Covenant Life Church

We’re in the fourth week of our Transformation series, which is based on Romas 12:2. The word “transformed” in this verse comes from the word from which we get “metamorphosis,” and everyone knows that is the process by which caterpillars become butterflies. Jesus didn’t come, so we could be better caterpillars; He came to change us into something completely different and new.

Last week, we found out that accomplish that by changing the way we think. We have to renovate our thoughts and attitudes, which means approaching everything from the perspective Jesus instructed: we have to love God and love others. The title of last week’s message was “Start with Love,” and we’re going to continue that discussion this week by talking about what love looks like.

We are in the middle of a series called Transformation. Jesus did not go through all that He went through on this earth, so we could stay exactly the same as we were before He found us. Jesus paid the price not just for us to be saved but for us to be changed. So far, we have talked about the dual realities of salvation — the spiritual reality and visible reality — and the need to surrender ourselves to the process of transformation from caterpillar to butterfly.

This week, we’re continuing the conversation and focusing on what it means to start with love. Maybe you’re beginning to believe there is a sliver of hope, but you don’t know where to start. Start where Jesus did with Peter: start with love. Forget about the habits you still have in your life, the mistakes and the failures. Repent and ask God for forgiveness, but when it comes to moving forward and being changed, we need to learn the value of starting with love.

We started a new series last week called Transformation, which explores how the gospel of Jesus is one focused on transformation. Everyone who has been saved and surrendered their lives to Him has experienced this: from death to life, lost to found, darkness to light. What we learned in the first part of our series is that too many churches have offered salvation without transformation, but it is God’s will that His followers start to develop and express the character and nature of Christ. Salvation isn’t the end; it’s the beginning.

We also talked about the need for sanctification, where what has happened on the inside begins to be expressed on the outside. Romans 12 says to be transformed instead of conformed, and that word is where we get our word “metamorphosis,” which is used to describe the transformation of a caterpillar into a butterfly. This week, we’re diving deeper into this idea. If we want Jesus to transform us into new creations, we must surrender to the cocoon — where sanctification occurs — and trust in Him as the Power of the process.

The Bible talks a lot about the things that need to change in the lives of believers, but the American church is virtually silent. The Bible discusses transformation as a lifestyle, but the American church positions it as a singular event. The foundation of transformation is repentance, but many American churches are offering salvation without repentance. We tell people they don’t have to change; they just pray the magic prayer, and they’re in.

This week, we’re starting a new series called Transformation — rooted in Romans 12:2. The gospel of Jesus Christ is all about transformation. We call it getting saved, which means that we’re being removed from serious situations like going from death to life or darkness to light. However, the Bible makes it clear that it isn’t a one-time transformation. As we will discover together, following Jesus is about a process of continuous transformation.

The wise King Solomon said in Ecclesiastes that a triple braided cord is not easily broken, and there are three biblical strands — three threads — that we’re going to weave together: the need for devoted servant leaders, the power of hope, and the ways we’re called to care for the crushed and broken around us.

This week, we’re bringing these three things together to launch a new ministry focus for Covenant Life called the Hope Initiative. Together, we will explore ways to help widows, orphans, the elderly and those in poverty by providing opportunities and experiences that can serve as the breeding ground for hope.

During Jesus’s ministry on this earth, thousands of people got to see, hear, and interact with Him. They got to make up their minds about whether or not to follow Him. Another generation got to base their decision on the testimony of those who knew Him and walked with Him, but eventually, everyone who had known Him in the flesh passed away. Where does that leave us? How do we get to know Jesus today?

The good news is that Jesus Christ is not just the Son of God; He’s the Word of God. You can’t separate Jesus from His Word. They are eternally intertwined, which means that getting to know the Word helps you meet, learn, and know more about Jesus Himself. This week, we’re digging into the creation and trustworthiness of the Bible, helping us come to see it as a firm foundation upon which we should build our lives.

Over the past two or three months, we have celebrated Memorial Day, Flag Day, Juneteenth and Independence Day. Because of these holidays, there’s been a lot of talk about different kinds of freedom, including political, civil and economic. It is a subject worthy of discussion and a necessary component of a healthy human soul, but there’s one aspect of freedom we don’t talk about often.

Based on Luke 4:18-19, it’s clear that freedom was central to the ministry of Jesus. He came to this earth to declare freedom — from our sin debt, from sickness, from death, from shame and so much more! The Spirit of the Lord was upon Him, which means that He brought freedom everywhere He went. This week, we are exploring what it looks like to walk in the freedom that Jesus gives us.

Last week, we kicked off a two-part series about cosmic mountain encounters in the Bible. We took a tour of the Bible and visited different mountains to discover how they became places where God invited flawed and faulty humans in His redemptive work. We talked about how every cosmic mountain involves testing, resting and trusting.

We started with information, and now, we’re pivoting to application. What does it mean to trust and rest in God? Mountains are a temporary place, so this week, we’re coming back Down the Mountain, exploring how we can respond appropriately while we’re up there and discovering what comes with us when we return to normal life.

Mountains can be beautiful and breath-taking places, but because the air at the summit is too thin, too cold or too windy, they are places we cannot stay for long. We often use mountain-related language when we refer to our experiences with God; mountains are times when we feel close to Him and have an abundance of faith, and valleys are difficult or distant seasons. Although they are merely metaphors for us, powerful moments with God throughout the Bible did tend to happen on mountains.

Moses seeing the glory of God on Mount Sinai, which has been a through-line across many recent messages, is one of these “cosmic mountain” encounters. A cosmic mountain is a special place where the veil between Heaven and earth wears thin, where a human is able to commune with the Lord and join in His redemptive work. This week, we’re kicking off a new two-part series, taking a quick tour of some cosmic mountains in the Bible and seeing what God might be trying to show us.

As we have seen, the world has a pattern of expectations, behaviors, customs and motives. It’s a script to follow, and for the most part, it’s self-centered, self-indulgent and self-managed. However, as followers of Jesus, we are called to be different by renewing our minds with the Word and the Spirit of God. We do this by surrendering our fates and souls to Jesus and following His patterns and direction for our lives.

This week, we’re wrapping up our “Flip the Script” series with a special message in honor of Father’s Day. The Bible is full of mighty men of God who failed miserably as fathers. God’s call to be different isn’t just for what we do in public; His script for us means that those who know us best will love and respect us most. What we do in our homes is just as important as what we do within our jobs, churches and communities.