Covenant Life Church

In our current series called It Is Well With My Soul, we are talking about being spiritually healthy by being mentally healthy. These two areas of our well-being occupy the same space. Your soul is your mind, will, and emotions, which is where mental health rests. You can’t be spiritually healthy and mentally unhealthy at the same time, so if you are going to say, “it is well with my soul,” you have to check in on our thoughts, feelings, and decisions to make sure they are aligned with God’s Word and will. Last week, we started looking at the account of Elijah fleeing into the wilderness after Queen Jezebel threatened his life. We talked about his need for rest, nutrition, hydration, and the need for connection. Those are physical things you can do to get someone stabilized enough to receive help and healing at the soul level. This week, we’re going to talk more about that help and healing by exploring how Elijah got into the mess he was in and how we can come back from, or avoid hitting, rock bottom.

We are in a series called “It Is Well With My Soul.” As we have learned, a soul is made up of mind, will, and emotions. It’s our thoughts, feelings, and decisions. Proverbs 4 says to guard it above all things because all the issues of our lives are sourced in our souls, and it’s easy to see why. In this series, we have talked about the fact that our soul occupies the same space as our mental health. In fact, one of the main reasons we’re talking about this in church is that it is impossible for a person to be spiritually healthy and mentally unhealthy at the same time. Today is the pivot point in this series. We’ve spent a few weeks making the connection between spiritual and mental health, and we’ve explored some examples to help you identify areas of need in your own life. At the same time, we have tried to strip away the shame and stigma, so people can feel free to get the help they need for whatever they are going through. We’ve spent a lot of time talking about the problems, but this week, we’re going to start talking about solutions, beginning with Psalm 23 and how the Lord restores our soul with green pastures and still waters.

As we celebrate Father’s Day, we are continuing our series called It Is Well With My Soul. Your soul is your mind, your emotions, and your decision-making process. It occupies the same space as your mental health, so in order to say that it is well with your soul, you have to be able to say, “It is well with my mental health.” Can you say that? Are your thoughts positive and healthy? Are you emotionally stable and able to enjoy your family? Do you make solid decisions? Hebrews 12:10 tells us that “our earthly fathers disciplined us for a few years, doing the best they knew how.” That verse can bring so much comfort and hope to dads because God doesn’t need us to be perfect because He is already perfect. In fact, the perfect dad is not a perfect man; he’s a flawed man who is surrendered to His Father. God is asking us just to do the best we can do — and along the way, if we can do that, we will set our families up for spiritual and mental health.

Last week, we began a new series called It Is Well With My Soul. Your soul is your mind, will, and emotions. Our Heavenly Father wants our souls to be healed, restored, rested, and guarded. Your spiritual health and mental health occupy the same space, so that means you cannot be spiritually healthy and mentally unhealthy at the same time. They are connected. Because of this fact, it’s time to be honest about how you are doing mentally and how you’re getting along with the people around you. Holding it all inside isn’t brave or courageous; it’s foolish and selfish. Being a Christian doesn’t mean you suck it up and deal with it. The enemies of our mental health are real and should not be taken lightly. Untreated mental health destroys marriages, ministries, careers, and lives, so you need to be honest about the things in your life that are becoming unmanageable. This week, we’re exploring Enemies of My Soul’s Health.

Your soul is vital, and sometimes, it needs to be reset back to factory settings. Psalm 23 says a good Shepherd has to occasionally lead you to a place where your soul can be restored, a place of green pastures, still waters, and lying down. Why does a soul need restoring? Because you may have to walk through seasons of grief, have people who hurt you or just generally get beat up by the trials of life. Proverbs 4:23 — another famous verse — tells us to guard our hearts and says that it determines the course of your life. Biblically, your heart is your soul, which encompasses your mind, will, and emotions. If it is so important, why does the church only talk about saving souls rather than guarding or restoring souls? This week, we’re starting a new series about mental health called It Is Well With My Soul.

Most parents want their children to be able to chase their dreams, and they often do all they can to build a place of possibility for their kids to go and be successful. This week, we’re talking about what it means to create a home where anything is possible, but that goal comes with a positive version and a negative version. The Bible speaks to both. Scripture is full of advice for parents and children. It contains encouragements and warnings, ways to live and ways not to live, things to do and things not to do. This is not a message about creating the perfect home because there isn’t one of those; it’s about the atmosphere that we create inside our homes and the impact of the choices we make.

In Acts 10:1-5, we read about a man named Cornelius. He was a righteous Gentile who loved God, prayed to Him and also gave to those in need. In describing Cornelius, the Bible uses a specific Greek term that only appears three times in the New Treatment. The verses say his prayers and gifts to the poor have come up as a “memorial” before God — a word that is also used in Mark 14 and Matthew 26. As we recognize Memorial Day this week, we’re looking at this biblical concept of a “memorial” to explore the things that God remembers. Because He is omniscient, God knows and remembers everything, but just like He chooses to forget our sins when we seek His forgiveness, there are also things that move Him to such an extent that He chooses to bring them to the forefront of His memory and ours.

Life is beautiful and offers many great opportunities, but unfortunately, it also has the potential to cause hurt and pain. If we’re going to follow God and succeed, we need to understand the impact and influence of three things: faith, focus, and fear. This week, as part of our annual Graduation Recognition Service, Matt Carlisle — a member of the Covenant Life Student Ministry (CLSM) High School team — delivers an encouraging message to our seniors using heartfelt stories from his own life.

Mothers carry burdens that weigh heavily on their hearts, including worries about their family members, their finances, if they’re good enough, the past, the future, and more. We have to stop worrying about things that haven’t even happened yet — instead, we need to pray about it and give it to God. He never intended for us to carry these burdens alone; we have to let go of what we can't control, stop worrying, and let God take over. In this week’s sermon, Valerie Butler reminds us that real faith isn't about having all the answers; it's about trusting God's plan even when we aren't in the driver's seat. Just like Carrie Underwood, there are times when we have to say, “Jesus take the wheel. Take it from my hands.” Together, we’ll discover six steps toward letting go of our worries and giving them to God, which is one of the most freeing and challenging things we can do.

As Jews, members of the early church knew what the Old Testament said. They knew the law, the prophets and the symbols of the Holy Spirit we’ve talked about: water, fire, cloud, oil, and wind. They knew that He came upon people to empower them for serving the Lord and withdrew again. They knew that Joel prophesied that a time would come when the Spirit would be poured out on all flesh. Everything else they knew about the Spirit came from Jesus and John the Baptist. Too often, we approach a scene or topic in the Bible based on what we know now rather than what they knew then, which limits or clouds our understanding. This week’s sermon is the last message of the Holy Water series, and we’re going to talk about the baptism in the Holy Spirit. As we approach this topic, we’re going to strip away past experiences or testimonies we’ve heard and look at what they knew leading up to Pentecost. If it was enough for them, it ought to be enough for us.

Church people talk about being Christians all the time. We talk about being followers of Jesus, but what does that actually mean? If we took the time to talk to 1,000 people at churches around the west Georgia area this morning and asked them what it looks like to follow Jesus, we’d probably hear things like going to church every week, not cussing or drinking, giving money in the offering, being respectful and helping people. If that’s what it means to follow Jesus, something is wrong because you can do all those things and still be lost. If every part of Jesus’s life is supernatural, how is it that we think we can follow Him entirely in our own power? Are we to believe that our sins are forgiven supernaturally, but our life with Him is ordinary? This week, we’re talking about our need for the Holy Spirit’s power to truly live a life of impact that’s pleasing to God.

In Ezekiel 47:1-5, the prophet has a vision about a river flowing from the Temple that is believed to be a symbol of the Holy Spirit. In the vision, the river goes from ankle-deep to knee-deep to waist-deep, and then, it becomes deep enough to swim in. If you are truly saved, you are standing in the river. The will of God is for you to continue downstream, deeper and deeper, more and more surrendered to His Holy Spirit. However, there are many people who got saved and had some spiritual experiences in the river, and after some difficult times, they are now tempted to get out of the water and go completely back to their old life. This week, we’re exploring the truth that the problem isn’t the water; it’s trying to live in two worlds. Discomfort comes when you’re sloshing around in water but still trying to walk like you’re on land.

We are in a series called Holy Water, which is based on the description of the Holy Spirit in Ezekiel 47:1-5. Some people claim that God doesn’t interact with us in a supernatural way anymore; others accept anything done in the name of the Spirit at face value. Because of this, we have spent much of our time looking at how God still speaks, works, and saves through the Spirit. Throughout our series, we have talked a lot about the Spirit part of the equation, but this week’s message is called The Holy Part. With this message, we’re diving into what makes the Spirit of God different than anyone or anything else in the world, and Pastor John is tearing down two misused and misunderstood scriptures that the devil has hidden behind for many years.

It’s been 2,000 years since Jesus’s death, burial and resurrection, and the story has been told over and over. Because we celebrate Easter every year, it has the potential to become just another story if we’re not careful. We must remember that it’s not old news or some memory we carry. Jesus lived and died. He rose again, and He is still alive — and because of that, Easter is never really over. In every town and city, among every tribe and tongue, there are parts of the resurrection story that are still being written. Because of Jesus, people’s lives are still being changed. Their yesterdays are still being forgiven, and their tomorrows are filled with hope. This week, we’re diving into the topic of “The Easter Era,” exploring how Easter is partly past tense, partly present tense, and partly future tense.

Palm Sunday was a time of conflicting emotions, political and social dynamics, and the possibility of a coming Messiah. There was a lot of pressure on people, on the government and on Jesus. It’s no different for us today. If we are dealing with the pain and pressure of life, the best response is prayer, praise and worship. In this message from Corey Pearson, worship director at Covenant Life, we explore the various things that may be keeping us from fully praising God. We will discover together that praise built on outcomes doesn’t last in the face of pressure, but if our worship is built on our identity in Christ, it can endure the cross.

We are continuing our “Holy Water” series. Together, we have been exploring the person and ministry of the Holy Spirit, trying to de-mystify who He is, the ways He works and His place in our lives. Last week, we started talking about the things that the Spirit empowers believers to do after salvation, starting with a look at prayer. This week, we’re exploring how He gives power for proclamation. Over and over, the Bible says something like, “And the Spirit came mightily upon Him to do this or that.” The things the Old Testament saints were able to do were the result of the Holy Spirit’s work in their lives; He enabled them to do what they did. And the result of those supernatural happenings is that God was glorified, people were drawn to Him, and word of His goodness and power spread.

We are in a series called Holy Water. The goal is to de-mystify the Holy Spirit and re-frame Him in your mind using scripture. This is important because there is so much unbiblical teaching and opinions about Him out there — some out of ignorance and some that is intentionally deceptive. So far, we’ve learned that the Holy Spirit is God, and He serves many important roles in the life of a believer. Last week, we also discovered that there is a deeper (not different) work that the Holy Spirit wants to do in us and through us. This week, we are starting to explore what Jesus told the 500 believers who were gathered on the mountain in Acts 1:8. He said, “You will receive power after the Holy Spirit comes upon you. ”Many churches have emphasized other things when it comes to the Holy Spirit, but Jesus made it clear: conversations about what the Spirit offers to us after we’re saved must be rooted in the idea of power. For the next two weeks, we’re looking at what the Holy Spirit empowers us to do when we surrender to Him, starting with prayer.

We’re in the third week of a series called "Holy Water," which is all about walking slowly through the Bible to understand who the Holy Spirit is and how believers are to approach, understand, and interact with Him. So far, we’ve discovered that the Holy Spirit is just as much God as the Father and the Son, He has been revealing Himself since the beginning and He resurrects a person’s spirit when they are saved and begins to influence their soul to follow Christ. This week's message challenges the idea that life for a believer after salvation is only a matter of trying to win the daily battle with the flesh. Together, we will learn that there is "something more” that is not different than salvation but deeper and expected. This "something more" is intended for everyone who gets saved, making salvation the beginning rather than the end, but to experience this saturation, the believer must surrender their soul to the Holy Spirit.

Last week, we started a new series called Holy Water. The purpose of this series is to walk slowly through the theological and practical realities of the Holy Spirit. In the first message, we established the doctrine of the Trinity and learned that the Holy Spirit is the third person of the Godhead. We also talked about His names, His influence in the lives of believers and the many ways He reveals Himself in the Bible. The biggest obstacle to talking about the activities and invitation of the Holy Spirit in the modern church is the belief that we never need to invite the Spirit to deepen or expand His work in our lives because Romans 8 says we received God’s Spirit when we got saved. This week, we’re going to discover that, even though we receive Him when we get saved, the Holy Spirit is still at work even after salvation.

Last week, we concluded the Overflow series with a message about the Holy Spirit and the topic of the Trinity. With people of so many different upbringings and theological backgrounds attending Covenant Life, there are lot of teachings and assumptions floating around — and not all of them are true. It may seem odd, but in order to believe the Bible, there are quite a few things we have to unlearn. This week, we’re starting a brand-new series about the Holy Spirit called Holy Water. Together, we’re going to slow down and look at the person of the Holy Spirit in scripture. The goal is to demystify the Holy Spirit and discover the God who has been here the whole time, answering questions we might have been too afraid or ashamed to ask. Why? Because you can’t have Jesus and reject the Holy Spirit.

Throughout the Overflow series, we have explored the idea that “what fills you reveals you.” The Bible teaches that things you are full of will overflow. This means that, if you want your life to overflow with the fullness and richness that Jesus died to give us, you have to make sure you are full of the right stuff. We have talked about being full of love, joy, and grace, and we have also talked about emptying ourselves of things that don’t reflect Christ. If our job as believers is to be a good reflection of Jesus, then we have lots of work to do before our lives consistently overflow with stuff that looks like Him. Love, joy, and grace is a good start, but there is almost no end to the ingredients with which we need to fill ourselves. We could sum it up by saying that we’d like the overflow of our lives to be Jesus. This week, in the final message of the Overflow series, we’re going to talk about Overflowing Jesus.

Jesus said two things that have led to the Overflow Series. First, He said He came to give us a full and abundant life. This is in contrast to the killing, stealing, and destroying that the enemy does. Jesus wants you full of the life He died to give you. Second, Jesus said whatever is on the inside of you will eventually overflow into the outside. You can only get so full of something before it overflows. What fills you, reveals you — for better or worse. Over the past three messages in this series, we’ve been focused on filling ourselves up with things that are a good reflection of the character and nature of Jesus, so we can overflow with things that look like Him. It makes sense that filling yourself with things like love, joy and grace will result in an overflow that leads you to that full and abundant life Jesus talked about, but there are three really basic truths we need to explore before we go any further.

This week, we are continuing the "Overflow Series," which is rooted in the premise that what is on the outside of a person — our words, actions, and attitudes — starts on the inside. To change the outside, you must start on the inside. This series encourages us to get full of the things God wants for us, allowing them to naturally flow out of us. In this message, Pastor John emphasizes that Jesus came to earth "full of grace and truth," which was a mark of His divinity. Being full of grace means you are a reflection of your Heavenly Father. Ultimately, if we are to be like Jesus, we've got to learn to live full of grace, which will then overflow as salvation, joy, strength, and love in our lives.

This week, Pastor John is delivering the annual State of the Church message, which he has been doing each year since he became the pastor of Covenant Life. This service invites us to look back at 2025 financial and attendance numbers, various spiritual growth metrics and other intangible things we sense God doing. Don’t worry — we’re not only talking about numbers and figures, and we’re not focused solely on the previous year. We’ll spend some time talking about the future. It’s also not a business meeting for members of the church. As a matter of fact, if you’re looking for a church home, this is a great first message to watch.

In January 1984, President Ronald Reagan issued a presidential proclamation to create National Sanctity of Human Life Day, which is usually celebrated on the third Sunday of January. Each year, pastors and churches across the United States use this day to bring awareness to the attacks against human life through the abortion industry. Join us for a special presentation from Kenneth Aycock from Families 4 Families, a faith-based foster care agency committed to connecting local churches with loving families to care for children in Georgia’s foster system. Together, we’ll learn of the many ways people can get involved in foster care and ask, “What can we say ‘yes’ to today?”

Last week, we began a series called Overflow, which stems from one word the Lord spoke to Pastor John in December: full. Jesus said the enemy only comes to steal, kill, and destroy, but He came to bring us a full and abundant life. Jesus also said that what fills you up on the inside will make its way to the surface for all to see. From the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks, and from the root of the tree, the fruit is produced. The overflow of our lives — the things we say and do — is directly connected to what fills us. In the time of the year when people do some self-reflection and are most likely to try to make changes in their lives, the goal is to not focus too much on the outside stuff. What you see is not the problem; it’s the symptom. If you want the overflow of your life to look different, you’re going to have to see what fills your soul. We started off talking about being full of love; this week’s message is Full of Joy.

Lots of people are reflecting on their lives at this time of the year. They feel the disconnect between who they are and who they want to be. All the devil offers is death, destruction, and loss, but Jesus is offering the opposite of that. The “full” life He offers means of the highest quality. It means an abundance, but it starts on the inside. Jesus said in Matthew that what’s on the inside will make its way to the outside. What you are full of on the inside will be obvious through your words and actions. That principle is true for good stuff and for bad stuff. Jesus said that what comes out of your mouth is the overflow of your heart, so if you want your life to look different, you have to change what’s going on inside. This week, we’re kicking off a new series focused on this concept, and we’re starting with the importance of love.

As we move from one year to another, many people find themselves hoping for success and direction in the future, and they are often seeking the secret of a divine connection with God. The secret is that there is no secret; it’s been written in the Bible for 2,000 years. If you want to connect and communicate with God in a powerful way, He’s already told us how to do that: prayer. Jesus taught the disciples how to pray in Luke and Matthew. Praying the exact prayer that Jesus taught is a powerful way to pray. If you believe what you’re saying, it will change you, but that prayer really serves as a pattern for us to follow. This week, we’re breaking down the different sections of that prayer, so we know what to include in our own conversations with God.

Why did Christmas have to be the way it was?The birth of Jesus was so unconventional and so unexpected that even good Jewish people, who had been anticipating the coming of Messiah their whole lives, missed it. Galatians 4:4-6 tells us that there was a plan and that God was waiting for the right time. One version calls it the fullness of time. If God had a plan for WHEN it was going to happen, don’t you think there must have also been a plan for HOW it was supposed to happen and — more importantly — for WHY it had to happen the way it did? This week, we’re looking at Jesus’s life, talking about Christmas the way it had to be and exploring the big picture God was trying to accomplish.

In the American church, we have turned the account of the birth of Jesus into some sort of Christian mythology. We only talk about it in December, keep it separated from the rest of the Bible and do our best to downplay the supernatural aspects. It’s like we keep it in a red and green spiritual Christmas tote that we only pull out of storage on Thanksgiving and then put back promptly on December 26. Despite this fact, the first reference to Christmas in the Bible isn’t even in Matthew or Luke. It’s also not in Isaiah or any of the other prophetic books. It’s in Genesis. There is no mention of wisemen, no angelic visitations and no mangers, but there it is — right there in the first book of the Bible. It’s there that we find both the subtle sin and the surprising solution that created Christmas in the first place.

What if the wise men only went to where Jesus was because they were excited about the astronomical changes going on in the eastern sky? The shepherds, the innkeeper and countless descendants of King David could have easily all had other things on their mind. We don’t know whose lives were changed as a result of their role in the Christmas account, and as a result, it’s possible they all missed Jesus. If you look around, there’s a lot of things going on during this season — shopping, decorating, cooking, wrapping, vacationing, attending parties and more. It would not be hard to have something to do every day of December. It’s easy for us to shake our heads in judgment at how spiritually dull the people of the Bible were, but in all of our running around this time of year, are we also missing Jesus?

Every year in the fall, Pastor John sits down and re-reads the Christmas accounts from Matthew and Luke, asking the Lord to show him something fresh. This year, he was struck by the difficult decisions that had to be made in order for the birth of Jesus to take place exactly the way it did. These were gut-wrenching and dangerous decisions. We have certainly faced gut-wrenching and dangerous decisions before, and there will be more of those types of decisions off and on the rest of our lives — not just once or twice but over and over. This week, we’re exploring some principles we can glean from these Christmas accounts to help us have courage as we face hard choices.

When you think about Christian holidays, most people think Easter and Christmas pretty quickly, but it’s possible that Thanksgiving is as much a Christian holiday as any other. The giving of thanks is at the core of what we do and who we are as believers. Followers of Jesus should be the most grateful, gracious, and appreciative people in the world. Here’s why — the word thanksgiving is not complicated. It’s two parts: thanks and giving. It means that we give our thanks to someone outside ourselves. Gratitude requires that you recognize the contributions that have come from some source other than you. That’s easy for a follower of Jesus because we know that everything we have comes from God.

This week, we’re continuing our Boldness Series. Acts 4:13 says the members of the Sanhedrin saw the boldness of Peter and John — and that’s true. Boldness is visible, but if we’re not careful, we will think boldness always looks the same way. We might start to believe that boldness is simply a set of behaviors and that repeating those behaviors will always be the boldness God wants from us. In reality, boldness is not behavior; it’s belief. Instead of coming from a commitment to a set of behaviors, it comes from a commitment to a set of attitudes and beliefs. Sometimes, boldness manifests itself in ways you would expect, but other times, it looks very different. This week, we’re looking at some diverse pictures of boldness and trying to figure out what those pictures have in common.

The Bible says the Old Testament passages were given to us as examples. In many cases, the things that played out in the physical world represent things that play out for us in the spirit world. This means that we can look to how they fought battles in the Old Testament to help us know how to fight our battles now. If you’ve ever felt outmatched in a fight, you’re not alone. Rarely did the children of Israel have a tactical or numerical advantage, but the Bible shows us over and over that things are not always as they appear. This week, we’re talking about Gideon’s once again to see what we can discover about bold warfare.

Last week, we began a series on boldness. Some people have a negative view or understanding of boldness. They confuse it with rudeness or arrogance. In reality, though, it should be defined as the power to live according to your purpose and priorities. For followers of Christ, the power comes from the Holy Spirit, and the purpose and priorities are established by God and His Word. This week, we’re continuing to talk about Gideon from the book of Judges. The first bold thing Gideon did was to lift up his head. He was hiding in a wine press trying to thresh some grain, so his family could eat. His first step towards getting out of that pit was just to lift up his head. It’s no different for us; if things are going to change in your life, you must have the boldness to lift up your head.

Pastor Dharius Daniels from Atlanta said at a recent conference that we sometimes have to choose closure without clarity. These are moments in which the matter has been settled even though we don’t understand everything, and it’s a liberating truth. When you have questions weighing you down and situations you can’t explain, it can either keep you stagnant or just walking in circles. Instead, we want to learn how we can continue to move forward. If you have been walking through a season of doubt, confusion or questioning, it’s time to lift up your head. The season of head-hanging and stagnation is over. Stop looking at where you’ve been and look up to see where you’re going. Jesus gave His life as a sacrifice for us to give us an abundant life, but you will never find God’s abundance looking down or looking back. You have to lift up your head and let the King of Glory into your everyday life.

There are three words that the enemy would tell you are words of doubt but are actually words of faith. You might believe these three words show weakness and foolishness, but instead, they show strength and godly wisdom. They sound like heresy to religious people, but they sound like refreshing honesty to people who are searching for answers. This week, we’re talking about those three words — I don’t know — and how we can constantly pursue Jesus without ever fully understanding Him. Why? Because the things of eternity can’t be contained in the things of earth. God’s ways and thoughts are higher than ours, but being honest and humble enough to say those words can help us grow closer to Him. NOTE: Due to technical difficulties, we were unable to capture the entire message. We wanted to share what we were able to record in hopes that it will strengthen your faith, and we invite you to access the full sermon notes by visiting this link: https://www.bible.com/events/49509216. Please click “Save” on the event to ensure that you can revisit it later. Thank you for your understanding!

Have you ever been in a situation where you knew you needed to take a stand? You may want to influence your friends at school or share your faith with someone at work. Many people want to stand up for their beliefs, but they wonder if they have what it takes or struggle with the fear of rejection. This week, Pastor Jay Mann shares a lesson in courage from someone who made history: Esther. She thought she was a nobody, but she did something brave and made a difference on behalf of her people. Together, we’ll learn the steps needed to find success and seize the moment — just like Esther.

Arguably the number one thing most people ask Pastor John is “How do I find God’s will for my life?” Religion has made the will of God some great mystery — like it’s something to search for our whole lives. We expect to get a job, hold an office, start a ministry or receive a title. We are looking for the answer in a destination, but what if it’s simpler than that? The core verse for this series is Romans 12:2, which contains two different sentences. The first says that we’re transformed by the renovation of our thoughts; the second says that we will learn to know the will of God once our mind is renovated. This week, we’re continuing (and possibly concluding) our Transformation Series with a message about God’s will.

This week, Pastor Robby reminds us that yesterday is not today. The things that defined us yesterday don’t have to define us today, and the things that were bad yesterday can be used for good today. In Lamentations 3:22-23, we read that God’s mercies begin afresh each morning. One second is all it takes for the clock to flip from 11:59:59 p.m. to 12:00:00 a.m. and for our lives to change forever. This encouraging word uses two different healings from the New Testament — the blind man in John 9 and the lame man in John 5 — to point us back to the source of these changes: Jesus. Encountering “That Man” is what causes the clock to flip, and it’s not just a one-time occurrence. He will meet us over and over, showing up when we need Him most and revealing different aspects of His character.

We are still in a series called Transformation. We are not to be conformed to the way the world does things; we must be transformed by the process of metamorphosis. In order for us to be transformed, we have to renew or renovate our minds, and every good renovation starts with demo day! You have to remove the old stuff that limits your growth, takes up space, or isn’t a good reflection of the owner. This week’s message is called Poison Paradigms. A paradigm is a mental construct. It’s how we make sense of the world, taking new information and integrating it into something you already believe and understand. Everybody has paradigms, and they are useful — unless they are built on lies. To become like Jesus, we have to let Him pull down the poisonous paradigms and strongholds of our minds.

For the past four weeks, we’ve been a series called Transformation, in which we’ve been looking at the ways God wants to change us from the caterpillars He found us as into the butterflies He wants us to be. It is not just a slight adjustment — it’s a radical transformation, a metamorphosis powered by the Holy Spirit. Maybe, the biggest takeaway so far is that the process starts on the inside and works its way to the outside. Nothing is more crucial to deep, lasting change than our thoughts and attitudes, and Romans 12:2 says they need to be renewed. The word renewed means renovated, and a key part of any renovation is demo day. That’s where you rip out the old and remove the stuff that just doesn’t fit the new design. That’s the name of the message and our focus this week: finding out what needs to be demolished from our thoughts and attitudes.

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.