Covenant Life Church Pastor John Butler

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 characterize the experience usually leads people to one of two ditches — one that sensationalizes it to the point of being unrecognizable from a biblical perspective and another that disregards it altogether. This week, we’re going to climb out of these ditches and explore the baptism of the Holy Spirit as a baptism of love.

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 Health and Human Services defines mental health. It includes our emotional, psychological and social well-being and affects how we think, feel and act. Mental health operates in the same domain as the soul. This week, in recognition of Mental Health Awareness Month, we’re exploring the connection between mental and spiritual health.

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 moms. All four of the moms that we’re discussing have one thing in common: Egypt. Two of them are Egyptian, and the other two are Hebrew women living in Egypt.

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 some things along the way. You’ll learn that He is always there for you even if you can’t see or recognize Him, and you may also find out that He is an incredible friend. This week, we’re exploring another aspect of the journey to Emmaus. If you’re going to walk with the risen Savior, be ready to set an extra plate because Jesus wants to come over for dinner.

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 part of this series, we discovered that — sometimes — Jesus is in disguise, and this week, we’re exploring what it means to be friends with Jesus.

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, burial and resurrection of Jesus, two of His followers take the short walk from Jerusalem to their home in Emmaus, and based on their experience along that road, we’re kicking off a new series today to explore some of the things we can expect to find and learn when we’re walking with the risen Savior.