Covenant Life Church

This week, we’re closing out the Love of God series with a message about salvation. Sadly, the modern American church has turned salvation into a business transaction — one in which we swap a simple prayer and church attendance with an eternity in Hell — rather than a covenant relationship.

This is an important topic to discuss because what Jesus says about being saved, becoming a Christian and following Him doesn’t seem to align with what most of us learn in church. We’re missing something in the way we understand and talk about salvation: love. We have to love Jesus more than anything and anyone else before we can truly be saved.

In 1 Corinthians 12-14, Paul describes a lifestyle of love, which should be the highest goal of every believer. The love of God should be the thing that makes you different, defines everything you do and draws people to you. The call of God on our lives is not to occasionally do loving things; the call is to be love.

Jesus exhibited this behavior through His life. He didn’t just do loving things; He was the physically embodiment of love. The loving things He did in His time on earth flowed from who He was on the inside. Just like the lifestyle of a rich person is defined by their wealth, the lifestyle of a believer should be defined by God’s love.

In this encouraging message, Cindy Diaz reminds us that we don’t have to overthink the season or situation in which God has us right now, and rather than striving to fulfill our calling with our own strength and effort, we simply need to surrender.

Ministry is not a destination; it’s a by-product of our union with Jesus and the overflow of His love in our lives. Just as it did with Jesus and the Samaritan woman in John 4, it happens along the way. Even when we find ourselves in pit, we can learn to trust God, so we can be like trees with deep roots along the riverbank — just as it describes in Ezekiel 47:12.

Certain pieces of furniture are engineered to be put together in a specific way. You shouldn’t look at the picture and go from there; there are directions that must be followed. Some parts have to be assembled before others. If you just eyeball it, you’re going to miss something, and even if you can make it look right, it’s not going to hold up when you put weight on it.

According to 1 John 4:19, God is the source of love, but if love starts with God, where does it go from there? Love originates in God, but it is designed to flow downstream in one particular direction. Some things have to come before others. If love out of order, it throws everything off in your spiritual life. It might look okay from the outside, but it won’t support the weight of life.

This week, Pastor John continues the "Love of God" series through a candid conversation with Jeff Shackleford. Together, they discuss Jeff's relationship with his father, how it impacted and influenced his relationship with the Lord and the lessons he has learned about God's love throughout his life.

This week, Pastor John continues the "Love of God" series through a candid conversation with Jeff Shackleford. Together, they discuss Jeff's relationship with his father, how it impacted and influenced his relationship with the Lord and the lessons he has learned about God's love throughout his life.

In Matthew 9:36-38, Jesus tells His disciples to pray for God to send workers out into the harvest fields. He was enlisting people to pray for more laborers to share the gospel, and although most believers know that they’re supposed to work for the Lord, many of them feel unable or unworthy to do so.

However, if we’ll surrender ourselves to God’s love in our lives and allow it to flow into those around us, we will be amazed at the results. As a matter of fact, that’s the whole premise of this week’s message, which is called The Power of Love. We’re going to see what love can do in the life of a believer.

Last week, we started the “Love of God” series with a look at the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Love is everywhere n the Bible, and it’s an important topic to study because 1 John 4:8 tells us that God is love. You cannot understand the Bible if you don’t understand God’s love.

Inspired by this fact, we’re going to start sorting through some of the major themes about the love of God found in the Bible. This week’s message is The Foundation of Love, and together, we’re going to look at three “big picture” statements about love to us lay the foundation for understanding and implementing it in our lives.

In recognition of Pentecost Sunday, which is celebrated in many churches and denominations around the world, we’re talking about the baptism of the Holy Spirit. It’s something that both John the Baptist and Jesus promised, and Peter, John and Paul all referenced in their writings. It’s a biblical experience, but it’s also something that is desperately needed today.

However, how we talk about and characterize the experience usually leads people to one of two ditches — one that sensationalizes it to the point of being unrecognizable from a biblical perspective and another that disregards it altogether. This week, we’re going to climb out of these ditches and explore the baptism of the Holy Spirit as a baptism of love.

The soul of a person is made up of his or her mind, will and emotions; it refers to how you think, feel and make decisions. That’s why Jesus said, “As a man thinks in his heart, so is he.” Since the terms “heart” and “soul” are used interchangeably, Jesus was recognizing the fact that a person’s actions and attitudes are determined by their thoughts.

This is similar to how the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services defines mental health. It includes our emotional, psychological and social well-being and affects how we think, feel and act. Mental health operates in the same domain as the soul. This week, in recognition of Mental Health Awareness Month, we’re exploring the connection between mental and spiritual health.