Covenant Life Church

If we want to hear from God and know His will, we must recognize the different means and methods He uses to communicate. To help with this, we are kicking off a new series about the ways that God has spoken to His people in the past and how He still speaks today. By looking at the Christmas account found in the gospels of Matthew and Luke, we will see how people heard the voice of God then and use that as a template for how we can hear from Him now. This week’s message will examine how God uses dreams and visions to provide His people with comfort, direction, protection and information.

As our church continues to pursue the vision of The Jericho Project, a ministry designed to help the victims of sex trafficking, there has been a lot of support and excitement, but there have also been a lot of questions. People who may not fully understand why we’re doing what we’re doing have asked questions about having those people in our building or in our church services. This week’s message seeks to address those questions and provide some answers. Right now, we are in the honeymoon phase. Everyone is excited about what we’re doing and where we’re going, but this kind of work is difficult and messy. There will be times when we need to remind ourselves why we’re doing it and re-anchor ourselves to the Word of God, so we will have the strength to carry out the work of God. It’s all about progressing from an attitude of those people to a view of all of us, working and serving together as these people.

As our church continues to pursue the vision of The Jericho Project, a ministry designed to help the victims of sex trafficking, there has been a lot of support and excitement, but there have also been a lot of questions. People who may not fully understand why we’re doing what we’re doing have asked questions about having those people in our building or in our church services. This week’s message seeks to address those questions and provide some answers. Right now, we are in the honeymoon phase. Everyone is excited about what we’re doing and where we’re going, but this kind of work is difficult and messy. There will be times when we need to remind ourselves why we’re doing it and re-anchor ourselves to the Word of God, so we will have the strength to carry out the work of God. It’s all about progressing from an attitude of those people to a view of all of us, working and serving together as these people.

In the Thanksgiving season, people are focused on a disposition of gratefulness and thanks, but it’s clear from verses like 1 Thessalonians 5:18 that followers of Jesus should carry an attitude of gratitude all the time. It is the will of God for us to be grateful - not just in the good times but in every circumstance. This week, we’re going to explore the fact that gratitude isn’t just a decoration, add-on or optional feature. It is a foundational disposition for the believer, and together, we’ll look at three ways that gratitude connects to and works together with other deep, foundational fruit to produce incredible spiritual results.

This week’s message – Help for the Hurting Heart – is the conclusion of Pastor John’s three-part series about guarding our hearts. Over the past three weeks, we have explored how the difficult circumstances that we endure affect our mind, emotions and decision-making process, and we have learned that Jesus came to heal the pain in our hearts caused by the tragedy, trauma and trials of life. To help our hurting hearts heal, Jesus left us three things. Last week, we discovered that the first of these three things is the Word of God, which can wash away the sin and pain that we have been through if we will consistently read and believe it. This week, we’ll talk about the other two things that Jesus left behind for us, so we can fully experience the freedom of being mentally, emotionally and spiritually healed.

Jesus said in John 10:10 that He came to give you an abundant life. There is no area of your life that cannot and should not be affected by your relationship with God, and although our relationship with Him begins at salvation, it doesn’t end there. He wants you to be forgiven and free and healed and whole! Last week, we talked about guarding your heart for the holidays, and this week, we’re taking it one step further. There is hope and healing for the hurting heart. Jesus said He wants you to have an abundant life, but that can’t happen if your soul is not healthy. If something in your past or present has harmed you and has affected your mind, emotions or decision-making, Jesus wants to heal you.

When you go to the doctor for a check-up, they are going to check your blood pressure, pulse and cholesterol. They’re going to check all of the things that have to do with your heart because it is the center of your existence. If it’s not healthy, it’s impossible for any other part of your body to work properly. The same is true for your spiritual heart, which is why Proverbs 4:23 says to “guard your heart above all else.” Why? Because your heart determines the course of your life. What you think, what you feel are the decisions that you make are all determined by your heart, and whether you wind up in a healthy place or an unhealthy one is determined by how healthy your heart is.

The society in which we live values titles, money, fame and notoriety. This is shown in the fact that, when meeting someone new, the first question we usually ask is, “What do you do?” Based on the answer to that question and our own experiences, we begin to assign a value to that person and the role they play in society. However, Jesus came to welcome us into a new society - one in which He looks at who we are instead of what we do. As we begin to understand that God calls us His children simply because of His love for us, it can quiet the worthlessness that we may feel at times and give us a new answer to the question of where we derive our value.

In Psalm 34:19, we read that “the righteous person faces many troubles, but the Lord comes to the rescue each time.” Sometimes, we suffer because of our own mistakes, flaws, failures and sins. If that’s the case, we should repent and ask God to help you change. Sometimes, though, stuff happens that we didn’t cause and can’t always fix. What do we do when things aren’t great? How can we be okay when everything is not okay? This week, Pastor John gives us four biblical, practical and honest reminders to help us respond to life’s troubles.

This week’s message - It’s Not Your Fault - is part of a series that began many years ago to address issues that are considered taboo and that the church has been silent about for too long. The taboo issue that we’re discussing this time is sexual abuse. Countless men and women have suffered sexual abuse in silence because the issue isn’t commonly addressed from the pulpit, but by looking at the accounts of Joseph (Genesis 39) and Tamar (2 Samuel 13), we will learn more about this issue, understand potential warning signs and find hope in the fact that innocent victims can be healed and set free. Whatever has happened to you, no matter how long it’s been or how many times it happened, it’s not your fault.