Category: Calvary
Praising God Any Time
Have you ever been in the place where you had nowhere else to go, where you were stuck in a corner with no way out? On Sunday Pastor Ron talked about the woman who was sick for twelve years and who desperately reached out to Jesus for help because she had nowhere else to turn to. Another person that came to mind as I listened to Pastor Ron was King David since I am knee-deep in studying the second book of Samuel in the Bible. → Read more...
Followers vs. Admirers
No, there’s absolutely nothing to admire in Jesus, unless you want to admire poverty, misery and contempt. -Søren Kierkegaard I don’t know about you, but Pastor Dave’s sermon last Sunday really struck a chord deep within myself. For those of you who weren’t present, it was an examination of Jesus’ words said in Matthew 16, that we had to take up our own cross in order to follow him and that we had to lose our life in order to find it. → Read more...
Praying For Our Daily Bread
God promises to take care of our basic needs. This is something that we tend to forget – often. Jesus points this out in several places, most prominently when he tells us not to worry in Matthew 6, “So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.” I was reminded by this when I heard Pastor Ron’s Sunday sermon on the Lord’s Prayer taught by Jesus, especially the line, “Give us this day our daily bread.” → Read more...
Mortification
I hope you have been enjoying Pastor Ron’s CENTERED sermon series for the past few Sundays. I know I have been challenged by the truth he has been sharing from the book of Colossians. There is one truth that I have been especially grappling with these past few days, and it’s from Colossians 3:5, “Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.” In his discussion of this passage, he called this process mortification, which is defined as “practicing ascetic discipline or self-denial of the body and its appetites.” → Read more...
God’s Will vs. You
I’m currently knee-deep in the book of 1 Samuel. If you haven’t read this particular book, it’s a very harrowing read about the rise and fall of Israel’s first king, Saul, and the lengths he goes to fight against God’s will. The book opens with a brief prelude about the birth of the man that this book is named after, the prophet Samuel. Through God’s leading, Samuel anoints Saul to be the first king that would unite the fractured nation of Israel. → Read more...
Ending the Year Well
Wow. Well, that was quick. Seems like Christmas was just yesterday. Wait, it was! Lame jokes aside, it’s the perfect opening for a quick meditation on what to do in the weird holiday zone between Christmas and New Years’ Eve. Many people are still on holiday, vacation and may still have a couple more Christmas parties on the docket, but by large, most of us have turned our focus on to the party that is New Year’s Eve. → Read more...
I Can’t Do It All, But God Can!
A little background first: My sixteen-month-old son, Caleb, has an enduring fascination with lights. Streetlights, lamps, desk lights, parking lot lights, hallway lights, you name it, he loves them all. He loves pointing them out to me and his mother. Whenever there is a light that is off and he notices, he asks us to turn it on by using the American sign language form of the word “please” that we taught him. When we turn it on, he looks at it with a look of sheer, absolute, innocent delight and then looks at us with the same look. → Read more...
Living For Tomorrow
Last week, I mentioned that the staff at Calvary have been reading a book together called Crazy Love by Francis Chan. I said that this book contains some of the simplest, but most powerful theology that I’ve encountered. One of the reasons for this is that Francis’ writings have a deep scriptural truth to it. He just doesn’t use scripture to back up what he’s saying, he also sometimes quotes other Christian thinkers and theologians. One of them is C.S. → Read more...
Crazy Love
The staff at Calvary have been reading a book together called Crazy Love by Francis Chan. This book is a wonderful love letter to God and contains some of the simplest, but most powerful theology that I’ve encountered. I highly recommend it for Christians at all levels. One of the more illuminating things that the book has helped me understand more clearly is how big, deep, and wide is God’s love for me, a sinner. It’s not just a simple thought that can be easily grasped. → Read more...
Assured For Eternity
May 1, 2014
Calvary
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Matt
For does not my house stand so with God? For he has made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and secure. For will he not cause to prosper all my help and my desire? – 2 Samuel 23:5 (ESV) I love reading about King David. I just finished the story of his life, and the passage I have highlighted above is the recorded last words of David, probably written close to the time he passed the torch of his kingdom on to his son, Solomon. → Read more...
2 SamuelassureDavideternityfaithfulGodpromisetruth