Covenant Church

The biggest Battle in your life is not when external circumstances confront you, but when you confront internal desires and try to overcome them.  In short Our biggest enemy is ourself.  That's why I believe fasting and prayer is a common component of any mature Christians faith.  Why choose "mature Christian" and not just "Christian?"  Because there are tons of folks who claim christianity as their religion, but have never adopted a lifestlye of fasting and prayer.  I have such high regard and esteem for those who can often go on 40 day fasts and I'm not talking about just fasting meat or maybe media, but all solid food. 

We often want the spiritual authority and wisdom of some of these faithful leaders in our lives, but we often fail to see the price they pay for that authority and wisdom.  The sacrifices might not seem big on the outside, they might be financially stable and in the upper middle class and not seem to struggle for physical lack, but if you get behind the scenes, you see struggles of self discipline and rigorous spiritual disciplines that are intense.  One of my leaders that I admire responded once to a question; "breakfast, I can't eat breakfast until I've spent time with Father."  He doesn't eat at all until he has spent time with Jesus in prayer that day.  What he has done is placed such a priority on Jesus that all else pales in comparison.  He denies himself personal satisfaction until he has met with Jesus.  There might be an emergency or last minute plans that get interrupted etc, but that rumbling in his gut reminds him that he missed his prayer. 

How much more could we be to the world if we would get this type of tenacity in prayer and time with Father?  Deny yourself, take up your cross and follow Him.  That's what fasting and prayer is all about and that's what every Christian is called to do. 

Keep it up....Keep the faith

Castle Rock mornings, especially Sundays, are so quite and often serene.  I truly enjoy the quietness of a beautiful morning, but I would not consider myself a morning person.  Of course I can't imagine waking up and starting a more perfect Sunday than to see the sun shining over the mountaintops capped in snow.  The purple hues were awesome this morning and I just had to say thank you Lord for such an awesome day!  These are the moments that make me know I am home.  You can grind me to dust, burn me into ashes, but let what remains of my body be buried on a hillside of this town.  Nothing else will do. 

I have been sappy, now to other things.....Contend in 2010...our theme for the year!  We gotta fight for our faith and for our Friends!  2010 is a year of great beginnings, dreams coming true and the Kingdom of God rising out the ashes of a culture that has demanded that it be silent in the midst of their lives.  In the midst of this culture we have to wakeup and realize that this nation cannot silence the foundations of our faith.  Those foundations are being shaken and this year we will see a massive movement of spiritual renewal from the top leaders in our country repenting on public television to the friends that surround our lives.  So for all of us who call ourselves Christians, it is time to wakeup, bulk up and re-up on the calling that God has placed on our lives to be a father to the fatherless, a light to the world and voice to the hurting and the dying. 

Contend in 2010!

John

Sinners vs. Saints.  No not football, Go Saints!  (My Broncs might get busted for a few games).....anyway, a thought I have been mulling today and pondering is this idea of "engaging our culture."  The debate movement and the theories of trying to prove intelligent design or that God exists to atheists and the like.  The bible says to avoid vain arguments and I have to wonder if these are "vain" arguments.  Useless in their desired end result?  How do you truly prove something that just is to someone who just won't believe?  You really can't, the Holy Spirit has to do that. 

The next thought I had was, what would Jesus do?  Would He try to prove himself by debating?  Would He engage His culture with debates, teaching or action?  Let's see........, all of the debates that happened with Jesus in scripture that I can think of, happened not with sinners, but saints.  The religious elite, the pharisees and the sadduccees.  Not the people, the sinners, the sick or the world.  To Pilate He said "I am who you say I am."  To the tax collector He said "I'm coming to your house for dinner."  To the woman at the well He said "I know your past and I can give you water to drink so you will never thirst again."  To the centurion He said "greater faith have I not seen in all of Israel."  To the woman caught in adultery He said "neither do i condemn you, go and sin no more."  Jesus didn't debate whether He was Messiah to the woman at the well.  He didn't debate or try to prove that He was King of the Jews to Pilate.  He didn't debate or try to theologically defend why He would share supper with a fraud and a cheat.  He didn't debate the theology of sin and find out why this woman was an adulteress.  He didn't debate or try to prove why a gentile could or couldn't receive healing for his servant.  He just was. 

To the woman at the well He was a thirst quencher, to the centurion a healer, to Pilate a King, to the woman in adultery a savior, to the fraud and cheat a friend.  When we "engage" our culture and try to win the debate war, we lose.  Why?  Jesus understood something about culture.  One, that the religious folk have a head problem, they needed to deal with their messed up view of worship.  Two, that the world has a heart problem that is present and noticeable by unmet needs.  Jesus was great at meeting needs and when He did, turning their hearts toward Him.  As the church we don't need to debate people, we need to meet their needs.  A cheat and a fraud needs a friend, an adulterer needs to be set free from bondage, a sick person needs healing, a ruler needs someone that they can serve to stay humble, they don't need a talking head telling them their messed up or that they just don't get it or that our way is better than your way.  They just need Jesus.

Stop engaging the culture and start injecting Jesus in it by being every day.  If a co-worker is sick, pray for them.  If a friend is in need, meet the need through the power of the Holy Spirit and be like Peter when he looked at the crippled beggar and said "silver and gold I don't have, but what I do I give to you, rise up and walk!"  Come on let's give people what they need.   

Love the Sinners; Engage the Saints.    (sonds like a good sermon to me ;-)

For there to be life, something must die.  What a way to start a blog!  But why do we in our sense of self preservation try so hard to keep something living that is half dead anyway?  Talking about visions, dreams, ideas, investments, opportunities that we thought were right, but might have just been out of the right time or not fully "birthed" yet.  Waiting on this thing called God's timing is both painful, frustrating, fun and exhausting all at the same time.  We see it, can taste it, touch it, know it in our hearts and souls and then hit roadblock upon roadblock and ask why!!!!!!   Yet in the why is the what.  What is it?  Faith or the simple act of obedience that God wants us to exhibit that it is not by our might, nor by our power, but by His Spirit.  That's the toughest part of all, knowing that you can't do anything to hurry it up and yet it could be that very next moment that you step right into it!

That's faith, believe, believe, believe and then all of the sudden you are living it, then wonder "what in the world did I ever worry about!"  Then you find yourself there again, believing for something else.  That's the essence of faith, you never stop believing in something that has not arrived, has not manifested and as of yet is untouched, unlived, unlearned.  There is a slogan I saw that made me cringe and yet is in essence true, depending on how you look at it.  It said "faith should be fun, join us on the journey."  My first though was FUN???!!!???  you have got to be kidding me!!!  Yet it is fun.  

Have you ever received a present that said "don't open until christmas?"  Part of the ejoyment of that gift was the expectation or faith that there was something special there.  Whether you were disappointed or not in the actual outcome, the present that Father gives in this journey of faith is always worth the wait. You might get banged up along the way while waiting, but your perception in it matters more than anything else. We just need to sit back sometimes and in the midst of the struggle, laugh, throw a party, take a trip, a day off or just sit and relax a little.  

For goodness sake God didn't build us to shoulder the stress that we put ourselves under about every little thing that comes along.  Turn off the news and the critic, turn on the Spirit and Have some Fun!  Believe in the miraculous and quit being cynical about the supernatural.  Allow faith to foster an attitude of expectation and watch God work things out by His power.   

Ok, so my anniversary spot was the last time I wrote anything.  I can't imagine why I haven't written anything since then, but I can tell you it hasn't been for lack of things to write!  I am writing this right now from the oregon trail on our northwest tour!  We are visiting the Parker's in Boise, the Peter's in Spokane and the Bank's in Seattle.  I can't think of a better vacation than one in which we get to minister and gain wisdom and encouragement from other Pastor's.  Other's might take vacations from Church, we love to take vacations to Church!  It is life changing and uplifting to worship together with other believer's and continue to build His Kingdom. 

Now let's see, leading up to this tour, wrecked car (the one that we were driving to seattle) a week ago Wednesday.  Total loss.  That Thursday afternoon we found out that our offer on a short sale was accepted, lock, stock and barrel!  Then we work it out that afternoon so that we have someone leasing the house we are in on July 13th, gets us out of our lease and all deposits back for down payments!  We initially didn't think we would even hear back about the house until the end of July and didn't plan on closing until September!  I guess when God works, He works!  So now, 4 days before we leave for our trip and we have to pack our entire house.....Spent one of those days shopping for a car and found a great buy, just had some tune up to do.  Of course two of the remaining days prior to leaving on our trip I spent going over the new/used car to make sure it was road worthy.  It was a blessing to have it and I believe God blessed us with it, but boy is it nerve wracking to take a used car on a long road trip when you don't know it's history.  I guess faith just has to kick in.  I prayed over this thing as I worked on it and it must have worked.  God is Good!

We were tempted to push the trip back a couple of days or just have me fly up to speak, but we knew that our kids needed it as much as we did.  The reality is that when harvest comes, there is not much time to rest and the speed with which things are beginning to happen are signs of harvest.  God showed me something with the ups and downs of our church as well.  He showed me that we are not gaining and losing, we are contracting. 

For that I will explain later.....

Twelve years ago I woke up a single young man about to embark on a life long commitment to someone that had the courage to say yes to me.  Now twelve years, 4 kids, 8 different jobs, 5 homes and 1 church plant, I love her more than ever.  She has been patient, loving, caring and all over the best wife a man could ever have! 

Now we find ourselves in a season of life that is bearing fruit after so many years of strains, frustrations, trials and joys.  We have entered into a new season of grace and fruitfulness.  As you can tell we have been fruitful already ;-)  But now it is multiplication time, a time to see that seed that is planted produce 1000 fold increase!  We will see it and know it over the next few months and years and the Spirit is moving.  That's the beauty of commitment as well. 

You see several years ago we were going through some of the worst times of our lives.  Our finances were crushed, our emotions and spirits crushed and longing and our marriage strained with every kind of attack you can imagine.  We thought and discussed things I never thought would ever come up in our marriage, but the reality is we were committed and didn't know or want anything else.  Sure it was tough, but commitment won the day.  It is often easier to jet when times get tough and to just say forget it, it's not worth it.  But it is because it always gets better with time.  God's time not ours.  You see this is the fallacy of our lives, that life is never better than it is now, but it gets so much better when you stay the course of time. 

This is the marathon of our lives and if you are in a situation where you are strained in your relationships, know that time will bring all things back together when you stay the course and determine that the commitment is worth it. 

That's what The Return and Covenant Church are all about, staying committed even in the midst of strains and frustrations.  So stay the course in your relationships with your friends, your family and your church and watch God bring you to fruitfulness. 

Boy how time flies!  I didn't realize it has been this long since I have posted on here.....so what to say?  Kind of odd that a pastor would be without words to say at anytime huh? 

Well, here it goes......God is doing something great!  I am excited at what is happening in Covenant and through so many things that we are doing.  This past season for us has been a season of sowing seed and watering the seed that has already been planted.  Numerous times we have hit the wall in regards to harvest and regardless of what has happened, we are still here, still planting, still watering and tending to the vision.  Even more so, we have launched out in areas where we have just followed the leading of the Spirit not knowing what was going to happen or what will happen yet, but knowing that we have to continue to plant more seed. 

A year ago amidst uneasiness and challenges to the vision, we launched Covenant Life, our online radio program, on CastleRockRadio.com on Sunday's @ 9 a.m. Today that ministry is reaching over 75,000 people per month!  From little ole' Covenant here in Castle Rock we are reaching over 75,000 people every month and have seen double digit growth every quarter since then!  Then, as if that was not enough, God spoke to our hearts about launching a live show called The Return.  This show was to simply focus on returning people to the Church and His Kingdom.  It airs every Wed. @ 10 a.m. and is touching people all over the world!  We have listeners from St. Petersburg, Russia, to Italy, Paris and all the way over to Hawaii!

It is amazing what will happen when we move with the Spirit.  I can't say it has been easy, although it has been fun. 

And now, we allow the Spirit to bring the increase.  He is increasing in people's lives as they are filled with His Spirit in the Church and he is increasing our numbers as several new faces have begun attending after we have gone through a very dry season.  It has not been dry of the anointing though as God moved in our midst, healing people of the past and moving us to a new season in His grace.  The word came forth on Wed. June 3rd that we were moving into a season of Joy and surplus, then 5 get filled with the Spirit that following Sunday!  Now I know in my Spirit that increase is coming beyond our dreams and this summer will be a season of outpouring that we have never known before.  

So be encouraged that God is moving and that you can get in this flow as well!  Tune in to one our sermons at covenantchurchcr.org or Covenant Life on Sundays at 9 a.m. or Wednesday's @ 10 a.m. on CastleRockRadio.com and join with us as we grow.  Or check out our podcast of The Return by subscribing to past shows.  You won't be disappointed! 

And Remember, Find a good Church this week and live the Total Christian Experience! 

In Christ, John

"Bad company corrupts" 

I will just leave that statement there for a minute and let you ponder this.  Who do you hang out with?  I want to also put a different spin on this as we always tend to revert to our friends that we physically interact with, spend time with, etc.  But what about the other folks we "hang out" with?  Online chat rooms, tv shows, movies......you get the idea I am sure.  These all play a part in that statement "Bad company corrupts."  The company you keep matters in regards to what you become. 

This is why we promote active involvement in a local church body.  Because who better do you need to hang out with than other christians.  Working together, worshipping together, living life together for one purpose, to worship Jesus the savior of the world.  So watch who you hang out with this week and make the choice to get involved with a local church today. 

Don't allow yourself to get corrupted.