep doing it over and over again.

For some reason the older we get the more we think of all the reasons not to jump. We evaluate the risk vs. reward. For most of us we won’t jump anymore. If we would just jump Jesus would catch us. If we would just be like a child and take that leap of faith Jesus would be right there to carry us. The incredible thing is He won’t fail you like has happened so many times in your life from others. He will catch you and you will want to keep jumping over and over again.

To be radical like Jesus we need Jesus. To get Jesus we have to go back to the way we were when we were as a child and take that leap of faith.

You see we were created to have perfect communion with God and, in the beginning, we did! But we decided we could run things better on our own. We sinned. When we sinned our relationship with God was forever severed, putting a chasm between us and God. Something is missing in your life, and what’s missing is Jesus. It is our calling to get radical. We need to get radical and believe in Jesus. Get radical and share this truth with EVERYONE! When we do, it will change the course of history!
Our vision at Element Church is to see lives transformed by making known the Gospel. If we are going to accomplish this vision, EVERYONE needs to get RADICAL. Radical literally means to go back to the root or origin. We are trying to get people to go back to the root or origin of what God intended. The root mission of the church is to go and make disciples. Are we doing that? Are we investing in the people around us as Jesus would want us to? Being radical changes the world. Going back to things the way God intended is radical and is Jesus’ desire. Choosing to live in a radical way changes our life. It changes the lives of those around us. And ultimately, it has the power to change an entire culture. Every move of God can be traced back to people going back to their origin and getting on their face before Jesus.
Radical calls for us to get out of our comfort zone. It calls for us to move beyond ourself, to invest in something that isn’t about us. It calls for us to sacrifice our preference, our security, and our lives.
There is no way Element Church will reach the community unless we, as a church, go back to our origin and get back to the basics of our calling. The basics are simply this: And Jesus said, “Follow me and I will make you fishers of men.” As Jesus ascended he gave this charge, “Go and make disciples”. We get back to the basics by following Jesus and going out to make disciples.
So, why get radical? We get radical because people all around us, our friends, family, and neighbors ARE DYING! We get RADICAL because our world is broken and needs to know Jesus. Our vision at Element Church IS RADICAL. If we are going to reach our neighborhoods with the Gospel it is going to take EVERYONE. What is your part? Will you sit by and watch people pursue the things that lead to death or will you let them know there is a better way? There is hope in Christ. There is LIFE in Christ. Live radical, and let those around you know about the hope you have in your life.

Why do we do this? What do we do this for? Most of us live out this crazy routine in order to buy a bigger TV, to be able to afford a nice car, to eat an overpriced hamburger or drink overpriced coffee, or my favorite, to buy more square footage to live in, which in the end, just gives us more room to put our useless stuff or provides more places for you to trip over your kid’s toys. This seems like, as the writer of Ecclesiastes says, “chasing the wind” or “meaningless”. What is our deal? We finally get the bigger TV or more square footage and then what? We want more! Why do we want more? BECAUSE THE PURSUIT OF STUFF DOESN’T SATISFY.

Have you ever noticed that people say, ”I need another vacation”, right after getting back from vacation? You may have said that yourself. You are seeking rest and satisfaction from the wrong places. The reason you don’t feel satisfied after you get that big TV, or that new house, or you go on that dream vacation, is because you are seeking satisfaction in the wrong places. 

People will do anything to keep trying to fill the void in their heart. We don’t stop. We will keep eating, buying things, drinking, or pursuing the next step of our careers to fill the void or pain that’s in our heart. That pain is tough. Maybe we’ve been hurt, or we’ve experienced loss or separation. And although we try, we can’t overcome the pain or the void in our hearts on our own.

The thing is, everyone knows they need God. You know you need God. But the majority of us make ourselves out to be God. If you need evidence, just drive in New Jersey for a while and it will become apparent that most people think that their agenda is more important than everyone elses (i.e. making themselves out to be God). We try to remain self sufficient. We think we can create our own happiness. We decide that we can fill the void in our lives. But, the truth is, we can’t. We just aren’t good at being God. Why don’t you try something new?

How about you let God be God. He’s pretty good at it. He’s been doing if for…oh, I don’t know…FOREVER!!!! The only thing that satisfies the deep longings of our soul and the pain in our lives is God. He is the only one that can satisfy your need for love. He is the only one that can heal the wounds in your heart. He is the only one that can provide you the security you crave. God is the only one who can make the pain go away. GOD SATISFIES! Put your faith in Him.

How does God do this? In Romans it says, “God demonstrates His love to us in this that while we were still sinners (while we were trying to be him) Christ died for us”. Because we try to be God, we deserve death. You see, there is only one true God . Because we sin, we deserve death. But God loves us so much that He was willing to kill His only son, Jesus, so that we can live. Now that is love. That is love that satisfies. That is love that fills the void and heals the pain in our hearts way more than any TV, vacation, or more square footage ever could! How dumb are we to think that those things trump the love of our Father in heaven?

Stop. Embrace the love of the Father. Believe that Jesus is Lord. He died for your sins, and He rose again FOR YOU!

At Element we are in the 2^nd week of our radical challenge and this week the challenge is to tithe for a month. The only way we can give the way God wants us to give is to be connected to His love and receive what we need from Him. He will fill the void in our lives if we allow him to. To accomplish the radical challenge, connect with God!

We are exploring the book of Mark at Element in our series called Radical like Jesus. This past week we studied Mark 1:14-20 about Jesus’ first call to be radical. He literally called the disciples to LEAVE everything. He called them to no longer be professional fishermen but to be fisher’s of men. He wanted them to be the founders of the church. He called them to change the world. How awesome is that? Jesus called a few ordinary men to change the course of history. The incredible thing is, He is CALLING us to do the same thing.

The first step to being radical for Jesus is to REPENT and BELIEVE in Jesus. To be a world changer we have to be people that believe Jesus lived a perfect life, died the death we deserved, and rose again. 2 Corinthians 15:3 says, “that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, ⁴ that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures”. We must first repent of our sins and believe in the Gospel. When we do that we receive the power of Christ.

The second step to being radical is to simply follow Jesus. Jesus said in Mark 1:17, “Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men”.In Greek, the word follow literally means to abide in or cling to. So, Jesus was saying if you just CLING to me, ABIDE in me, and FOLLOW me, I WILL make you a world changer!

How awesome is that? All we are asked to do is abide in Jesus. When we abide in Him he is going to lead us to do some life changing stuff. Remember, Jesus challenged the religious and political leadership at the time, and he went to the cross for it. Also, all of His disciples were murdered for following Jesus. But they followed Him boldly, passionately, and without fear. They were able to do this because they CLUNG to their SAVIOR!

The radical challenge this week is to cling to Jesus. Just start simply. Take 15 minutes out of your day and find a quiet place to be with Jesus. Being with Jesus can consist of just listening to Him, reading scripture, singing worship songs to Him, praying to Him, or being silent before Him. You choose how but spend time each day this week abiding with JESUS!

The Gospel is simply Jesus’ perfect life, His crucifixion, and His resurrection. There is incredible power in the Gospel story. The implications are truly profound. When we put our faith in Jesus we receive His perfect life. The punishment we deserve for our sin is paid for by Christ’s crucifixion and we have access to eternal life through the resurrection! The greatest thing is that we don’t have to do anything! All God wants is our faith. After that, He’s got everything covered. We no longer have to try to do anything to reach heaven. Nothing we do earns us a special blessing from God because if we put our faith in Jesus, we are seen as holy and blameless! God loves us no matter what. He extends Grace no matter what you’ve done. We no longer have to prove ourselves to anyone. We only do things for Jesus and he accepts us no matter how many good or bad things we do if we’ve put our faith in Jesus.

Many of us know the words of the Gospel but it truly hasn’t sunk into our hearts. Are you in awe of the Gospel? Are you broken before God? These are signs the Gospel has transformed you. When the Gospel transforms, it becomes the center of everything we do. We no longer read our Bibles, serve, go to church, go on a mission trip, or other church things out of obligation. We do those things because we want to be with Jesus, know more of Jesus, and experience more of His love. The Gospel transforms us when our focus shifts off of ourselves to Jesus and the Gospel.

When the Gospel is the center of the mission, incredible things happen. We are able to deal with flying cockroaches, dirty drinking water, and a lack of sleep. You see children not as “poor kids” but as the lost children of God. Your heart truly breaks and you passionately want to be the love of Jesus in their life.

When the Gospel is the center of the mission, healing takes place. God breaks our hearts. When the Gospel is at the center of the mission, Jesus breaks us and makes us whole. We are healed. I would have it no other way!

This week we became fathers and mothers to the fatherless and motherless. We became the love of Jesus to those we ministered to. We saw children come to know Jesus. We saw God heal a guy who had been smoking for 75 years. We became agents of redemption and delivered food to those who had none. God healed someone who had a back condition. He couldn’t lift his kids and after we prayed for him, he could! God did incredible work in healing our team. We had healing of a knee, a speech condition, anxiety issues, abuse issues, insecurities, fears, and many other emotional and spiritual conditions.

Because of the Gospel we can’t help but respond in faith, in humility, and in brokenness, and passionately share what has changed us. The Gospel.

So, it is Wednesday night, and we are officially halfway through our time in the Dominican Republic.  The stories are piling already of how God is moving through our team and through our ministry.  Today we finished ministering at Manantial (Well-spring), the first of two communities.  We spent our first day doing some mild construction.  We leveled some soil, moved blocks, and helped build a wall.  We had children’s programs in both the morning and the afternoon.  We did some youth ministry and today we concluded our time there by putting together a huge celebration for our community where our team got to share, serve, play, and proclaim the gospel through testimony and a message.  We had around 300 people from the community show up for games, hotdogs, and fellowship.  Also, we were able to visit five houses in the community, both Christian and non-Christian to share the love of Christ, pray, and bless them with some food and amenities.

What is great about this trip is that we are also being blessed by God and by the members of the community.  The community has cooked for us, blessed us with fellowship, and aided us in our children’s ministry.  We have had sancocho, la bandera, empanadas, and arroz moro, and are loving trying new things in order to share and fellowship with our brothers and sisters in Christ.

Lastly, I want to share a quick story.  Today a small group from our team went to pray for some families.  We met Luis, a local church planter with the Christian and Missionary Alliance.  He has been commissioned by the Manantial church to start another church.  In two years, the church has grown from 2 to 30 peopr, and it continues to grow!  We were able to pray for Luis who, in the midst of crisis in his life, dedicated his life to ministry.  After we prayed for him, Luis prayed for some members of our team.  Luis’ blessings and requests were filled with the Holy Spirit and brought encouragement, challenges, and love to our team.  It was great to hear how he chose to become a full-time pastor without pay because he wants to see lives transformed in his community.  We share the same calling with other Churches around the world.  We want to see lives transformed in the Brunswicks and around the world and so does Luis, thousands of miles away.  Our God is big and this is only one of the divine appointments that he has set up for us during our time here.

Please continue to pray for us and we can’t wait to share more stories with you.

God Bless,

Pastor Marcos

Saturate them with Jesus. Take them to church, get involved in a 3:10 small group, serve with them, and talk about Jesus with your kids. Jesus should be a common topic of conversation around the house. Eating dinner as a family is key to teaching your kids and saturating them with Jesus. Proverbs 22:6 tells us to raise a child in the way they should go and they will not depart from it. Saturate them with Jesus.

Live like Jesus. Most of what we learn is caught not taught. Are you serving at church, giving to church, sharing faith with others, and doing many of the things that Jesus did?

Pray. Do you pray with your kids and your spouse? Do you have a personal prayer time that your kids can see you doing? Everyday my wife Kelly and I pray as a family with our kids. Our kids learn to pray as soon as they begin to talk. If you pray at home your child will begin to learn to pray. When I was a kid, I remember my mom always praying for us, for our tests at school, sporting events, and many other things we needed prayer for. It made an impression and in many ways the way I pray today is learned from how my parents prayed when I was young. Do your kids see you interacting with God in your personal time? Do they see prayer as a priority in your life? If they do then they will likely make it a priority in their life.

Make the Bible Important. Do you read the Bible? Surprisingly enough, Most people I come across in the church don’t read the Bible. If you want your kids to follow Jesus, then you should probably know something about the Bible. Start reading the Bible for yourself. I remember, as a kid, seeing my dad read the Bible and it made such an impression on me. I wanted to be like my dad and I started to read the Bible on my own. Read the Bible to your children. Make the Bible exciting. The Bible is very exciting. There are stories of hero’s rescuing the princess, stories of epic battles, and some incredible love stories. There are stories in the Bible that can put Disney stories to shame and that every child can connect with. Get your children excited about the Bible.

Discipline your children. Loving discipline works. If we don’t discipline our children they assume what they are doing is ok. If you have children, you know it’s easy for them to pursue things that aren’t good. Remind them of what is good with loving discipline. Don’t punish out of anger, take a breath, pause, and then enforce what is good. In the passage Ephesians 6:1-4 Paul says that obedience and honor will go well for the child because you are reminding them of what is good.

Be humble. Remember that you are not right all the time. Even though you think you are right all the time, you are not. Make sure that you have an attitude of humility. If you mess things up then admit it and apologize to your children. The respect they have for you will skyrocket.

Live a holy life. As you live like Jesus, you will model a life that is holy. 1 Timothy 3:2-3 is a great passage to model your life after. It says,

Therefore an overseer^[a] must be above reproach (respected by people around you), the husband of one wife^[b] (don’t look at porn or fantasize about someone else), sober-minded (in control of your thoughts), self-controlled (not a glutton, workaholic, overly perfectionist), respectable (organized and put together), hospitable (open to help others), able to teach (know the Bible), ³ not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money (not greedy).

 Where do you fall short in this passage? If you don’t think you fall short then you should go back to the “be humble” point. In the areas you fall short seek forgiveness, confess to your family and to God. 

Love your spouse. Let your kids see you appropriately love your spouse. Treat them with respect. Study Ephesians 5:22-33 and serve each other well. This point is very important. Your kids should see you model what it’s like to be Jesus to someone. If you’ve been married long enough, you know that you are who you really are with your spouse. May you be a father or mother that loves your spouse as Jesus loved us.

May we be a church that loves and leads our families as Christ loves and leads us.