Sunday Sermons | Champion Forest

Join Emory Cothen at Champion Forest as he continues the Life Lessons series with a powerful message from Romans 4:19-21. Drawing from Abraham's unwavering faith, the courage of early martyr Perpetua, and his own journey of a broken leg that redirected his calling, Cothen asks: Are you fully convinced that God is able to do what He has promised? This message challenges believers to move beyond circumstance-driven living and embrace a faith that is filled to the brim with confidence in God's character and promises.

Message from Emory Cothen on July 26, 2026

Kal Kilgo teaches from Psalm 90 in a message called "True Satisfaction." Moses wrote this psalm in a season of deep personal loss, yet he turned to the everlasting God in prayer. Kal walks through how Moses faced the reality of human frailty, our lives are like grass that flourishes in the morning and withers by evening, without losing hope.

The message exposes the enemies that steal our satisfaction: pride, greed, comfort, control, comparison, and bitterness. These temporary pursuits cannot carry the weight of our deepest longings. Only God's steadfast love can. Kal invites us to pause before we pray, to consider who we are speaking to, and to ask God to teach us to number our days so that we might live in His fullness. True satisfaction is not found in easier circumstances but in a love that remains steady through every trial.

Connor Bales teaches from Romans 8:16-18 in a message called "Suffering is not Singular." Every believer will face hardship in a world fractured by sin, but the Bible is not silent on how to navigate it well. Paul tells the church in Rome that the Holy Spirit helps believers in seasons of suffering and that present difficulties cannot compare with the glory to come.

Pastor Connor shares honestly from his own family's journey with two daughters who have a rare genetic diagnosis, explaining how God has used suffering to shape his faith and unlock purpose he could not have known otherwise. He encourages believers to stop comparing their pain, stop expecting a one-and-done resolution, and instead steward suffering with eyes fixed on God's promises and the hope of eternity.

Retired Major General Doug Carver teaches from Joshua 1 in a message called "Life Lessons." On this July 4th weekend, he brings firsthand experience from deploying to Iraq, surviving missile attacks in a bunker, and walking alongside wounded warriors like Greg Gadson and Travis Mills. Through these stories, he shows how God's promise to Joshua is for every believer facing an impossible task.

God sees us in our darkest moments and promises never to leave or forsake us. Doug reminds us that courage is not the absence of fear but confidence that God is at work. Whether our challenge is visible like combat wounds or hidden like strained relationships or health struggles, we can trust that God who began a good work in us will bring it to completion. Jesus endured the cross so we would never be ultimately abandoned, and He intercedes for us still.

Jarrett Stephens teaches from 2 Timothy 4:6-8 in a message called "Fight to the Finish." Paul's final inspired words were written from a Roman prison as he faced imminent death, yet they overflow with confidence and hope. He had fought the good fight, finished the race, and kept the faith, and he wanted Timothy to do the same.

Jarrett explores what motivated Paul to persevere through suffering and what enables believers to finish strong today. He warns against six common barriers that derail Christians and offers three practical commitments: live with the end in mind, expect life's challenges rather than being surprised by them, and remember the people watching your life. The message points us to Jesus as both the reason and the reward for finishing faithful.

Daniel Ritchie teaches from Romans 15:1-7 in a message called "Believers are Builders." Daniel shares his own story of being born without arms, the father who fought for his life in the delivery room, and the student pastor who shared the gospel with him as a broken teenager. He reminds us that Jesus is the hero of our stories, not ourselves.

From Romans 15, Daniel unpacks three truths: believers are builders who step into others' weakness, believers are built up by the Word of God for daily endurance, and believers live with Jesus as the hero of their lives. He challenges us to move beyond a once-a-week spiritual meal and to let Scripture shape how we respond to a discouraging world. When we are built up by God's Word, we have something to give to others.

Jarrett Stephens teaches from 2 Corinthians 4 and Romans 8 in a message called "Fighting Through Suffering." Suffering touches every life, and the question of why can derail our faith if we let it. Jarrett shows from Scripture that suffering runs on two tracks: the glory of God and the refinement of our faith. God's glory rests on us in the middle of suffering, not just after it ends, and our faith is tested and matured in ways nothing else can accomplish.

Suffering also brings gifts we could not receive otherwise: God's power when we are weak, purpose that reaches beyond ourselves, and perspective that looks to unseen eternal realities. Jarrett closes with four certainties from Romans 8 that anchor us in hardship: God is not condemning you, God is praying for you, God is working for your good, and nothing can separate you from His love. The path through suffering is to hold fast to what we know rather than be consumed by what we do not.

Mark Lanier teaches from Isaiah 1:17, Deuteronomy 10, and Jeremiah 22 in a message called "Fighting for the Weak." God's people are called to more than sympathy for the vulnerable. We are called to active advocacy, to seek justice, correct oppression, and defend the rights of the poor and needy.

Lanier brings his experience as a trial lawyer to show how Scripture's legal language calls us to fight, not merely pity. From the social media addiction case he argued against multi-trillion-dollar companies to the opioid litigation in Ohio, he illustrates what it looks like to go to the mat for those who cannot fight for themselves. Because we bear God's image and because Christ died for us while we were still weak, we carry His commission to see, defend, and love those the world overlooks.

Jarrett Stephens teaches from John 14 in a message called "Fighting for Truth." Truth matters because it leads us to Jesus, who is the embodiment of truth itself. Jarrett shows that truth is not up for a vote. It is absolute, narrow, and ultimately found in a person.

The fight for truth rages in the mind, where Satan deceives, the sin nature craves lies, and the world system saturates us with false values. Believers must actively fill their minds with God's Word, guard their minds with wisdom and discipline, and train their minds for godliness through practices like prayer and meditation. The outcome is significant: setting the mind on the Spirit produces life and peace, while setting it on the flesh leads to death.