Christ Church Evangelical Covenant

New Roots, New Life (Pastor Vann Trapp)

Strong trees require good roots and good soil. For us, Jesus is the soil we draw life from and the roots are those thoughts, habits, and actions that tie us into Him. So, how strong are our roots? Are our strongest life roots tying us to Jesus, or do we have roots going off in every direction drawing from less nourishing sources in this world? And how can we develop stronger roots to Jesus alone for a purposeful and meaningful life?

Called Together (Pastor Vann Trapp)

Unity. What does it take? People have been trying throughout all of human history to unify under all kinds of banners, causes, agreements, charters. But what does it take to be united as the community of God’s people? It’s about words, presence, and work. What does that mean? Come and see.

Called to Be It (Pastor Vann Trapp)

Who are those people God has connected you with? Sent you to? Prepared you for? Because all of us have two types of people God has said that we should be looking for in our lives: those for whom He has prepared us to pour into their lives so that they will know more about Jesus, and those who He has prepared to pour into ours so that we will. That’s discipleship. And we are all called to be in on it. That’s how God’s people grow up and grow together. So, who are your people?

Called to See It (Pastor Vann Trapp)

What does it mean to see like Jesus? Not just look like Jesus in the way we live our lives, but see what Jesus sees when we look at our world. When Jesus saw a crowd of stressed out people gathered; He didn’t see a nuisance; He didn’t see a waste of His time. He saw it instead as a boon for God’s kingdom. So, is that what we see? And do we respond the way He instructed us to?

Signs of a New Creation (Pastor Vann Trapp)

God is in the midst of creating life out of the destruction and chaos that comes from the brokenness of this world. He promises there will be a day when all is redeemed, restored, and made new! Everything will work the way it is supposed to, God will be with us, and peace will reign on the earth. Until that is complete, we get glimpses of that new creation. Jesus’ resurrection was a big glimpse. Our baptism is another. In baptism, we are joined with Jesus in His separation from this world through death and sealed into the promise of new life through His resurrection. We become the glimpses of God’s new creation!

Seeing the Unseen (Pastor Vann Trapp)

Hope. It’s what keeps us moving forward when everything ahead of us is unclear. When we can’t see the shore because it is too far or covered in fog, hope is what reminds us it is still there. And when life is challenging, overwhelming, or just plain confusing, hope is what helps us “see” a place of rest and resolution when we can’t see any of that around us. So, what does that final destination look like? Where is that place of ultimate refuge and rest and rejoicing in which our hope lies?

A Foothold in the Current (Pastor Vann Trapp)

How do we know if God is with us and for us? That’s an important question when we wade into new challenges and deep waters. If God is for us, we know all things are possible and victory is certain. If we are alone, we know that we are in for the fight of our lives and we’re probably out of our depth. So, how can we know? Sometimes you just have to ask.

Waiting for Fireworks (Pastor Vann Trapp)

Poetic justice. For the most part, we love the concept of it. Whether it is the person caught by the police as they drive down the shoulder to avoid the stopped traffic, or the bully who picks on the wrong person and gets “what’s coming to them.” There is an equation of justice in our heads that we think is what keeps the universe in balance. That’s what Jonah thought about Nineveh. He believed if God could just know how unsettled he was about the “imbalance” of God’s mercy, God would come around and set the equation right again. So, he sat on the outskirts of the city to watch as God gave them what was coming to them, like we sometimes do. But is poetic justice really God’s equation, or just an example of our bad math?

The Distant Shore (Pastor Vann Trapp)

When we look at others, for various reasons we can assume that they are far from God. We may think that they don’t know enough about God, that they are too interested in the evil that they love to do to ever love Him, or that they are just too bad for God to ever love. But only God really knows how close or how far people are from Him; whether that person lives across an ocean from us or if that person is us. And sometimes, it is the very people that we consider to be the farthest away from God who turn to Him so quickly it should make us think about how close we truly are to Him. Maybe we’ve drifted further than we thought and hadn’t even noticed.

Being a Rescued Hero (Pastor Cheryl Lavornia)

We are leaving Jonah for just a week and looking at another man standing beside a river waiting for a rescue. Rescue is a big theme in the Bible. We find people running from big, scary pharaohs and rulers; crowds and mobs, famine and natural circumstances, even running from God. But being rescued is not how we want to spend a night... no one wants to become famous for needing to be rescued. But what if rescue is a way in which God’s works out His purposes? This week's sermon is called: Being a Rescued Hero and we will be asking the question: What if rescue is a way for us to experience God in a more meaningful and important way?