Covenant Life Church

Sometimes, when things are going well in our lives, we put God on the back burner. We believe that we have everything under control, and it’s not until we’re at the end of our rope and have nowhere else to go that we reach out to God. Even then, we try to make things better with our own power and effort.

This week, Darron Reese uses an example from the Old Testament to illustrate how this way of living keeps us from receiving and achieving God’s best for our lives. Often, by not trusting God, we allow things in our lives that shouldn’t be there, and we find ourselves holding on to beliefs, behaviors or relationships that God wants us to get rid of. On the other hand, if we can learn to trust God with our nothing, we allow Him to miraculously turn it into something.

This week, Mitchell Cash, the leader of Covenant Life’s Men’s Ministry, shares his testimony. From wanting to be just like his dad when he was growing up to becoming a father himself, Mitchell opens up about the difficult road that he faced and the lessons that he learned on his way to becoming the man he is today.

In this message, Mitchell talks about his decades-long struggle with alcohol, how he started drinking at a young age and how that addiction impacted those around him — especially his children. Thankfully, Mitchell was determined to leave a different legacy and be more than a “just good enough” father.

Over the past couple of weeks, we have learned that it is healthy to come to the conclusion that “I Can’t.” I can’t save myself. I can’t change myself. I can’t meet God’s expectations in my own power. However, by relying on the Lord’s strength and His great promises, we can share in His nature, putting off the old way of life and putting on Christ instead. Putting on Christ is like taking off old dirty clothes and putting on new, clean clothes, and the Bible likens it to shining armor, which is described in detail in Ephesians 6. This armor is one of those great promises of God that empowers us to be like Christ. This week, we’re going to continue looking at the armor and talk about how to put on each piece.

Like marriage, salvation is a covenant, and there is an exchange, a difference that must take place in the life of a follower of Jesus. We have to stop living the way we used to live and start living the way Jesus lived. We have to throw off our old nature and put on our new nature in Christ. You should be able to tell by watching someone whether they are a follower of Jesus because followers of Christ should have different actions, attitudes and motives, but it’s important to remember that we can’t change on our own. We can only stop doing the things of the old nature and start doing the things of the new nature by embracing “I can’t” and putting on Christ.

Philippians 4:13 and John 15:5 form the foundation of the life of a follower of Jesus, but too often, we don’t believe them, don’t understand them or simply don’t put them into practice. Our salvation is entirely and completely dependent upon the power of Christ and His sacrifice for us, and there is no sinner too far gone for the power of Christ’s love to pull them back and no sin too difficult and too dirty for the blood of Jesus to wash it clean. What do we do now after we’ve surrendered our lives to Jesus? It is now the will of God for us to become like Jesus and continue His work. How do we do that? In our own flesh, we are no more righteous than we were before we got saved. In our own power, we are no more able to keep the rules than before we got saved. How in the world can He expect us to be like Jesus? By continuing to walk in The Power of I Can’t.

hear that verse and get stuck on the phrase “I can,” but those are not the two most important words in the verse. Instead, the most important words are “through Christ.” If we overlook those two words, we’re left to accomplish everything in our own power, but our human ability can only take us so far. The things of eternity cannot be accomplished by human effort. If we want to become like Jesus and truly connect with Him, we must rely on His ability and humbly rest in the power of “I can’t.”

We often see ourselves in light of our faults, failures, mistakes, hopes and dreams — the things we wish that we could change about or do with our lives. However, we can’t allow those things to define who we are. This week, we’ll discover how we can be free from that limited view of our identity and learn how we can allow God to define us. It’s not about our surroundings; it’s about our surrender. As we grow in our relationship with Christ, we will begin to see ourselves the way that God sees us.

In Acts 9:36-42, we read about the passing of a disciple named Tabitha, and although she was ultimately resurrected by Peter, the widows from her community showed up in mass. Instead of just sharing heartwarming stories about her, each brought something to remember her by, evidence of her impact on their lives. These ladies all stood there with robes and other clothes that Tabitha had made for them in their moments of distress, which served as expressions of her love for them, but more than that, they were reminders of her life and her character. This week, Pastor John discusses the qualities and characteristics that he sees in his mother’s belongings and explores the topic of the legacy we leave behind every day.

What’s most important during an infant’s formative years is that they learn the love of a parent. That is the things that gives them the ability, the confidence, the knowledge and the security to move forward in their lives. It’s gives them the ability to receive correction and strive for higher standards. They learn to trust the love of the parent. It’s the same with newly converted Christians. We need to give them time and emphasize the importance of learning the heart of the Father. Instead of conforming them to some external standard of behavior, we need to introduce them to the Word and the presence of God. After all, before a person learns to act or talk like Jesus, they must learn to know Him and love Him. It’s all about the love of the Father.

Running is a word that is mentioned in some form or fashion more than 100 times in the Old Testament, and throughout the New Testament, including Hebrews 12:1-2, it serves as one of the primary metaphors to describe the Christian faith. If the Christian faith is an endurance race, what do we need to know and do to run it well, so we can say at the end of our lives — like Paul —that we’ve finished the race and our efforts were not in vain?