Covenant Life Church

Have you ever recognized that you were about to be thrown into a fire? Fear is probably the first thing that goes through your mind — fear of the loss of relationship, health, finances, fellowship. It’s usually hard to see beyond the pain and loss, but what the three Hebrew men in Daniel 3 found likely never crossed their minds. We can’t let the fear of the fire blind us to the fact that Jesus is...

This week, we’re starting a brand new series for people who — from time to time and way more than they’d actually prefer — find themselves walking through the fire. Sometimes, we walk through fires of someone else’s making, but other times, we do it to ourselves. Regardless of the source, nature, intensity or duration of the fire, it isn’t pleasant. Even if walking through a fire is not an enjoyab...

This week, we’re closing out the Love of God series with a message about salvation. Sadly, the modern American church has turned salvation into a business transaction — one in which we swap a simple prayer and church attendance with an eternity in Hell — rather than a covenant relationship. This is an important topic to discuss because what Jesus says about being saved, becoming a Christian and fo...

In 1 Corinthians 12-14, Paul describes a lifestyle of love, which should be the highest goal of every believer. The love of God should be the thing that makes you different, defines everything you do and draws people to you. The call of God on our lives is not to occasionally do loving things; the call is to be love. Jesus exhibited this behavior through His life. He didn’t just do loving things;...

In this encouraging message, Cindy Diaz reminds us that we don’t have to overthink the season or situation in which God has us right now, and rather than striving to fulfill our calling with our own strength and effort, we simply need to surrender. Ministry is not a destination; it’s a by-product of our union with Jesus and the overflow of His love in our lives. Just as it did with Jesus and the S...

Certain pieces of furniture are engineered to be put together in a specific way. You shouldn’t look at the picture and go from there; there are directions that must be followed. Some parts have to be assembled before others. If you just eyeball it, you’re going to miss something, and even if you can make it look right, it’s not going to hold up when you put weight on it. According to 1 John 4:19,...

This week, Pastor John continues the "Love of God" series through a candid conversation with Jeff Shackleford. Together, they discuss Jeff's relationship with his father, how it impacted and influenced his relationship with the Lord and the lessons he has learned about God's love throughout his life.

In Matthew 9:36-38, Jesus tells His disciples to pray for God to send workers out into the harvest fields. He was enlisting people to pray for more laborers to share the gospel, and although most believers know that they’re supposed to work for the Lord, many of them feel unable or unworthy to do so. However, if we’ll surrender ourselves to God’s love in our lives and allow it to flow into those a...

Last week, we started the “Love of God” series with a look at the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Love is everywhere n the Bible, and it’s an important topic to study because 1 John 4:8 tells us that God is love. You cannot understand the Bible if you don’t understand God’s love. Inspired by this fact, we’re going to start sorting through some of the major themes about the love of God found in the Bib...

In recognition of Pentecost Sunday, which is celebrated in many churches and denominations around the world, we’re talking about the baptism of the Holy Spirit. It’s something that both John the Baptist and Jesus promised, and Peter, John and Paul all referenced in their writings. It’s a biblical experience, but it’s also something that is desperately needed today. However, how we talk about and c...

The soul of a person is made up of his or her mind, will and emotions; it refers to how you think, feel and make decisions. That’s why Jesus said, “As a man thinks in his heart, so is he.” Since the terms “heart” and “soul” are used interchangeably, Jesus was recognizing the fact that a person’s actions and attitudes are determined by their thoughts. This is similar to how the U.S. Department of H...

Mother’s Day encompasses so many different emotions, situations and relationships, and too often, we paint in broad strokes. We preach messages based on the faulty assumption that all mothers are the same or the myth that the perfect mother exists. This week, we’re going to take a closer look at four different mothers in the Bible and see if we can find encouragement, help and hope for the real mo...

Over the past two weeks, we have been looking at the journey that Jesus took on the road to Emmaus following His resurrection. It seems that we don’t know what to do with ourselves after all the build-up of celebrating Easter, but through this series, we’ve learned to do exactly what the two men in Luke 24:13-33 did — take a walk with the risen Savior. When you walk with Jesus, you will discover s...

Easter is over. We celebrated the resurrection a couple of weeks ago, but now, what do we do? We do exactly what two guys in Luke did on the day Jesus rose from the grave: take a walk with the risen Savior. Last week, we started a new series, looking at the experience these two men had with Jesus on the road to Emmaus and learning things that might help us on our own walk with Him. In the first pa...

Because we spend so much time and energy preparing to celebrate the resurrection, the week after Easter can sometimes feel like a bit of a letdown. It’s possible that the people in Jesus’s day felt the same way. There was a ray of hope following the crucifixion, but how were they supposed to live in this post-resurrection world? In the midst of the mental and emotional chaos surrounding the death,...

“The truth shall set you free” is one of the most well-known and oft-repeated sayings of Jesus. John’s gospel records it, and countless people have said it in a variety of contexts over the last 2,000 years. However, it’s important to ask: if the truth sets you free, what does a lie do for you? If the truth sets you free and someone chooses to lie to you, they are obviously trying to keep you boun...

Many of us would agree that the world needs saving, and it seems like everyone is looking for a hero. As babies, we cry for others to come feed, clean and hold us, and as children, we cry in the dark for parents to chase away the monsters of our imagination. Even as adults, we view elected officials or celebrities as heroes. Although 2,000 years separate us from the events of Matthew 21, we’re rea...

Despite the word “revival” being one of the most over-used and misunderstood words in the American church, no one can argue that what is described in Acts 2 was a revival. Even so, it leads to a lot of questions. How does a revival happen? Where does it come from? Is there a formula or pattern? If revival is like a volcano, the explosion and outpouring of something simmering just below the surface...

Following Jesus often requires twists and turns that we don’t see coming, and sometimes, we come face-to-face with circumstances, events or people from our past that we thought we’d never have to deal with again. God often circles us back to those things in order to accomplish something for our good, His glory or the advancement of His Kingdom. What do you do if you find yourself circling back to...

There have been a lot of fantastic advertising campaigns throughout the decades, and one of most effective campaigns was launched only 20 years to advertise a popular western U.S. city. People who have never been to Las Vegas say some variation of the line, “What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas,” all the time because there is a notion that some things in life that should stay compartmentalized. Un...

This week, Pastor John continues the annual State of the Church message, casting vision for the future of our campus, highlighting how these investments connect to the Jericho Project and sharing the importance of devoting ourselves to discipleship.

Pastor John delivers the annual State of the Church message, providing an update on our latest attendance and financial numbers, commitment to the fight against sex trafficking, mission, vision and plans for the future.

What comes out of our mouths is important — more important than we often realize. James 3:1-2 and Proverbs 18:21 talk about the need to control our tongues, and there are two scriptural truths that support this fact: we can't pray in faith and speak worry, and we can't live in victory and speak defeat. This week, we're going to dive deep into this topic and explore these truths with a message call...

Hebrews 11:1 describes faith as both “confidence” and “assurance,” and the rest of the chapter celebrates a variety of prophets, teachers, leaders and believers for their courageous acts of faith. It’s easy for the amazing things they accomplished to seem like relics of the past because we don’t often see the same boldness today. This week, Jordan Weathers is going to help us explore the steps tha...

The Bible contains many verses about integrity and character, and while most people would agree on the importance of these qualities, we might not fully understand them. This week, Pastor Jay Mann from Lifegate Church is helping us determine what character is — and what it’s not — to ensure that we can respond appropriately to different situations and live a life that is pleasing to God.