Church Blog

Sunday Recap

May 14 2013 at 1:39 pm 0 Comments

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Recap of Sunday: May 12

We worshipped the Lord in song and celebrated the gospel through communion and the Lord’s Supper

• All Creatures of Our God and King
• Reading from Romans 6:9-14
• Christ is Risen
• Communion: Rock of Ages
• Stronger

Body Life
We welcomed guests, gave of our finances, and honored moms on Mother’s Day.  A choir of girls, grades 6-12, sang a special song written for Mother’s Day.

Joshua Harris kicked off our Week of Prayer by describing our plans for the week and how we can pray for our community.

We heard God’s Word:

• Robin Boisvert preached a message titled Standing Firm: A Recipe for Stability from Philippians 4:1-7. “The key to overcoming anxiety about anything,” he said, “is to pray about everything.”

We responded in song by singing What a Friend We Have in Jesus.

In the first meeting, we were sent into the world with a benediction from Philippians 4:4-7. In the second meeting, we closed with the Lord’s prayer.

Resources for your Family and Care Group:

• Sermon Outline and Application Questions
• Kids in Discovery Land learned about Jesus’ baptism (Lesson 5 in Old Story New) from Matthew 3.

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Gaithersburg: Past & Present

May 14 2013 at 9:35 am 0 Comments

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Just as a missionary would study his mission field, we want to learn more about our community so that we can better love our neighbors and become more effective ambassadors for Christ here. That’s why we’ve chosen to make our community the theme for our Week of Prayer.

To help inform our prayers this week and later, Covenant Life staffer Kjersten Blair has written “Gaithersburg: Past and Present,” a booklet on the history and current demographics of Gaithersburg. We hope everyone will download the booklet (PDF, 2.6 mb) and read it.

Kjersten received her doctorate in Modern History from the University of Oxford in 2009. She and her husband, Josh, became members at Covenant Life Church that same year, and over the next two years, both became part of the church staff. Currently Kjersten serves as Assistant to lead pastor, Joshua Harris. Kjersten has taught at Gordon College, Hood College and the United States Naval Academy, and now teaches at Excelsior College and Montgomery Christian Institute.

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Resources on Prayer

May 9 2013 at 4:06 pm 0 Comments

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As we near our Week of Prayer for our community, May 12-18, we wanted to make you aware of some valuable resources on the topic of communing with God and caring for others. These are available for purchase in the church bookstore and through online sites such as Amazon.

• A Praying Life by Paul Miller
• Love Walked Among Us by Paul Miller
• I Will Follow You, O God by Jerry Bridges
• For the Love of God: Volume 1 D.A. Carson
• For the Love of God: Volume 2 D.A. Carson
• A Hunger for God by John Piper
• Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life by Donald Whitney
• Taste and See by John Piper
• Growing Your Faith by Jerry Bridges

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Sunday Recap

May 8 2013 at 2:21 pm 0 Comments

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Recap of Sunday: May 5

We worshipped the Lord in song:
Our songs focused on the Atonement and God himself as the hope of heaven in connection with our current series on The Life and Words of Jesus from the book of Matthew.

God’s promise to purify a people for His own possession is one that fills the pages of Scripture. In the Beatitudes, Jesus echoes this promise with the words, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God”. But it is His very own His redeeming work in our place that fulfilled that promise once for all who trust in Him. Though we don’t see Him now, we look forward to the return of our King, not with fear, but anticipation because that same King is the one who has cleansed us from sin’s guilt and power.

• I Come by the Blood
• Oh, My Soul Arise
• Behold Our God
• Our God Reigns
• Soon
• Soon and Very Soon

We welcomed guests and shared news in our church life.

We heard God’s Word:

• Mark Mitchell preached a message titled God’s Chosen Servant on Jesus’ fulfillment of the Messianic prophecy by the prophet Isaiah from Matthew 12:15-21.

We closed our meeting with the song Holy.

Resources for your Family and Care Group:

• Sermon Outline and Application Questions
• Kids in Discovery Land learned about the ministry of John the Baptist (Lesson 4 in Old Story New) from Matthew 3:1-12 and Luke 3:1-18.
• 12:13 students studied Ephesians 1:19-2:9 and learned that God makes us alive together with Christ by grace through faith.

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Uganda Missions Update

May 5 2013 at 8:57 am 0 Comments

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This morning in church Bart Hungerford gave an update on two recent team trips to rural western Uganda in support of Pastor Moses Nkwatsibwe and Kiburara Gospel Centre Church. In January, a team of 28 Covenant Life members ministered there (Covenant Life’s eighth annual trip), and just last month Bart, John Emelio, Erin Emelio, Mary Foster and Cat Hoover made another trip. A third is planned for this summer.

Bart and Moses


January Team


April Team (Mary Foster not pictured)

Bart has founded a non-profit charitable 501(c)(3) company called Sustainable Missions Incorporated (SMI) that has purchased 32 acres of land in Uganda, started three new companies to farm, dry fruit, and raise poultry, repaired two bore-hole wells, and installed two 10,000 liter (2,600 gallon) Rainwater Collection Systems, all in a few months!

Read more about the April trip and the work of SMI on their blog or Facebook. To give toward future well digging and maintenance, visit GiveUgandaWater.org. Also, check out the many blog posts on this site about previous team trips. Let’s continue to support and pray for this work!

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Are you RULE-IGIOUS?

May 3 2013 at 2:15 pm 0 Comments

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Joshua Harris titled his message this past Sunday “Rule-igion.” He taught from Matthew 12:1-14 how we are often tempted as Christians to be focused on rules to the detriment of a relationship with Jesus Christ.

After viewing or listening to the message, take this ARE YOU RULE-IGIOUS? Test by Don DeVries:

In what ways do you drift toward “rule-igion” instead of resting on Jesus? Consider the following list:

• Do you feel more confident and more accepted by God when you are doing well spiritually?

• Do you wonder if God has forsaken you, turned his back or finds you unacceptable when having a bad day spiritually?

• If God asked you, “Why should I answer your prayer?” would you inventory any unconfessed sins, remind God of your consistent quiet times, or tell him of your good works towards others?

• When reading your Bible, what does your heart and mind notice first and most—the things you need to do or the works done by the Savior?

• Which are you more aware of, all the ways you need to grow or who you are in Christ?

• Can others’ personal examples or practices bring guilt or discouragement?

• Do you think that God’s forgiveness only kicks in after you have reached some mysterious level of remorse, repentance or suffering for your sin?

• Do you find that being led by the Spirit and trusting in God’s sovereign wisdom are not nearly as appealing as having a set of rules that will settle every question?

• When you hear teaching that includes practical instruction, do you tend to leave discouraged because your already overwhelming task list just increased?

• Do you feel discouraged or condemned when you fail, make a mistake or sin?

• Do you tend to relate to Jesus as the new Lawgiver? Is your prayer and plea to ask the Lord how to do it?

• Do you tend to be critical, perfectionistic, or self-righteous?

• Do you find it difficult to relate to others who practice differently than you do on nonessential or disputable matters? Do your personal convictions on disputable matters tend to become laws everyone should follow?

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