Calvary Bible Church of Kalamazoo, Michigan

As you open with me to Joshua 1:8-9, may I remind all of you who already know this, and introduce any of you who do not—to the God whom we can know and trust through His Word.

The chief way that God has revealed Himself is through His Word. (Read More)

As we open to Rev. 1:3, may I remind you that there are seven reasons you should trust God's Word. These are the reasons we willingly seek to keep our minds filled with God's Word, the absolutely trustworthy record of God’s voice.

The first reason I am convinced of God's Word is Prophecy: God tells us exactly what He is going to do in the future, long before He does it. That act of God, declaring in minute, clear, and amazing detail the events of the future is called Biblical Prophecy.
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Please turn with me to the second to the last Old Testament book called Zechariah. There God gives us the key to understanding His plan for the last days of Earth. Everything in God’s mind centers upon one place, one city, one word and that is JERUSALEM.
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Please open with me to Matthew 24.

The disciples ask Jesus a question that interests all of us, I’m so glad they did. Follow along as they ask in Matthew 24:3, and as Jesus answers them in verse 8 and 33.

This week I was examining just how much God has left for us to know about the future. Here is what I found summarized by a series of NUMBERS!

I hold in my hand the ONE Book that God wrote—the Bible.

That one book has TWO parts—the Old Testament and the New Testament.
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God has spoken. The words He spoke are God's Word the Bible. (Read More)

Can God be trusted? That is the bottom line of the doctrine of Inspiration.

The Bible makes the claim that every word of this Book is from God.

The Bible makes one huge scientific claim—God made the Universe, and we know and believe that: (Read More)

As we open to Matthew 24:21-22, we come to the Second Coming of Christ, the 4th of 7 Big Events on God’s Calendar that we are examining from last to first.

The Second Coming of Jesus Christ is the single greatest visible expression of God’s power to the entire Earth, since the Flood of Noah. But as we look at Christ's Coming, and the Tribulation it follows, we must understand why Jesus comes when He does.
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Creation is central to the Bible as the Creator Himself opens the pages of the Scriptures and introduces Himself.

The Gospel of Salvation from Genesis to Revelation is all about the Creator coming to save those created in His image. So, there is always in God's Word the Bible—a link between Creation, the Creator, and Salvation. With that in mind turn with me to the first ten words that open the Bible, Genesis 1:1.

What would be the most important message to every human on Earth?
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Please open with me to I Corinthians 3:10-15.

This evening we look at one of the most sobering day of our lives as believers. The entire Trinity will be involved in that day.

We all were saved one day by God’s grace through the Cross of Jesus;

We all live each day energized by the grace of the Holy Spirit; but

We all will stand and have all our days lived as believers analyzed and tested by Jesus Christ for the works we used those days to accomplish. (Read More)

We are witnessing the most publicized, the most expensive, and perhaps what believers may one day look back at as a turning point election, in American history.

Yet we must always step back and look at each part of life from the perspective of God's Word.

The fact that we have any liberties to exercise our personal convictions and live as we do is such a gift from God.
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As we open to II Peter 3, think about the greatest day of our lives. That will be the day we each get to stand before the Lord Jesus Christ—and kneel in front of the One who loved us so much that He came and took our sins upon Himself, died in our place on the Cross, and freely gave us His forgiveness, cleansing, and salvation. (Read More)

“Heaven and Earth shall pass away—but my Word won’t!” is what Jesus said. As we turn to Matthew 24:35 this morning, we each need to ask ourselves if we really do believe God, and affirm that belief by trusting this Book, the Bible.

The most powerful reason that I trust God's Word as absolutely trustworthy is the same reason you should: because Jesus did.

Our Savior, Jesus Christ, Lord of Heaven and Earth, believed during His earthly life, that the Bible was God's Word—and still does. (Read More)

Jesus enclosed a snapshot of what life on earth was like--just before He touched down on the Mt. of Olives, the Ground Zero of His Second Coming.

Those snapshots are in Matthew. So please open with me to the greatest sermon on the end of the world ever preached—Matthew 24. Jesus is mapping out the future. He is walking His disciples through a long and complex answer to their simple question in v. 3: (Read More)

Are you absolutely sure that you are headed to Heaven when you die?

If you believe that you are Heaven bound, have you checked to make sure that your faith is genuine saving faith? The best way to be absolutely sure is to line up what you believe with God's Word. Noah’s ark is a beautiful picture of the secure salvation we can have by faith in Jesus. (Read More)

Last week we saw the incredible security of being in God's Ark of Safety.

This week we see the other side, the outside of that Ark.

The same Hand that shut the door securely protected the eight inside, is the same Hand that sealed the doom of all outside.

God rescued eight, but no one escaped the extinction level event that hit the planet Earth just about 5,000 years ago—it was neither an asteroid nor a comet, it was a Flood.
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As believers, God gives us an insider’s knowledge. There is an eventual major upheaval in the worldwide social and economic situation. All the currency of the world: its money, possessions, fashions, and whims, will be worthless at our death or Christ's return, either of which could be very soon. This insight should utterly change our investment strategy.
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As we open to Luke 2:36, and are introduced to the life of Anna, I’d ask you to underline two words in your mind. First, in v. 36 “she was of great age”—underline in your mind OLD. Second, in v. 37 “a widow of about 84 years”—underline in your mind ALONE.

There you go, in two words you could describe the woman we are going to meet this morning. Anna was OLD and ALONE.

Yet from this account God gives to us, this old and alone woman was also vibrant, filled with joy, overflowing with God's Word and in love with the Lord.
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At the first Christmas, God gave the only gift everyone really needs.

Each Christmas, as we open God's Word and remember the greatest event since Creation, we have an opportunity to reset our minds on the real message from God for this season in our lives.

As we open to Luke 1:78-79 pause and think about how far we have come from the First Christmas.
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Christmas was when the greatest event since Creation, took place in a sleepy little village just five miles south of Jerusalem. But the lives of most people surrounding Christ's birth were like the rooms of Bethlehem’s Inn—too full to let Jesus in.

Christmas is all about worship; and worship is all about having room in your life for God. (Read More)

Forgiveness: One moment before your last breath, one thing will matter more than anything else—whether you are dying forgiven or unforgiven.

Forgiven: Nothing matters more to any who have sinned—and God says all have sinned.

The peace you can have one moment before you die, is available on a daily basis, if you understand what God has done in Christ and if you choose to respond by faith to Him.
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As the end of the physical world approaches, earth’s darkest spiritual hour also arrives.

Satan knows that God has plans to save “a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands…” (Revelation 7:9).
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As we come to the fourth reason this is the Book You Can Trust, we remember that  we trust this Book because Jesus did.

In fact, Jesus believed, trusted, and commended God's Word so highly that he says God's Word is what we need for every part and every day or our lives.

Jesus gives each of us a single priority to check on, each day, for all of 2009. This priority is recorded in Matthew 4:4.
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As we open to Psalm 32, we are listening to David's testimony in song that came to his heart when David received complete forgiveness.

David experienced what the Scriptures often declare—God is a God who offers His children complete forgiveness. Trace with me again those life giving words in your hearts as I read them to you. You may even want to just close your eyes so that nothing distracts you from hearing these ten verses:

"… as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us”. (Psalm 103:12) (Read More)

Please open with me to Philippians 3:14-21.

Each of us who have had a spiritual heart transplant (Ezekiel 36:26-27), and have been born again (John 3), and have become a temple (I Corinthians 6:19-20) that the Living God lives in—are also now citizens of Heaven.

This morning we are to be those who declare God’s forgiveness as we live in this world as strangers and pilgrims, while having our real citizenship in Heaven. As citizens of Heaven we have a duty God has given us to expose evil.
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This morning, as we open to II Corinthians 6, let me remind you that: each of us, are creatures of habit.

Habits shape our lives; and little by little, our habits are cementing us into a form that will someday be finished, revealing us for who we really were.

William James (1842-1910), in his classic Principles of Psychology (1890), put it this way: (Read More)

Please open with me to I Timothy 3:15.

God designed His Church to be pillars, grounded in truth as God’s household living on earth; but that truth is under assault--and God has said the war against truth will intensify as the world nears its final hour.

We have gathered as Christ's Church. We are members of God’s household and part of His family; and our purpose is to uphold by what we live and say God’s Truth as recorded in the Bible. Please stand as we listen to God describing us this evening:
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We have started a year-long look at the wonders of the gift of salvation. Today we ponder the gift of justification as we open to Romans 5

Salvation is of the Lord: initiated and designed by the Lord—and thus it is almost beyond human comprehension. But what we do know, revealed by God through His Word is incredible.
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At the end of Creation Week, as God looked over the entire scope of the Universe He fashioned, only one element was “not good”. It was man. Adam was alone, and God said that wasn’t good. So God crowned the six stellar days of creation with Eve, the perfect partner and friend, for Adam. When God designed marriage, it was to perfectly complete those He had fashioned in His image. God established a vital truth: a designer marriage would be one lived the way God designed it to be. Sadly, most marriages are not designer marriages.
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Salvation is amazing. Through seven divine works of God, guilty sinners are made ready for dwelling in the Presence of God forever, and their bodies formerly slaves to sin instantly become the very dwelling place, and temple of God. How does God do all that? He does it through the seven elements that make up the Gift of Salvation. As we open again to Romans 5, remember again what God does in each of us who believe:
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God desires that every marriage in Christ's church is led by a husband clothed in humility. That is the goal God has for each man here who is a genuine believer, and is married, or hopes to be someday.

All of us husbands are asked by God to represent Him here on Earth. As we saw last time, in Ephesians 5:25, that means our first command is to LOVE our wives sacrificially like Jesus. Now we look at the second half of the plan God left for us: we are to LEAD with humility, because: (Read More)

Jesus sat on the olive tree covered slopes of the Mt. of Olives, and gave His disciples a private briefing of the End of Days for Planet earth. In the shortest and yet most complete summary He describes life from His 1st Advent through to His 2nd. That sermon called by theologians the “Olivet Discourse” is again our focus, as we open to Matthew 24:7. Tonight we hear Jesus is describing another element of what the Earth would be like at His Coming.
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As we open to Titus 3, we are looking at the miracle of our salvation called spiritual regeneration.

The gift of salvation has seven key elements, and we have examined forgiveness and justification. We now come to regeneration. Regeneration is a word that is much wider than the Bible, or theology, it is a part of the everyday world around us.

re·gen·er·a·tion (rĭ-jĕn'ə-rā'shən) n.
The act or process of regenerating or the state of being regenerated.
Biology. Regrowth of lost or destroyed parts or organs. (Read More)

Do we as present day believers get to escape all of the dangerous times of death and destruction of the Tribulation? In a precise, accurate, Biblical, and theological way the true answer is: YES. Christ's church is not destined or appointed to go through that wrath (I Thessalonians 5:9).
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As we open to Matthew 4 we are opening to the greatest truth that all of us who are saved yet who are tempted to sin can learn. 

Jesus defeated each of Satan's greatest temptations—not in His blinding Omnipotence as God the Son, but in complete weakness as a man. After 40 days of no food and no rest from attack. Jesus defeated Satan using the same Scriptures we hold today.
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We can see on the horizon this evening, the world Jesus described as Earth at the End of Days.

As we open to Luke 21, remember, Christ's sermon called the Olivet Discourse (Matthew 24, Mark 13, Luke 21) was His description of what the world would be like during the Tribulation’s horrors. But He framed His horrific description of the End of Days by these incredible words in one of these three parallel accounts, the one recorded in Luke 21:28:

“When you see these things (listen) BEGIN to happen, look up…”.
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When Jesus faced off with the Devil His weapons were simple—three carefully chosen verses from God’s Holy Word. As we open to Revelation 2, we find that same Jesus writing to a church that had learned the same lesson—how to use God's Word to overcome and resist the devil, his demons, and their own flesh.
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If you were called upon to go and share a message about Jesus Christ and explain how to be saved, born-again, and live the life of a believer, what would you share?

Let me add that you will be facing, as your audience, 2,000 antagonistic, gang members who:
All have killed in cold-blooded murder, with their own hands,  at least one person (and then went on to eat the dead body, I might add);
All are presently, actively involved in some form of deep, black witchcraft;
All have both a heavy drinking and drug addiction history; and (Read More)

As an eight year old, I will always remember learning one word in the sign language of the deaf—the Bible was the “Jesus” (signed by nail prints in hands) “Book” (signed by hands, palms together and then opening like a book)”.

What a perfect way to portray, describe, and express the truth of God's Word. Our Bibles really are, and should always be to us: the Jesus Book. (Read More)

As you open to Matthew 21, you open your Bibles to the start of the greatest week since our Universe was spoken into existence by its Creator.

On this day, Palm Sunday, Jesus entered Jerusalem at the time the Passover lambs were chosen. He proclaimed Himself as the Promised Messiah by riding on a donkey as prophesied in Daniel 9, coming from the East. But His true kingship would be demonstrated when He was sacrificed on the Cross as God’s Lamb.
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Please join me in Psalm 119 and look over God’s curriculum in “The School of Suffering”, where our Lord shares with us what He expects from each of us as we go through all the various painful forms of suffering, afflictions, trails, and troubles.

The longest chapter in the Bible is the summary of the entire Old Testament written by Ezra after he had copied all of the chapters of the Old Testament into what we would call Biblical Hebrew, In fact, the famous Dead Sea Scrolls would be copies of the scrolls that Ezra hand wrote as the founder of the Biblical Scribes. (Read More)

Tonight in Luke 22:24 we go back to THE Lord’s Supper, by that I mean the first, the original, and the model for us from Jesus Christ Himself to us His Church.

On this night of the first Lord’s Supper, Jesus models an attitude what we must choose to have each time we come to His Table. (Read More)

Jesus lives—The Tomb is empty.

Death is defeated—The Grave is opened.

God is in control—His Word is true.

The Devil’s power is destroyed—God won.

Historic Faith can say Christ Lives—but Saving Faith always says Christ Lives in me! (Read More)

As we open to Psalm 119:71, we as a nation are in the midst of one of the most challenging times American’s have faced for over a generation. But as bad as it may seem, think about how hard life was here in the USA in 1917.

That year, World War I was sapping the finances, wearing down the resolve, and destroying the young men of this nation. In the midst of all that, there was no government security for the sick or unemployed.
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What will happen to anyone who ignores or rejects the Gift of Salvation?

As we open to Luke 16 this morning, we open to Christ's clearest and most compelling words about what happens at the moment of death, to every human that will ever live. We find more details in less space than anywhere else in the Bible. This is Christ's guide to the afterlife and is one of the most priceless insights anyone could get on what our endless future will be life.
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There is only one chapter in the New Testament that explicitly describes God’s expectations for every man, every woman, every boy, and every girl who are part of Christ's Church, and that is Titus 2.

As we turn there this Mother’s Day morning, each of us in our hearts hold such a special place for our moms. But whether you are a mom or not, married or not, or even if you are a part of the half of us who are men—the passage we are going to in God's Word speaks to all of us.
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Adam’s sin allowed death to enter the world. Our original parents were first to taste the warmth of life, and also first to feel the coldness of death. Before the fall there was no disease, no coughing, fevers, convulsions, or death. But death brought sickness when it arrived, and now sickness accounts for the most deaths each year around the world.
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This morning we are right in the middle of looking at godly wives and mothers. Our theme this morning is that godly moms are in partnership with God and they love their children with love that can be felt.

But before we plunge into those Titus 2 methods of loving husbands and children with love they can feel, a quality that God wants every wife and mom to know and practice, we need to turn to the book of I Thessalonians 4 and ask, “Why are we even here studying God's Word today? What is the bigger picture of what God wants from all of us.”
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Satan the Dragon has a fixation on destroying the people of the Name (Rev. 15).

God has written history, and put on paper that He is going to save a remnant of Israel at their final and most desperate hour (Zechariah 12-14).

Satan can read. He knows the written down parts of the plan, and for the past 2600 years since that plan and other parts were revealed, he has intensified his efforts to thwart God. (Read More)

One of the great blessings in life comes from knowing what God wants you to do and doing it. That way of life Jesus described as His chosen path. He once said that He delighted in doing God's Will.

For us who know and love the Lord, life is a delight. We know why He made us, what we are to do for Him, and so we face each new day knowing that the Lord is with us, His strength is ours, and His smile is upon us. Like Jesus we delight to follow His plan.
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As we open to I Peter 3 this morning, may I challenge each of you to one of Christ's greatest promises to us as believers? Jesus said, “If you pray in faith you can see even that mountain moved” (Mt. 17:20); and, “If any two of you agree as touching anything, I will do it” (Mt. 18:19); and again, “Ask and it shall be given to you, seek and you shall find, knock and the door shall be opened unto you” (Matthew 7:7; Lk. 11:9).
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As we approach God's Word we know that God has clearly and simply laid out His Word for us to know and live confidently for Him. Among the most fundamental truths in the Scriptures is contained in God’s eternal plan for His chosen people of promise the Jews and His nation Israel.

No matter what your background has been in understanding the Bible there are three markers plainly seen in God’s Word:

God makes an eternal covenant promise to Abraham and his descendants the Israelites, or Jewish people—making them the Chosen People of Promise in Genesis 12. (Read More)

On Father’s day perhaps the greatest question every husband and father should ponder is, “Am I fulfilling my high calling from God to bless my wife and children?”

Today as we open to I Peter 3, we proclaim the incredible duty that God has given to husbands and fathers to bless those around them in their life and family.
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Three thousand years ago the greatest human fortune ever amassed on Earth was passed on from father to son. Please turn with me to I Chronicles 22.

King David in 970BC gave Solomon 1 million talents of silver (that means somewhere between 60 and 100 million pounds of silver, or 30 to 50 thousand tons of silver, worth 14.4 to 24 billion dollars today at recent market closes of about $15/ounce).
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There are 1189 chapters in the Bible. As we open to Psalm 127-128, we open to two of the most beautiful pictures of marriage and family life in all of God's Word, captured on paper for us to read. God allows us to see marriage and family life from His perspective, with children described as growing like these healthy green, fruitful trees, entwined lovingly into our lives as parents, and growing with us in godliness. (Read More)

As we open to Romans 11, we all need to understand more and more about how God has worked in the past, and what He has planned for the future. One of the richest ways to do that is through a closer look at Israel and the Jewish people. God has declared that they are His chosen people of destiny. First we need to remind ourselves of the reality God presents to New Testament believers of: 

Our Amazingly Jewish Heritage

As believers, we are headed: (Read More)

Each of us here this morning are engineered by God; and as we open to Psalm 139, He wants us to understand His intentional design and reflect His glory, by loving the way He made all of the unchangeable features of our lives.

One of the greatest reminders of God's creative power is the reality that each of us humans who have ever lived are distinctly, uniquely, and wonderfully different. From our fingerprint, to our tongues, from our DNA to our lives-we are all spiritual snowflakes, truly one-of-a-kind. (Read More)

There is no heart God can't change. There is no life, no past, no sin, no stain, no failure, and no habit that God can't change if you will let Him. Are you letting the Lord change you? Are you responding? Is Jesus Christ controlling you more each day?

The Power of Christ's Regenerating Work

Twenty-six hundred years ago God explained regeneration in Ezekiel. Turn there with me and see what He says in Ezekiel 36:26-27: (Read More)

Mature saints offering true spiritual worship is God's strong desire for each of us.

As we open to Ephesians 4, through His servant Paul, our Lord Jesus Christ explains the purpose and plan for His Church, and where each of us should seek to be today.

First, Jesus explains His plan for the church is giving God's Word through Apostles and Prophets (Ephesians 4:11a); and for that Word to be used to plant churches throughout all generations by church planters (evangelists); and to mature and grow believers by pastor teachers (Ephesians 4:11b). (Read More)

Titus 3 this morning is God wonderful good news to all of us. God wants to abundantly pour out His mercy and saving grace upon anyone who will come to Christ. Please open there with me. (Read More)

God gives us two different inspired descriptions of women[1] in Proverbs. In fact, if you sorted through the 31 chapters, 915 verses and over 15,000 words of the Book of Proverbs, you can find just over 200 verses that actually declare what good men and women, boys and girls look and act like, and what the immature, unspiritual, and ungodly opposites look and act like. (Read More)

Can there be any higher calling than the one the God of the Universe has given to husbands? God says, love your wife just like Christ loves His Church. That is a very high calling, and perhaps the most sobering words any married man, who knows and loves God could hear.

Paul explains marriage is unlike any other role we fill in life as a man. Marriage is unlike any other job we do. Marriage is elevated, by God, speaking through Paul in Ephesians 5, to one of the highest places in life. (Read More)

As the summer winds down, and we stand before the freshness of a new start this fall. Have you pondered what would be the best investment of your spiritual capital in the fall of 2009? In other words, where are you going to focus your time in pursuit of Christ Jesus the remaining months of this year?

To help you with that choice listen to the incredible challenge Paul lays out in Ephesians 6:18

Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints (Read More)

One of the greatest tools God gave us was the tool that the Apostle Paul used so widely. Prayers from a heart and life of integrity can touch the whole world.

Paul lived in integrity. As he faced prison for his testimony he declared in Acts 24:16

This being so, I myself always strive to have a conscience without offense toward God and men.

This statement Paul made in Acts should stir all of our hearts. Paul said that he always strove to not have any conscious un-repented of sins in his life.

That is integrity. (Read More)

God has made hundreds of promises to the direct descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob-know as the nation of Israel, the Jewish people. In fact, there are more verses and chapters of the Bible are devoted to the Jews, the Nation of Israel, and their future on Earth before the end of the world-than any other subject or topic in all of the Scriptures.

All of the promises and predictions that God made are part of His offer to us that identifies Him as the true God. We could boil all of those hundreds of promises down to 12 clear groups. (Read More)

As we open to First Thessalonians 5:23 we are going to read the plan God gave to Paul to start a recovery program is a rough, tough, vice-filled, seaport city named Thessalonica.

In AD 50 or 51, the Gospel had arrived in this thriving commercial transportation hub where intercontinental caravans met at the docks of a huge seaport. In less than three weeks, a group of drunkards, sex-addicts, greedy and dishonest business people, as well as normal well-adjusted lost pagans and Jews had come to Christ. (Read More)

As we open to Jeremiah 30-31 tonight we are looking at the 12 keys God has given us in His Word to identify the nation among nations that will signal the end of days. Those people are the Jews, the nation of Israel, His Chosen People of Promise:

These keys are only part of the evidence, as we shall see, that the prophesied "last days" are upon us and that our generation will likely see the remainder of Bible prophecy fulfilled.   (Read More)

God loves things to be according to His specifications. He likes us to follow the code He has established in His Word. When Moses went up the mountain in Exodus 24:18-25:40, God showed him the detailed plans for the Tabernacle, the most written about physical building in the Universe. More chapters are devoted to the detailed descriptions of this building than any other in the Bible. God spent more time on the Tabernacle than He does on the Creation of the Cosmos, the Flood and even the last week of Christ's life. (Read More)

Today God wants us living for Heaven, and every other day of our earthly lives.

But, we have to do so in the midst of an epidemic that has gotten stronger century by century. This flu we face as believers in Christ each day is far more deadly than the H1N1 variety of influenza now loitering and infecting people across the globe. Affluenza or materialism is a deadly disease that robs Christians of their desire for Heaven and replaces it with a desire for earth. (Read More)

In the last book of the Bible, we find that Jesus went on a journey visiting seven churches on that particular Sunday, recorded in chapters 2-3. Jesus went to church, reminding us He comes to watch us as we gather today.

When Jesus chose to use the number seven (always used in the Bible for completion, or a complete set of something) He was demonstrating to us what He saw in all churches at that time, in every place, and also I believe, what Christ's church would be characterized by throughout all the ages. (Read More)

God uses 12 promises in His Word to identify Israel as the nation that will signal the end of days. God has declared that the Jews, are the nation of Israel, and are His Chosen People of Promise:

I believe that the prophesied "last days" are upon us and that our generation will likely see the remainder of what God's Word has foretold would happen to the nation of Israel. (Read More)

Consecration is giving our bodies as a living sacrifice to Christ. That is what Jesus says as we open to Luke 9. The truth of consecration is: "Losers are Keepers[1]"? God's ways are so different than ours. (Read More)

This morning we are starting a year-long celebration of CBC's 80^th year of ministry. We often refer to this church by three initials, the initials CBC stand for: (Read More)

Please open with me I Corinthians 12:27. This morning God declares to us that we are Christ's Body, and being a part of something that big and that important has enormous responsibilities. Note what Paul says:

I Corinthians 12:27 Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually. (Read More)

The God who recorded the beginning, that no one but Him witnessed in Genesis; is also the God gives us the ending, that no one but Him could have ever written, in Revelation.

Isn't it amazing that God devotes 1/4^th or 25% of the Bible to the indivisible union that the world's destiny has with God's Chosen People of Promise, Israel, Jerusalem, and the Jews? Never forget: (Read More)

When Jesus first met His disciples as He walked along the shores of the Sea of Galilee, do you remember what they were doing? Fishing, right? As we open to Matthew 4, think with me about the type of men Jesus called to start His team of disciples. The first four were noted as "fishermen". (Read More)

As we open to II Chronicles 6, always remember that God has had His eye one very special piece of property for a long time. (Read More)

Christmas is the record of God using a team of ordinary people to do extraordinary works for His Glory, and that is what we see first in the lives of the first couple we meet named Zachariah & Elisabeth as we open to Luke 1:5.

They were ordinary people, lived with ordinary problems, faced with all the ordinary troubles, stresses and pains of life. When we meet them they even had an ordinary response to God-mixed belief and unbelief. (Read More)

We have come to the twelfth and final promise God made to Israel.

God PROMISED in His Word that: Jesus will return as Israel's Messiah, Jesus Christ the Pierced Messiah will rescue the Jews at their darkest hour, after defeating all their enemies and locking up their fiercest adversary the Devil they will rebuild their Temple in Jerusalem for all the world to visit, and finally that Jesus Christ, the Son of David will sit as the Promised King on the Throne of David. (Read More)

Here is a sobering thought from the Christmas story-there were a group of very good, and very religious people in Christ's day-who missed Heaven by only 18 inches.

Can you imagine how horrible it would be to miss eternal life with God in the place He is making for us, and instead spend eternity in the blackness of darkness, suffering the searing pain of eternal fire?

This morning as we turn to Matthew 2:1-6, we are asking the sobering question, "How close can someone get to Christ, and His gift of salvation, and not be saved?" (Read More)

Nothing can ever compare to the return of the King.

Earth again will see its Creator no longer shrouded in the form of a humble servant. Christ's Return is with the blazing glory that slightly glowed from the Mount of Transfiguration, but that on Patmos was as blinding as the Sun in the witness of the Apostle John. (Read More)

The story of Christmas came to us from the God of Heaven. He wrote it down in the Scriptures through His Apostles in just 150 verses (30 in Matthew and 120 in Luke; Mark and John have no birth of Christ passages). Only God captured this event and transmits it to us flawlessly-so we get exactly what He wants us to know, and that has a special:

Message of Seven Words

First, have you noticed what is first in God's story of Christmas? If you look closely, the Christmas Story begins each time it was written in God's Word-with the same seven words. Have you pondered them? (Read More)

Simeon is introduced to us by God in Luke 2:25-35, and if it wasn't for that introduction, he would be like untold billions of others throughout human history that were only know by those closest to them during their lives; and who died without leaving a trace.

Even God hadn't added him to the Biblical record, and even if we had never read about Simeon, what he was will last forever. Simeon was an Old Testament saint, who lived in hope waiting for the coming Christ by faith; and died in faith ready to go when ever God's time came. Ready to go, what a way we all should live (Read More)

Calvary Bible is a church that belongs to Jesus. He is building this church, and as we celebrate our 80^th year as a local church, Jesus has great plans for each of us. Every believer has been specially designed by God, to do ministry in Christ's church.

Please open to the verse that is on the lanyard holding our nametags. Find the reference on your lanyard or someone's around you (and if you don't know them, say hello and meet them). (Read More)

Each year we get to start a new fresh page.

This year that page is named 2010, and it contains 365 1/4 days, 8766 hours, 1/2 million minutes[1], and 31 1/2 million seconds.

But more than anything else, this new year is a new opportunity for each of us to invest as much of that time as we want to into the First Eternal Bank of Jesus Christ, located at the Throne of the Almighty Ancient of Days, at the source of the River of Life, in the center of the Crystal Sea, also commonly known as Heaven. (Read More)

The pathway to usefulness is consecration. That is the pathway that God had to lead Isaiah along. That is the pathway we all need to follow.

Only what is attached to God will last forever. Anything that is not attached to God needs to be detached from our lives. As we open to Isaiah 6, think about the balance sheet of your life. As one famous missionary once said while laying on his deathbed, "Only one life, t'will soon be past; and only what's done for Christ will last"! (Read More)

We are starting a look through the Scriptures at the most written about person in the Bible. Other than God the father, Son, and Spirit, there are more chapters recorded about David's life than any other Biblical figure.

We know more about David than the New Testament church planting missionary Paul; and more than on the chief apostle Peter; and more than about father Abraham, or Daniel. God has chosen to give us David: examined from more directions, recorded in more situations, and captured in more passages than anyone else. (Read More)

God's recovery program for fallen mankind is always sanctification.

Christ's New Testament church was born into a sin-warped, dark-hearted world of mixed-up marriages, sin-scarred lives, and confused families. 

As we open to the book of Titus this morning, never forget that is the context. Paul, guided by the Spirit of God, was writing a letter to Titus, the missionary church planter sent to the island of Crete. (Read More)

As we open to the book of Titus, remember that the New Testament has three letters written specifically to pastors, explaining how they are to teach and lead Christ's flock. Titus is one of the three, and is a book about how all of us are to conduct ourselves in Christ's church. I, II Timothy and Titus are these "Pastoral Epistles" where God explains the "How to's" for the churches that Christ is building. (Read More)

There are almost three thousand biographical portraits in the Bible. In fact, the Bible is the single greatest source of biographical information from antiquity. There are more different individual from a wider scope of history recorded in God's Word than any other single source in the world. (Read More)

God has placed a "Help Wanted" ad online in His Word. He wants to enlist a special group of older and younger men to be highly useful to Him. These godly men, along with their counterparts among the older and younger women, will be highly compensated with eternal, unfading, personalized reward accounts in Heaven. That summarizes our portion of Scripture in Titus 2:1-8 today. (Read More)

Last time we saw that David had a simple focus in the midst of a very complex life.

As we open to Psalm 19, look with me at the last verse. Here is the cry of David's heart, right in front of us, and on paper. David simply said, "I want my life to please YOU. Every part, seen or unseen, I want my life to please you."

14 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in Your sight, O LORD, my strength and my Redeemer. (Read More)

As we open to I Samuel 16 think with me what David must have felt: So much has happened so fast. First, "King for a day" in chapter 16 we met a young shepherd boy, minding his sheep when the greatest man in Israel comes and sits in his dad's house waiting to meet him. There in front of his family, David is anointed the next King of Israel. Back to the sheep he goes, and off to the war go his brothers. (Read More)

God has explained the pathway to being highly useful to Him in the 24 words of Titus 2. God through His Word says that the second key ingredient is: a chosen way of life He defines as REVERENT.

Are you reverent today? Reverence is a mind and will that has learned to feel the "weight" of God in every part of our life and activities. (Read More)

As we open to Titus 2, listen as God speaks through Paul to each of us today, expressing exactly what He wants us to be. Paul wrote out this curriculum for Titus, it was to be taught to every person in the church as a personal map to a life of pleasing God. This letter explains the specific ways that men, women, boys, and girls can choose to obey Christ by responding to His Word. (Read More)

None of us know what will be written across the pages of life tomorrow. So God invites us to cling to Him, since He already knows what lies ahead. We cling to God more and more through His promises, as we see how precarious life can get. If we don't start a habit of clinging to the promises of God, sooner or later we'll end up falling apart during times of living fear and desperation like David did. (Read More)

Earth's darkest hours are dead ahead. Jesus warned us that at the end of days, the world will be subjected to the most intense bombardment of deceptions, false teachings, and truthlessness ever poured out on humanity. How healthy are your beliefs about God? (Read More)

We have all heard of people who have gone through complete emotional or mental breakdowns, but few of us have ever actually witnessed one as it happened. The good news is that God recorded the "before, during, and after" of the emotional and physical breakdown David experienced.

This sad but instructive event is captured flawlessly and in amazing detail. As we open to I Samuel 21:13 David hit the bottom, overwhelmed by life, sinking into fear, and trapped by his choices, he melts down. (Read More)

Love is the greatest of all the manifestations of God at work in the life of His children.

That is why Jesus warned His disciples that it would be increasingly harder and harder to maintain that strong and healthy love, in this ungodly world. (Read More)

Psalm 13 may be the very deepest of all the pits of life David endured. In this Psalm David is all alone and momentarily felt that even God had left him. Note the exact spot these events take place in the text of I Samuel 21:15-22:2:

1 Samuel 21:15-22:2 Have I need of madmen, that you have brought this fellow to play the madman in my presence? Shall this fellow come into my house?" 22:1a David therefore departed from there and escaped to the cave of Adullam.

(Read More)

As we open to Titus 2, we re considering the power of hope. When things get darkest in life, what one truth keeps folks going? It's the word: hope.

Someone once described us as humans in this way:

Humans can live 40 days without food; and 3 days without water; and 8 minutes without air; But only 1 second without hope! (Read More)

The closer we get to the end of days, the more we need the bright hope of the early church that radiated from the catacombs and arenas of persecution to radiate from our lives today.

As we open to Luke 21 we find Jesus explaining how to impact our lost world for Him on a daily basis. We can make a choice, that makes our life able to powerfully display Him to a watching world; and that choice is to live in hope. When we live in hope we redeem our time. Daily life when filled with hope makes every moment count for eternity. (Read More)

True salvation implants an inextinguishable hope within us. Prophecy is probably the most encouraging and affirming study we can do in God's Word and especially prophecy. Prophecy has inspired believers since the very first recorded teaching on prophecy in the earliest days of Christ's church; and it is the hope we have of Christ's return that has inspired believers to face troubles, afflictions, and wearying persecutions. This morning, as we read the darkest hours of mankind's earthly journey, note how Jesus weaves into this dark fabric, the rays of HOPE. (Read More)

As we open to Psalm 40, David feels life's become like a horrible pit. Probably the closest public event that would mirror David's life is what the quake-struck residents of Haiti and Chile have felt, going through in the ten plus weeks since the 7.0 quake hit Haiti on 1/12/10 and less than a month ago, the much larger 8.8 quake hit in Chile 2/27/10. Since these twin events[1]: (Read More)

As we open to I Corinthians 5:7 and listen as Paul speaks to a primarily gentile, New Testament church, we hear him teaching believers of all the ages of Christ's Church that:

CHRIST IS OUR PASSOVER

The Passover is not merely an Old Testament Jewish event, for Paul instructed the New Testament church to be familiar with all that the Passover portrayed when he wrote, (Read More)

Jesus rose triumphant over sin, death, and Hell after being captured and killed during the greatest crime the world has ever witnessed.

On a cross of wood, with carpenter's tools, and "on a skull shaped hill, on a sunny day outside of Jerusalem nearly 2,000 years ago when MANKIND MURDERED THEIR MAKER[1]". There on a hill called Calvary in full view of thousands of witnesses, was the day the Creator was crucified. (Read More)

As we come to I Samuel 22, we find David hiding in a cave, and living on a day to day, just making it mode surrounded by troubles. His experience is mirrored in the lives of multiplied people across the world. When live reduces to being just in a survival mode.

"Survival mode" means knowing that life must go on, but you just couldn't remember why. These times of just making one day at a time is often when slowly become a vicious swirl of getting up, going to work out of the home or in the home if you're a mom; and dropping into bed exhausted at the end of the day. (Read More)

One of the most amazing dimensions of the Christian life is the liberating knowledge that we can know exactly what God expects from us as we live our lives on earth.

God has designed each of us who know and love Him, with gender-specific roles, and responsibilities. And each day we live we can either be obediently pleasing Him, or disobediently displeasing Him. Amazingly, neither obedience nor disobedience changes His steadfast love: it only impacts our eternal rewards (II Cor. 5:10), and status in Heaven (Matthew 25). (Read More)

If you've ever felt trapped, imprisoned, or helplessly caught by life, then you share the emotions of David in the midst of life in the Cave of Adullam.

Things had gotten so bad that David makes a confession that is packed with meaning to us today. In the form of an urgent prayer offered to God, and captured for us on paper, David explains that his soul is in prison. The setting is so graphic, look at it with me in I Samuel 22.

David is in the midst of his life on the run, under immense stress in verses 1-4: (Read More)

As we each open to Colossians 2 this morning, I am reminded of the full and rich lives almost all of us lead. Our culture presses upon us with expectations, deadlines, stress, and a never-ending list of assignments and duties. So much so that, sometimes we rejoice just to get one item checked off, don't we?

When vital things in our lives are completed they give such a great feeling: a completed assignment so our work is done; a completely balanced diet so we are healthy; all our requirements completed, so the pressures are off. All of those areas of life make us feel: (Read More)

As we open to Titus 2, at this very moment, Satan is roaming the Earth trying to mess up God's plan. His methods of attack are very focused, and are revealed in God's Word by his many names. Each of Satan's well-known names describes a facet of his evil plan. He is called: (Read More)

Today we celebrate mothers. For a moment let's meet all the moms here this morning: all the moms, please stand; and as you stand, to all the moms here and those who are not, we all owe a debt of gratitude.

We all owe our very life to our mom.

May each of you mothers know the joy of your children rising up and blessing you. (Read More)

As we open to I Corinthians 10:11-13, it is our reminder as we study the Life of David: following God is hard, it is not EASY!

For many years songwriter John W. Peterson (1921-2006) lived in Grand Rapids, Michigan. One song he wrote among the thousand that bear his name is titled: "It's Not an Easy Road". David, whose life we are studying, would have heartily agreed with these words:

It's not an easy road we are traveling to heaven,

For many are the thorns on the way

It's not an easy road, but the Savior is with us (Read More)

As we open to I Samuel 23 we are coming to the final stages of David's life on the run. From the desolate wastelands of Israel's geography we hear the cries of David's heart from desert where he now find that added to danger, deprivation, and despair are the twin struggles of betrayal and loneliness. (Read More)

When we gather as we do today, and open God's Word, we are asking Him to speak to us. Sometimes what we hear touches on a small part of our lives, other times what He says is huge. This morning, the topic we have arrived at to study is HUGE.

The only way to understand the gravity of what we are hearing from God's Word today is to go to where it will matter. Open with me to the end of the Bible, Revelation 4. (Read More)

As we open God's Word to the end of Titus 2:3, we arrive at the single most powerful quality of the entire Titus 2 men's and women's lists. This single word in the Greek language, sums up the entire reason we live on Earth. This statement of God's plan for all women, in one word sums up all that will last forever. This word explains how to keep from suffering loss at Christ's Judgment Seat. This word ties together what God wants and how we receive His well done. (Read More)

As we open to Titus 2:4 look at the first three words: "that they admonish". This is the final quality God desires to see in every older woman of grace, which describes their lifestyle of admonishing, encouraging, or calling others to realize what God has clearly stated they are supposed to do. (Read More)

God launched His plan to train the women of Christ's Church using the godly older women He was already at work inside, and allowing their Spirit-led walk as they grew day-by-day, to flow out into the lives of younger women.

But the message that the Lord Himself asked these women to communicate must have sounded impossible.

Paul told them that the Lord asked every believing wife to decide and surrender to these twin concepts contained in the very first word of this list: (Read More)

Nurturing love in a loveless world is our theme this morning.

On Christ's last night with His disciples, He said in John 13 that believers would be known by their love for each other. This type of love is supernatural, prompted by grace, empowered by the Spirit, and modeled by godly mature saints. Christ's church was built from the start with this powerful nurturing love. (Read More)