Calvary Evangelical Free Church

Israel’s rejection of God’s leadership challenges us not to trust in people or things, but to trust in God. God’s sovereign choice of Saul as king reminds us that God is in control, even when we make poor choices. The fact that Saul was more about style than substance tells us that God can’t just be in my life – He needs to be Lord of my life!

God is building a longing for the true king, King Jesus. And he’s doing it by showing us the flaws and failures of every other lesser king we choose for ourselves.

This God—His way is perfect; the word of the Lord proves true.

Sin is so deceptive that we will often choose it despite all God’s warnings that it will destroy us.

The Lord longs to redeem you; redemption is available through Christ alone.

God’s enemies are unable to withstand the crushing weight of God’s glory, and as the Ark returns to the Israelites, we see that God’s own people are equally unable to stand in God’s presence. It is only in Christ that are we able to stand before the Lord. [00:00:01] Good morning Calvary. My name is Jamie Robinson. I have the joy and the pleasure of serving here as worship pastor. And for those of...

We are called to be ready to defend our hope in Christ with gentleness and respect, with actions and words.

Claiming to follow and worship God without truly surrendering your life and will to Him is not acceptable worship and will result in judgment.

If you want to know the truth so your life doesn’t fall apart, you need to listen to Jesus, whose words never fall. [00:00:00] As we’ve been working our way through the early chapters of First Samuel, we’ve been alternating back and forth between the story of Samuel’s childhood and the story of Eli and his sons. The Samuel stories have been delightful. They really have. Little Sa...

Only when we trust in our faithful high priest, Jesus, can we overcome our deadly desire to honor ourselves above the Lord.

The Lord despises and will not tolerate forever the abuse of spiritual leadership. Jesus is our faithful spiritual leader. We should follow only him and those who are faithful to him.

There is one God who has full control of human history. With that sovereignty, the Lord has brought about the salvation of his people through the strength of his King.

Today we get a vision of unshakeable worship in the face of, first hardship, then blessing. [00:00:00] Well, you’ll have to bear with me this morning. I have been sick all week, so most of the sermon was written under medication. See how that goes. In the 19th and 20th centuries, there was a movement among some biblical historians to question the historical reliability of almost everything t...

As Christ rose victorious over death, and went home to be with God the Father, so those of us who are in Christ, who trust in Christ, will also go home to be with the Lord forever.

The message of Good Friday needs to become very personal.

Understanding who Jesus is should lead us to worship him and to tell others about him. [00:00:01] Good morning. Last week I was featured in a front-page article in the Post-Bulletin. Perhaps you’ve seen it. It was about my lifetime habit of walking. I walk everywhere; I walk a minimum of 100 miles a month. I’ve done it for the last five years. But I’ve done it – basically w...

Everyone who embraces Jesus enters a kingdom that undoes the brokenness of our world and give us an eternity our hearts long for. Everyone who refuses Jesus is left out of the Kingdom of God. [00:00:00] You know, as you read through the Gospel of Luke like we’ve been doing, you start to feel a little bit bad for Jesus socially, I mean. It seems like every time Jesus is around people, he gets...

Jesus, steadfastly, carried out the ministry of God’s compassion for his people. Don’t push that away with an unwilling heart. [00:00:01] In the 15th century, there was this fascinating pastor from the south coast of England named John Flavel. He pastored in a town called Dartmouth, which is about three hours from where Pastor Jamie’s family lives. The stories of Flavell’s ministry are...

The Kingdom of God continues to spread throughout the world. The question before each of us is, “Have I entered that kingdom through the narrow door of Christ?” [00:00:00] A while back I had a friend, pretty close friend at the time who served as a pastor, and due to a terrible set of choices, he was removed from pastoral ministry. This led eventually to a complete heel turn on his faith in Jesus....

Jesus came to release us from the bonds of sin and death so that we can live for the glory of God, not to put us under the bondage of a new set of rules. [00:00:00] Well, our passage this morning is going to be a great relief to some and a great challenge to others. It has to do with the rules. What rules, you ask? All the rules of life. Every rule you can think of. Everything from how do we play...

The key to using your limited time correctly, and not wasting your life away, is seeing it as a gift given to you by Jesus to prepare you for eternity with Jesus. [00:00:00] Well, I remember when I was younger and in school, I remember thinking, someday when school is finally over, I would have more time. Did you ever think that? Did you ever feel like that? Did you ever remember back when you wer...

The division we experience in our families is a fully-expected outcome in the mission of Christ. Because the gospel both saves and condemns, it divides. [00:00:01] 2025 marks the year I sort of turned 20 in the ministry. It’s been 20 years that I’ve been a pastor, and in those 20 years, I can tell you that there is one painful, ongoing burden that I have seen Christians carry that is m...

Because God has saved us by his grace through Jesus, and brought us into his family, he wants us to serve him with eagerness and readiness while wait for Jesus’ return. [00:00:01] Well, a few weeks ago, I mentioned that we are entering the part of the Gospel of Luke where Jesus starts to teach more about final judgment and eternal destinies. At the beginning of chapter 12, Jesus warned that we sho...

A life-well-spent is one that seeks and invests in God’s kingdom to the point that the concerns of this world fall away. [00:00:01] Well, it was December 2001. Rachel and I had been married for a full year. She was a kindergarten teacher and I was working at ServiceMaster, cleaning carpets and trying to teach myself Greek so that I could go to seminary the next year. Uh, we had a little one-bedroo...