First Church Charlotte

November 4, 2020 | Pastor Nathan Elms Nehemiah 8:9 • The joy of the Lord is your strength! • There is a profound simplicity as well as a complexity in the things of God. • Your mind is truly you, while your brain is your super computer running your body. • Smiling activates the pleasure center of your brain. • The width of people's smiles can be associated with data such as overall length of life & success. • By becoming childlike, we can enjoy our smile as well as the Kingdom of God. • Joy is a simple thing and easy to find in Jesus Christ once the order of Spiritual authority is done correctly. • Choose joy! • Although it is easy to serve in duty & loose our joy, but should always protect our joy. • Our brains cannot differentiate between being happy during a circumstance or choosing joy. • Celebrate the promises of God.

November 1, 2020 | Pastor Nathan Elms Principle: We cannot be spiritual minded and carnally focused... it’s impossible. 1) Politics recreates a community of contempt. We dismiss whole groups of people on the illusion that we know them, when we do not know them... How do people arrive that their current political beliefs? Their experiences and history... How do we judge their current political beliefs? By where we think those beliefs are taking us... Politics kills an environment of understanding and empathy and replaces it with an environment of fear and blame 2) Politics becomes an identity. Genesis 1:26-28 (The Message) Where has the creator God placed his divine image? On what has he put his sovereign inscription? On coins? On temples? On churches? No, on none of these things—on only one thing. On you and on me, on each of us, and indeed, on every human being who's ever lived or shall live. The almighty God has created you in his own image, after his likeness, with his inscription. You bear the image

October 28, 2020 | Pastor Anthony Yanney • The church is standing in the gap spiritually and asking mercy from God for the behalf of all that have not begun walking with Jesus Christ. • Much like Abraham pray for mercy for Sodom and Gomorrah, the church prays for the delay of God's judgement. • Lot, Abraham's nephew living in Sodom, lingered when the angels showed up to destroy the city because he knew that destruction wouldn't come until he and his family actually left. Lot is a type of the church that is holding back judgement. • We linger so that someone that is hungry to fill the emptiness, can come and be filled by the presence of our source, Christ Jesus.

October 25, 2020 | Rev Jonathan Moran The Book of Hebrews tells God's people that we should prepare for difficulties and keep our hearts and minds fixed upon our mission and destination, considering that there are many witnesses. Who have gone before us and have also endured difficult things, and are watching how we navigate through our journeys.

October 21, 2020 | Pastor Nathan Elms • Atheists actually have faith like believers, but instead of believing in God the Creator, they believe that there is no God. • Agnostics believe that God cannot be known. • If speaking to either, we cannot be dismissive towards them or in any way make them feel that we look down upon them. • We are all made in the image of God and everyone should be respected, no matter what their belief. • As mentioned before, we should listen and truly try to understand their point of view, we should use their language instead of sounding, "churchy", we should be sensitive and look to see how God might be working in their life, and we should leave them with a promise that the Word of God will back up.

October 18, 2020 | Pastor Nathan Elms 1st Church CLT As humans, we are made to worship. We all worship something for someone. Worship can also be called a desire for love or closeness. God is seeking for those that choose to worship their Creator. Worship and praise are two different things. Praise the outward expression of what you are feeling towards something or someone. Worship is an inner longing and expression of love. Anything with breath can praise God, only humans made in the image of God can truly worship. If you are willing to put God first in your life, He is looking for you.

October 14, 2020 | Bishop David Elms • To be forgiven, we must first forgive others that have done us wrong. • Jesus Christ quoted from the prophet Isaiah saying the Spirit of God is upon me for the purpose of releasing captives, preaching good news to the poor and proclaiming the acceptable year of the Lord. • The good news is that the Encourager has already come for you and it is simple to receive the benefit. • Believe in Jesus Christ, repent of our wrongdoings, be baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be filled with the Holy Spirit, also called the Encourager.

October 11, 2020 | Pastor Nathan Elms The Church is such a celebration of goodness and rightness and righteousness... Whether parenting or marriage or just prudence and temperance... a lived well-lived becomes testimony... This creates tension... is the church a hospital or a health club? Big difference... different goals... A church either fails or succeeds with this balance... But there is a simple solution ... all focus must return to Jesus… Christianity celebrates the life-giving sacrifice of a single man, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus’ life was witnessed by an extraordinary lineup of single women and single men, one of whom would write most of the New Testament. This included the testimony of his resurrection. Some of the earliest churches were started in the homes of single women. Jesus founded the church, the way of radical acceptance.

October 7, 2020 | Pastor Nathan Elms Today, many may want to talk about spirituality, but not religion. Every generation has its own way of communicating. This present generation will not respond the same way that generations have responded in the past. We should listen to people and not be afraid to speak their style of language. We should look to see how God is already working in their lives and leave them with a promise. Never fall into the trap of answering the question asked by some, whether or not they are saved. That question is a trap, and is many times solely asked for the purpose of righting off the one foolish enough to answer it. None of us are qualified to judge anyone's salvation. We are called to be witnesses and not the judge and cannot speak for that role. We can share the promise given since it is only through Jesus Christ that any can be saved.

October 4, 2020 | Pastor Nathan Elms What do we mean by Apostolic? I believe I have some credibility when I say that the defining element of the Apostolic movement is zeal for the Lord... Your strength is often also your weakness... We have done some harm by being zealous in a less than temperate way... as pastors, as parents, as soul- winners... Medicine is such a respectable profession today... But this wasn’t always so… There were honorable physicians among the Jews, but the writings of the rabbis include this line: “The best among the physicians are destined for hell.” And so, in the Mishnah, physicians are listed among the “trades of robbers.” If a doctor wanted to cheat you... there would be very little you could do about it. The Hippocratic Oath bans doctors from poisoning their patients. Strange. But consider the Romans...Romans hated their doctors. Rome’s first official physician, Arcagthus, was given the nickname Carniflex, meaning executioner. Roman physicians were, however, expert poisoners, an

September 30 2020 | Pastor Nathan Elms • Anything that has power over a person can be an addiction. • Once a person reaches a point of pain where they realize that they have a problem, it's like a switch goes off and they are ready for change. • Until a person reaches the point for change, it will be difficult to minister to them. • Shame is not beneficial spiritually, however conviction from God is mixed with Promise and is very beneficial. • Shame will turn people away from the spiritual organization that wants to help them. • People suffering from shame need to collide with the love of God. Some may try to be good enough, but by doing so, miss the Truth of grace. • Temptation and ultimately overcoming it through Christ can become a testimony for living victoriously. • It's not only the testimony of instant deliverance that glorifies God, those that have to overcome because deliverance wasn't immediate, greatly glorifies the Lord. • God loves you where you are, and for who you are. • Believers can sometime

September 27, 2020 | Pastor Nathan Elms Most people today believe that we have to choose sides... either give in to the culture or live a life of faith. Babylon’s Motto: I am, and there is none besides me. (Humanism) Elevate Self. Lower God. Is there a God? God isn’t for me... God wants too much from me… As we look at Daniel, I believe that we can do both. We can live in the culture, and influence the culture. The role of the exile is especially hard. We understand who we are... but we struggle to understand our role in Babylon. Is Babylon our enemy? Or has God placed us here? First misconception of the exile: Babylon is our enemy. Second misconception: Babylon represents sin... Babylon represents evil... We are good... This is misleading... Babylon represents the worship of self.... But it is our harvest field. Christian parents wrestle with being an exile... ... God has placed us (you) here ... But you are not of this kingdom ... You will succeed here... be a blessing here... influence this people toward

September 23, 2020 | Pastor Nathan Elms "I've Ruined Everything" This is the 3rd message from the series, "How to Talk to People About God" As was mentioned last week, a person that has expressed frustration with their life is typically not ready for a life change. When a person is angry, they are usually not ready for a life change. When a person expresses our title, "I've Ruined Everything", they are no longer looking outward to blame, but have taken responsibility themselves, and are usually at a place in their lives to take a step towards eternity and God. As Paul the Apostle showed us, how he spoke to unbelievers and how we should use the four "L's". • Listen instead of having to be correct. • Use their Language instead of churchy language. • Look for where is God working in their lives. • Leave them with a promise. (Leave them wanting more.)

September 20, 2020 | Pastor Nathan Elms “A hero is who we all wish we were if we didn’t have our own personal limitations.” “I think we aspire to everyday heroes because we wish to be them… In moments of great tragedy we see people drawn to firefighters or emergency workers or the people who went beyond their job. They rushed in where angels fear to tread.” “We’d like to believe there’s like a hero gene in all of us.” Is there a hero gene in all of us? The bible is full of surprise-heroes… whether it is young David facing Goliath or Gideon finding out that the angel of the Lord thinks he is a mighty man… Jesus invites you to believe that “great works” are possible. (John 14:12) Speaking spiritually, that is hero-language… Your world needs a hero! What does a spiritual hero do? 1) We uphold the promises of God by our words. (Hebrews 1:2-4 & Isaiah 62:6) 2) We plead for justice on behalf of another. We speak God’s justice into a broken world as witness that we are of and from another kingdom. (Isaiah 59:14-

September 16, 2020 | Pastor Nathan Elms Frustration about feeling stuck in life is real, and we should not rebuke others when they go through it. The frustration phase of a person's desire for change is an opportunity for God's people to witness to hurting people. Angry and frustrated people are usually not ready for a big life change. Life changes usually come from brokenness instead of anger. 1. Listen and give up your need to be right. 2. Use their language. 3. Be sensitive and look to see where God is working already. 4. Lead people with encouragement. Share your testimony not your advice.

September 13, 2020 | Pastor Nathan Elms We live our lives with an incomplete understanding of the world... of ourselves... but we have a sense of God... of eternity... of the transcendent power of love... I believe that God is threaded through our lives... we are marked by his presence... and his absence... There is no escape from the nature of our creation... we are the canvas upon which God paints... I believe that this is true whether or not we admit it. In fact, I believe that you could deny this, reject this, turn away and return to your life ... and the life you then lived would speak this truth back to you. Here is a true thing: We almost never know what would make us happy. I’m going to list 5 things that motivate… Fame, wealth, beauty, genius, and power... 1. Fame 2. Wealth 3. Beauty 4. Genius 5. Power So What's the Problem? You find it everywhere, from the petty supervisor to the bitter gym coach. Small people driven to mindless, unethical behavior, drunk on just a few drops of power. They o

September 9, 2020 | Pastor Nathan Elms • According to teachings in New Testament of the Holy Scriptures, the purpose for preachers is to equip believers concerning speaking to others about God. • How do we talk to people about God without sounding condescending or crazy to them? • Listen to people and relate to them, instead of telling them our version of truth without first getting to know them. When speaking to people, that are outside our normal circle, learn about their beliefs and what they find important, to first find common ground.

September 6, 2020 | Pastor Nathan Elms When we identify with Jesus Christ, we can stand secure upon the promises of God, and believe that all things will work towards our good. When we have given ourselves to the Kingdom of God, the storms of our lives will also bring revelation that God is in control, and our testimony will be birthed out of our trouble.

September 2, 2020 | Pastor Nathan Elms

August 30, 2020 | Pastor Nathan Elms “Life as a journey and not a destination” is an essential truth for most of us… The very same phrase that Aerosmith used in a song published in 1993 was used in 1920 by Methodist pastor and theologian, Lynn H. Hough in a Sunday school lesson outline on the New Testament letter of 1 Peter: “life is a journey and not a destination.” However, we may want to hear the rest of the quote to make sense of it: Life is a journey and not a destination; that the heart must be set upon those matters of character which are eternal and not upon those matters of sensation which pass away. (Steven Tyler left that part out) The Psalms of Ascent consist of 15 psalms, from 120 through 134. Four of these songs are attributed to King David (122, 124, 131, 133) and one to Solomon (127), while the remaining ten are anonymous. These psalms were sung and prayed by pilgrims on their way to Jerusalem. They were traveling to the temple in celebration of the three main festivals of the Hebrew peop