Covenant Life Church

We are continuing our Know-vember Series, providing answers to questions that people within our congregation have wanted to know. Our first question was about how to know that you are hearing from God, which we addressed three weeks ago.

For the last couple of weeks, we have been answering questions about Israel — not only what’s going on there now but also the things that are prophetically foretold in scripture. We’re picking up this week where we left off last week, as we continue to talk about Israel and the Prophetic Timeline.

We’re continuing our Know-vember series, which is a collection of messages designed to answer some of the questions on the minds of people within our church or that were submitted via our online form. Last week, we talked about the current situation in Israel, and now, we’re exploring the future of Israel and the wider world in which we live.

This is an important topic for us to discuss because countless messages preached over the past 20-30 years have embraced the idea of a “here and now” prosperity gospel. We have focused on all the ways to make this life better while ignoring eternity, but there is a tomorrow coming that will change everything. It’s real and has to be what we are working, watching and longing for as followers of Jesus.

We’re continuing the Know-vember series by exploring subjects that are on people’s minds, and this week and next week, we are going to explore the subject of Israel. Many of the questions submitted for this series were about this subject, and it’s important to explore it biblically. We are going to start by talking about the war they’re in with Hamas and maybe Hezbollah in the near future, and next week, we will talk about future prophetic events, including the rapture, the Great Tribulation and more.

This week, we’re starting a new series called Know-vember, a short series of messages based on questions that were submitted by people within our church. Our first question is about hearing from God. The person who submitted it asked, “How exactly are we supposed to hear God and follow Him?”

This is an important question in the life of any believer who wants to have a personal and intimated relationship with Jesus, and it’s a great follow-up to our recent message about the baptism of the Holy Spirit and surrendering our lives to just this sort of relationship.

There are no degrees of dead. A person who died 10 seconds ago is just as dead as one who died 10 years ago. A person with all their skin and muscles intact is just as dead as a dismembered skeleton. Clinically speaking, if your heart isn’t beating and you aren’t breathing, you’re dead. Breath is the difference between living and dying.

When Ezekiel prophesied over the valley of dead, dry bones, they started to come back together with muscles, tendons, ligaments and skin. This was an incredible miracle, but the newly-formed bodies weren't truly alive because they were not breathing. This week, we're exploring the fact that we're not fully alive until we're breathing the breath of God.

In Genesis 2 and 3, we see that shame was the first manifestation of spiritual death. Sin brought shame to Adam and Eve, which brought separation from God, and since God is the source of life, anything that separates you from Him is death. What kills your soul will dry your bones, and just as much as church hurt, man-made lies and hateful words, shame is drying out our bones.

The glass divider that’s keeping you from a deeper relationship or experience with God is shame. You’re not numb or dead; you are wrapped in layers of shame that are insulating you from almost every spiritual sense. You don’t think that you deserve to receive from God because of your faults, flaws and failures, and in order to rehydrate, we have to put a stop to it.

This week, Jordan Weathers is helping us answer the question: How’s Your Harvest? Families are taking their fall photos. Fall decorations are up. Leaves are changing and falling and clogging our gutters. Plus, we are one month into autumn and one month away from Thanksgiving, so it’s a great topic to discuss at this time of year.

Beyond the connection to autumn, it’s an important question for us to ask at regular intervals throughout the year because the Bible talks about harvesting and reaping a lot. There are many examples of agricultural imagery, but beyond the physical, real-world references to harvesting that occur throughout the Bible, there is also a spiritual side that should not be overlooked.

We are continuing our Rehydrate Series, exploring the idea that many of us are suffering from what the prophet Ezekiel called “dry bones.” For a variety of reasons, the life, strength, passion and energy that we have for life and Kingdom work have been drained out of us, and we’re now lying scattered across the valley floor separated from God and each other.

This week, we’re talking about the sensitive and important topic of church hurt, which occurs when the ones that God has called to heal the body are the ones who are injuring it. There are thousands of people in this country who are either no longer churched or who are disengaged due to church hurt. As we dive into this topic, we’re not just going to talk about what might have dried out your bones; we’re going to commit to a plan to get rehydrated.

As Pastor John has prayed about our church over the past few months, one image has repeatedly come to mind: dry bones. God has a mission, vision and purpose for us, but before we can achieve it, we have to get mended, repaired and restored from whatever it was that dried out our bones.

The challenge in being restored is not just to identify the source of the drying but to figure out how to get our bones rehydrated, reconnected and ready for action. This week, we’re kicking off a new series called “Rehydrate” to help us find the healing that Jesus provides and the peace for which we’ve been searching.

In Luke 19, we read the account of a man named Zacchaeus who worked for what was essentially the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) of the Roman Empire. It’s safe to assume no one liked him, but aside from his profession, the Bible only tells us one other thing about him — that he was short.

Bishop Tom Madden uses the account of how Zacchaeus responded to his issue to help us confront and overcome our own issues. Sometimes, God is calling us to do something differently or make a change. Like it did for Zacchaeus, repositioning our lives for God will require obedience and humility, but it will also allow the Lord to bless and grow us.