Covenant Life Church

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 roo...

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...

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...

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, do...

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 2...

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 Jes...

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 decisi...

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 compli...

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 re...

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 childre...

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...

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 wa...

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 do...

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 thou...

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 i...

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....

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 owne...

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...

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 o...

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 oursel...

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...

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;...

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...

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 tod...

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 Lu...