Alive Covenant Church

It's the 4th Sunday of Advent and Christmas is coming... As many people return "home" for Christmas, we look at how Christmas can be a kind of home for us - reminding us of God's unfailing love and faithfulness and that we are God's beloved. But it doesn't end there... Christmas also reminds us of where we are going and even what to do with our lives now. Christmas reminds us of our identity. So l...

It's the 2nd Sunday of Advent and Christmas is coming... To help us explore "What is the true Christmas Spirit?", we turn our focus to Mary's Magnificat (Gospel of Luke 1:26-56) and other scripture (Gospel of Luke 4:18-19 and Philippians 2:5-8) that help us to remember why Jesus came into the world... and what that means for our lives. May you not only dwell on "What is the true Christmas Spirit?"...

This series takes us through Peter Scazzero's book, Emotionally Healthy Spirituality. In this sermon we focus on Sabbath - God's gift to us. The whole focus of this series has been learning to slow down so we can listen to and be with God. Sabbath takes that idea to a whole new level. Why does God think stopping, resting and delighting for a day each week is as important as "Do not steal" or "Do n...

He is Risen! He is Risen indeed! Pastor Daron explores how Jesus' RESURRECTION changed the disciples and Jesus' brothers. But how does the RESURRECTION change us? That is our meditation today. 

This series takes us through Peter Scazzero's book, Emotionally Healthy Spirituality. In this sermon, we focus on chapter 5 - Enlarging Your Soul Through Grief and Loss. Most of us try to avoid pain, grief, loss. And we will use anything to do it - television, tik tok, work, "staying busy", pornography, overeating, alcohol, drugs. In the scripture we look at today, we see that Jesus wept and Jesus...

This series takes us through Peter Scazzero's book, Emotionally Healthy Spirituality. In this sermon, we focus on The Dark Night of the Soul or as Scazzero calls it in chapter 4 - The Wall. We discuss how all of us will go though a season when our good feelings of God's presence evaporate. Where we feel like God is not listening when we pray. This is normal. Even to be expected. But it is also an...

This series takes us through Peter Scazzero's book, Emotionally Healthy Spirituality. In this sermon, we focus on chapter 3 - Going Back in Order to Go Forward. Through looking at the life of Joseph, we are invited to look at how the blessings and sins of our family going back 2-3 generations have impacted who we are today. If we want to follow Jesus, the work of discipleship then asks us to consi...

This series takes us through Peter Scazzero's book, Emotionally Healthy Spirituality. In this sermon, we focus on chapter 2 - Know Yourself That You May Know God. Through looking at the life of Kind David, we are invited to recognize, name, and bring our emotions to God.

We begin our series entitled I'm stuck. We're stuck. This series takes us through Peter Scazzero's book, Emotionally Healthy Spirituality. In this sermon, Pastor Daron introduces "why" we are focusing our attention on this book, what are the Top 10 symptoms of emotionally unhealthy spirituality, and invites us slow down for God and allow God to expose and dismantle our false self. 

Pastor Heather continues our focus on a church in Thessalonica, a port city in Greece, that formed 20 years after Jesus' ministry/death/resurrection. Sex is the focus of this chapter and sermon. That's probably enough for you to want to hear more.

Pastor Heather continues our focus on a church in Thessalonica, a port city in Greece, that formed 20 years after Jesus' ministry/death/resurrection. What does it mean to have faith? What does it mean to live out the Good News? These are the questions that we explore as we listen and think through this scripture today. Pastor Heather breaks down 5 facets of faith that she sees in this chapter.

Pastor Daron continues our focus on a church in Thessalonica, a port city in Greece. As we continue our exploration of the letter (chapter 2, verses 1-16), it seems that the writers (Paul, Silas & Timothy) are addressing issues in the lives of the people in that church community that could undermined the credibility or the power of the Good News. We then look at what undermines the credibility...

Pastor Daron continues our focus on a church in Thessalonica, a port city in present day Greece. Today we focus on the first chapter of the letter that Paul, Silas, and Timothy wrote to the church after they were forced out of town by a mob. They are greatly encouraged by how the Holy Spirit continues to form the church even in their absence and how the people are turning from idols to the living...

Pastor Daron introduces us to Thessalonica, a port city in present day Greece. This is a story of a healthy church starting against all odds. The founders never wanted to go there - it was Plan B when their first and second options fell through. They only stayed three weeks before being kicked out by a mob. Is that possible - to spend three weeks with people who have never heard about Jesus - get...

Charmaine Doherty shares how Jesus radically changed the lives of Onesimus, Philemon and the church in Colossae. The Holy Spirit's action in their lives challenged what their culture said was acceptable. Their obedience led them from a relationship focused on division and difference to one of belonging. What dividing walls keep you living a life focused on difference, rather than belonging? How mi...

Gary Walter shares when Jesus started his ministry, he didn't look for superstar followers. Instead, he chose a group of raw and unrefined folks whose curiosity and earnestness were the primary traits. He introduced them to four tools he will use to shape and mold them, elements he uses still in the lives of those seeking to live an earnest faith even today.

What is really real? More and more, it becomes difficult to know what's really real. Images and video can be altered. Audio recordings can be created. Events happen in the world and we have multiple perspectives on what happened. So what is really real? Pastor Daron poses this question to our graduates, telling them we hope they have experienced the reality of our love, and that we hope that point...

John writes his gospel about Jesus because he wants us to understand that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God. John also writes so we begin to think of ourselves as "the disciple Jesus loves" and we understand that Jesus sends us into the world just as God sent him into the world. Pastor Daron Jagodzinske teaches on John's last chapter which highlights how easy it is for any of us to give up when...

The resurrected Jesus. What did he say? What did he do? after he came back to life. Pastor Daron Jagodzinske explores how the lives of his followers were changed by these encounters... maybe ours will be too.

We were so pleased to have Timothy McMahan King, author of Addiction Nation - What the Opioid Crisis Reveals About Us , join us to share about his own addiction and encouraged us to see people in addiction through a different lens.  Unfortunately, the first 10 minutes of the sermon are not available.

Proximity. What does it matter? Could it be the gateway into understanding and participating in Jesus' upside-down kingdom? Bryan Stevenson's (author of Just Mercy and founder of the Equal Justice Initiative ) life was changed by proximity when he visited a prisoner on death row. Pastor Daron highlights that Jesus lived a life modeling proximity to (and giving his life away for) those in need, the...

What is the difference between defending Jesus and confessing and trusting him? Peter boasted that he was ready to die for Jesus - but just a few hours later, after he discovered that Jesus neither needed nor wanted his help in resisting arrest, Peter publicly denied his identity as Jesus' disciple. In this sermon, Pastor Heather explores the gap between our ideals and reality, between what we ima...

Jesus was known to go off on his own and pray. A few times we get to listen in. John 17 is one of those. In this sermon, Pastor Daron Jagodzinske shares what he believes is the GREATEST verse in the Bible. As Jesus is praying for us (people who will believe someday because of the disciples testimony), he asks God to help us understand that God loves us as much as God loves Jesus! God loves me as m...

Jesus was known to go off on his own and pray. A few times we get to listen in. John 17 is one of those. In this sermon, Pastor Daron Jagodzinske shares what he believes is the GREATEST verse in the Bible. As Jesus is praying for us (people who will believe someday because of the disciples testimony), he asks God to help us understand that God loves us as much as God loves Jesus! God loves me as m...

Jesus was known to go off on his own and pray. A few times we get to listen in. John 17 is one of those. In this sermon, Pastor Daron Jagodzinske explores how we can learn to pray by listening in on Jesus praying. The artwork that is discussed is a Andrei Rublev painting called The Trinity  or The Hospitality of Abraham . https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trinity_(Andrei_Rublev)