Covenant Church of Castle Rock

What an awesome time we had!  Our family has just come back (well a few days ago anyway) from disney world.  This was a first for our kids, not only disneyworld, but flying on a plane and the first family vacation that was truly our family.  We have had many trips and short excursions with extended family and while those are always good and enjoyable, nothing beats getting time with your kids alone. 

I learned a few things along the way such as, There can always be too much of a good thing!  They were begging us not to go to disney the last day :-) And that you can do alot more and be more energized when you are having fun!  Not to mention the lack of stress!  My wife and I intentionalized not answering phone calls or email while we were there and for 10 days really disconnected.  All of us need to do this in some way during the year.  You never realize how much of a burden you are carrying on a consistent basis when you are so connected all the time.  Blackberries, cellphones, PDA's, always on internet connections at home beckoning you to just ck and see if someone important has emailed you (all the while spending precious minutes away from your family browsing through spam and unimportant little forwarded emails!). 

It kind of reminds me of a story about a mother who hid her blackberry in the bathroom because her kids made her promise not to be on it when they were home in the evening.  Her kids remarked about how odd it was that she had to go to the bathroom so much!  What a sad indictment upon us as parents when we forget the main things in our lives.  This weekend I believe I finally understood why our personal families should be the priority in our lives.  No matter how much time and effort you put into anyting else or anyone else, they will at some point move on in life, Your kids don't.  They are yours for life and will always be there, especially when you nurture and engage them at every stage of their growth process. 

Be Blessed and take a moment to engage with your son or daughter today with the computer, tv and cellphone off and your mind and emotions in the moment. 

John

Hebrews 3:8 "Do not harden your hearts.....in the day of trial." 

There are two responses for a Christian as they go through trials;

1) Harden your heart towards God through questions of why and attitudes of woe is me. 

2) Embrace it and learn to walk in God's rest. 

This past week I came across a video on youtube of a Hillsongs worship recording.  The name of the song is "Desert Song" and one of the worship leaders shares her testimony of things that happened in her life only a week and a half before the recording.  You will have to view it to get the full impact (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QemZQKKJbRU).  "Refine me Lord through the pain" and other verses are the exact thing that this verse is talking about. 

How awesome is it for people to see others who have walked through personally devastating circumstances and watch them still stand before a congregation and simply say "All of my life, in every season, You are still God, I have a reason to sing, I have a reason to worship!"  This is a person that decided to walk with "confidence, steadfast to the end."  They are those who will enter His rest.  I am convinced that the rest Paul is talking about is a rest that can only be found in the trial and deserts of our lives.   

The downside is that Paul says the people who will not enter that rest are those who harden their hearts. 

I have personally walked through many challenges spiritually and physically that have occurred during the founding years of Covenant and I can honestly say that God has brought us through some very tough times.  But i cannot say that I always responded with steadfast confidence.  There are times that on the outside I was confident, but on the inside I was in turmoil, mad at God for allowing certain things to happen and hardening my heart in the process.  Then there were times where my heart was truly broken and embraced the pain of the refiners fire that I was going through.  And after personally knowing and walking through the two responses, the latter one is the best one, because God is faithful. 

"I will sing praise."  That should be our response, because God is God and that alone gives me a reason to worship. 

Blessings, John

Mark 10:15 I tell you the truth, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will never enter it.”

As the altar call was given last night my 4 year old Juliana whispered in my ear "I want to go down."  Then my 6 year old Isabelle, on her birthday nonetheless, leaned over and said "Daddy I want you to go down with me."  On that note I had the privilege of walking my two daughters down the aisle as they responded to the call to make Jesus the Lord of their life.  I asked them if they understood what they were doing and I got several answers, but suffice it to say that understanding sometimes is over rated.  Faith can never be over rated. 

That's the difference between a child and an adult, adults sometimes need too many justifiable reasons or answers to respond to things.  To answer the call that God has on our lives we often need explicit instructions or "divine revelation" instead of that still small voice that my daughters heard in their hearts.  God isn't looking for us to have a neon flashing light saying "turn here" or "do this."  But He is looking for us to respond to that still small voice.  And respond to it in faith.  

It only took a few minutes and child like faith for the work of salvation to be done in Isabelle and Juliana's life and now because they responded with faith, maybe not fully understanding in their minds, but they understood in their hearts, eternity is now planted in their souls. 

Where do you stand with eternity?  Are there still too many questions bouncing around in your head that they overcome the faith in your heart?  Take the time and receive the Kingdom today. 

Blessings, John

Aside from salvation, one of the most fulfilling things in a Pastor's life has to be the dedication of babies and baptisms.  Yesterday I had the privilege of dedicating two new babies in our church and baptizing three of our elementary age children.  The joy of it was that both events were a celebration of new life and as i shared with our congregation in yesterday's message, one of the keys to a successful family is celebration. 

Taken from Luke 15 and the story of the prodigal son, there are 4 key elements to a good family.  The first one would be Compassion.  We find this in the father's response to seeing his son and it moved him to throw his arms around him instead of condemning or questioning his appearance (the guy had to stink and look horrible after living with pigs!).  Compassion starts with the heart and parents, extended family members and friends need to be moved with compassion towards each other.  The second would be humility.  We see this from the son, who in his pride left his father's home and wasted his inheritance, but in humility approached his father and truly desired only to become as one of his slaves.  Then we find forgiveness.  The father forgave, didn't question, didn't rebuke, he simply forgave.  He didn't even take time to find out what his son had done with all his money.  I guess his appearance may have spoken volumes to the father.  It reminds me of the story I heard about an executive who had just lost a million dollars working on a business deal.  He gets called into the owner's office and before the owner addresses him, the executive speaks up and says "I will get my desk cleaned out by the end of the day" to which the owner responds and says "why in the world would I fire you?  We just spent a million dollars to train you!"  

That father must have felt the same way, the money was worth the investment to have his son come home, his pride broken and his heart ready to receive from his dad.  But the key is in the father's response, let's celebrate!  You see Forgiveness was already there, it existed long before the son ever approached, but it was only received when the son approached with humility.  That's how God is towards us, forgiveness is there and always has been, but how long will it take us to approach Him with humility and receive it?  

The last key is celebration.  The father commanded a celebration because his son that was dead was alive again!  We have to celebrate one another in our families and relationships.  Truly celebrate the worth and value of each person and let them experience acceptance and love.  Rejection abounds in our lives and it is up to us as family to celebrate each other.  And this does not stop with our earthly family, but the family of God as well.  True celebration of one another's value and worth happens from the heart, which is where compassion is seated.  So it starts with compassion, humility is the ability to receive, forgiveness is the ability to give in spite of and celebration is the triumph of our relationships.  

So let's apply these 4 keys not only to our family, but our friends and co-workers as well and watch how God blesses your life!  

John 

I can't believe it is finally here!  We have been working diligently to provide a website that has some interactive features for our members and visitors so we can hear from you and offer the opportunity to gain your insight, feedback and stories from your life.  So feel free to offer your feedback in one of our forums or email us at info@covenantchurchcr.org so we can hear from you.  Now this particular site is a "new temporary" site as we are working on the backend to provide an even better online experience with Covenant Church, so stay tuned for more! 

In the meantime you can also tune in to our newly launched Radio Program, Covenant Life, on castle rock radio.com by going to www.castlerockradio.com Sunday mornings from 9-10 a.m. mst.  This new and exciting venture is something that will bless your life with practical teaching and real life transparency about Covenant Church and what we believe and teach.

I hope to meet you this Sunday at Covenant Church on the corner of third and perry in downtown Castle Rock,

Where we want you to Believe, Belong and Become all that God has for you! 

John