Covenant Life Church

The Christmas account in the Bible is really an account of what happened in the lives of the people who heard about the birth of Jesus. It's unlikely that any of them fully grasped what Jesus was going to do during His time on this planet, but all of them heard enough of the facts to know that something was special about this baby.

This week, as we celebrate Christmas together, we're taking a look at three people or groups of people mentioned in Matthew 2 and Luke 2 to talk about the "Facts and Fallout of Christmas."

After the wise men returned to their land without reporting Jesus’s whereabouts, King Herod went on a rampage, but before he gave the order to kill all babies in Bethlehem under the age of two, God warned Joseph in a dream to escape with his family to Egypt. They stayed until Herod died, and when the Lord told Joseph that it was safe to go back to Israel, he chose to go to back to his hometown of Nazareth.

This leads to a couple of interesting ways to identify Christ. It says in Matthew 2:13-15 that their move to Egypt fulfilled the prophecy that said, “Out of Egypt have I called my Son.” The Messiah would not be Egyptian, but He would be called out of Egypt. Then, when they moved to Nazareth, Jesus acquired His most frequently used title or identity: Jesus of Nazareth or Jesus the Nazarene.

In his famous tragedy, Shakespeare wondered through the voice of Juliet, “What’s in a name?” Depending on the situation, sometimes there’s a whole lot in a name! As Christmas approaches each year, different things stand out in the Bible’s account of the Jesus’s birth, and this year, what stood out most was the names He was or was to be called.

Some of these names were specified and commanded by angels who visited Zechariah and Joseph; some were prophesied hundreds of years before His birth. There seems to be a lot of importance placed on the names and titles of Jesus, so this week, we’re going to look at four names outlined in Isaiah 9:6-7 to learn more!

In Luke 8:18, Jesus says, “Pay attention to how you hear.” This seems like a warning or an imperative for followers of Christ. Pay attention to — or be careful — how you hear His teaching, which is the Word of God. Most people don’t think much about it; you just hear it how you hear it. Jesus was serious, though, because not hearing correctly comes with consequences.

He said that those who listen will be given more understanding, wisdom and insight from the Word, but those who don’t pay attention or listen correctly will lose the understanding they do have. He didn’t say they would lose the knowledge; He said they would lose the wisdom and insight meant to accompany it. There is a difference between knowing something and understanding it, between learning and applying. This week, we’re taking time to slow down and think about how we’re hearing the Word of God.

One of the clearest themes throughout the Bible is freedom. God wants to set people free, and Jesus came to make that happen — to set us free from disease, spiritual blindness and the pain of tragedy and trauma. Even in the Old Testament, God was constantly bringing freedom to His people and declaring freedom over situations in which people were hopelessly bound.

This week, we’re going to continue the Patriarchs, Prophets and Priests series, and we are going to look at two people who needed freedom from the chains of their past that locked them into a life that they were no longer satisfied to live. Our message is called “Jabez and Jacob: Breaking Free.” If you are being held back by anything in your past, today is the day that you can break free!

This week, we’re continuing the Patriarchs, Prophets and Priests series with a special focus on Thanksgiving. Genesis 14:17-24 is interesting. Abraham is the patriarch — or father — of the Jewish faith and a prophet, and Melchizedek is a priest. This means that all three roles in our series about patriarchs, prophets and priests are present in this one passage of scripture.

If you ever wondered what it would be like for all three roles to get together, this is it. It’s like what should happen when any two believers get together. There’s no jockeying for position as the greatest or most powerful, and instead of boasting about titles or accomplishments, it’s just a lot of humility, praise for God, remembering the sacrifice of Christ and gratitude for His many blessings.

As we continue the Patriarchs, Prophets and Priests Series, we’re going to continue to look at Aaron. We found out last time that Aaron was the brother of Moses and was right by his side as Moses negotiated the release of the Hebrews from Egyptian slavery. Through the first message, we learned that all Christians are priests to the extent that we can go straight to God without the need for a mediator and that each of us has work that God prepared for us to do.

This week, we’re exploring one more thing that is equally important. We all carry the call, but it is not the same call. In this passage, there is Aaron, the high priest, his sons who are priests and another group of people. This third group of people is the tribe of Levi, and Numbers 18:6 says that they are called to be Aaron’s special assistants and that they’re a gift to him. They weren't less capable or less gifted; their call was just different. Plus, if it weren’t for the Levites, there’s no way Aaron and his sons could have fulfilled their call.

This week, Jay Webb from West Metro FCA uses the account of Naaman washing seven times in the Jordan River (2 Kings 5) to illustrate the fact that each of us has something holding us back or hindering our walk with God. As Jay puts it, everyone has a spot.

In addition to the sins and shortcomings that may impede our spiritual growth, we likely have certain expectations about how our lives ought to go, and when things don’t go as planned, it can be easy to get mad and resist God. Instead of running away from the Lord, we should run toward Him, so He can cleanse our spots and renew our strength.

As we continue our series called “Patriarchs, Prophets and Priests,” in which we are looking at the lives and experiences of Old Testament heroes of the faith, we're now turning our attention to Aaron.

Before cell phones, you often did not know who was calling your phone or who they were trying to reach, but when it comes to spiritual matters, you don’t have to wonder who’s calling or who the call is for. God is calling, and it’s for you.

We are continuing our series called “Patriarchs, Prophets and Priests,” a series in which we are looking at the lives of the men and women of the Old Testament and finding the parallels for our lives. It’s like looking at character sketches of the framers and founders of our faith. You can’t talk about patriarchs without talking about Abraham, and today is our third and final message about him.

When you see Abraham mentioned throughout the Bible, it is almost without fail that the word “faith” is also going to be in that verse. Abraham’s faith characterized his life, so we’ve called these messages “Living by Faith.” Over the past two weeks, we’ve talked about many other things that we’ve observed in Abraham’s life, and this week, we’re going to talk about three final ingredients to living a life of faith.