Calvary Prineville

Rory teaches on fasting as the church prepares to fast this coming week.

We need to be thankful for everything in our lives, even the smallest, seemingly insignificant things. In this New Year we need to resolve to renew our soul, renew our thankfulness and renew our relationship with God. We need to remember all God has done for us. In Joshua 24, Joshua, for the first time speaks as a prophet and reminds the elders of Israel of all that God had done for them. He chall...

In concluding the time with his disciples on the beach, Jesus gives Peter a glimpse of how Peter will die. Then Peter asked Jesus what was going to happen to John, the “disciple whom Jesus loved,” a question that could have been borne out of jealousy. As it turned out, John was the only disciple who didn’t die a martyr’s death. We need not worry about what the Lord is doing with other people, the...

As part of Peter's restoration, Jesus took Peter aside, along with other disciples, and questioned his love for Him. As with the three denials before the crucifixion, Jesus asked Peter three times if he loved Him. Peter said he did. Finally, Peter stated that Jesus knew all things, and that even through all that Peter did - all the denials, the stupid things and various sins - Jesus had to know th...

John concludes in Chapter 20, but then needs to deal with one more thing – the restoration of Peter – needed to connect to the book of Acts. While Peter was waiting for what was next after Jesus had been resurrected, he had to do something. He went fishing with some of the other disciples but caught nothing after fishing all night. Seeing Jesus on the shore he admitted his failure to catch anythin...

As Mary stooped to look into the empty tomb, she saw two angels and then turned to see Jesus but didn’t recognize Him. She’s still focused on where the body is but Jesus wanted her to focus on the big picture and to widen her horizons as to who Jesus is. When He spoke her name, she recognized Him and understood, whereby Jesus told her not to cling to Him – both He and she have more to do. She told...

The first day of the week became the “Lord’s day,” due to His resurrection on that day. This became our Sunday. The first person to the empty tomb was Mary Magdalene, a woman who had been demon possessed. This was a reality that would not have helped her to be believable. Her first thought was that Jesus’ grave had been robbed. Next were Simon Peter and John who found the tomb empty as well. Peter...

The Jews wanted to make sure Jesus was off the cross before the Sabbath, and as prophesied, He was already dead before they had to hasten the process by breaking His legs. John wrote this to make it clear that Jesus had actually died and so that the reader would believe. Then, after death, His body was removed by two secret Jewish followers and carefully prepared according to Jewish law. All this...

Crucifixion was one of the most brutal, humiliating punishments of the Roman world, first used by the Persians, and designed to make the victim die slowly and publicly. Jesus took our place on the cross, illustrated by taking the place of Barabbas, a criminal. The Psalm of the cross – Psalm 22 – prophesied all of this a thousand years before, even before crucifixion had been invented.

The basis of life in the Spirit is 1) Our identity in Jesus. Jesus is first in our lives; 2) Our legal standing before God is secure. We are no longer under God's wrath, we've been justified and our debts paid; 3) Our freedom is governed by a higher law of the Spirit of life, as opposed to the law of sin and death; 4) Our living is empowered by the Spirit of Christ Who dwells in us, as opposed to...

Continuing with the “trial”, scourging and condemnation of Jesus, Rory reminds the church that we can’t gloss over this just because we’ve heard it before. There is more to this than what we see on the surface. Jesus is completely humiliated, crowned with thorns and mocked. Pilate had Jesus scourged in the hope the Jews would see His humanity and have compassion on Him – but his vision of the beat...

The book of John enters a dark time, where Jesus is hauled before the Jews and ultimately sentenced to death by the Romans. In this text, Jesus is tried before Pilate, in a trial full of hypocrisy. Here are the Jews, willing to kill the true Passover lamb but unwilling to defile themselves so they can participate in the Passover feast. The real reason they wanted Jesus to appear before the Romans...

Men need to step up and be leaders in three areas - in their marriage, in their home and in their church - and they need to lead as servants. To do this Christ must be first in all aspects of their lives.

This is John’s account of an extreme travesty of justice. The Jews had no case against Jesus but did what they could to get him convicted before Passover. This was in line with what Caiaphas had said about it being better for one man to die for the people, but it was really God who was behind all this. Jesus’ death was required as a sacrifice for the world’s sin.

New associate pastor Chris Cross gives his new family a little background on his life, and then teaches from Ephesians, where Paul reminds the Church that all three persons of the Trinity are working to secure our salvation. Once we have been saved we are completely saved. God chose us – we didn’t do the choosing. We are the desire of His heart: elected, adopted, accepted, redeemed, forgiven, give...

In Chapter 18 the scene shifts from five chapters where Jesus gives encouragement and comfort to his disciples to a time of betrayal, where he purposely goes into the garden to make himself available for arrest after being betrayed by Judas. Even then, as he was confronted by a great crowd, he protected his sheep.

Jesus turns from talking exclusively to His disciples and begins a conversation with the Father. He asks to be glorified so He can glorify the Father, and also prays for His disciples, that they would be kept, full of joy, and set apart from the world, even though He is sending them into the world. He also prays for those who will follow Him in the future – for us! – and for unity and love among b...

An important part of being a Christian is to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Everyone has a spiritual void which causes us to long for God to pour Himself into that void. Being filled once, though, is not enough, as we are “leaky” vessels and have a constant need to be refilled. To accomplish this we need to 1) look to Jesus, 2) be transformed by God’s word, 3) do things that renew our minds, 4) b...

Continuing in the upper room, Jesus knows it’s going to be a long day for the disciples but that their mourning will turn to joy – a joy that can’t be taken. Jesus brings comfort and peace in a way the world can’t. The bad news is that the world offers tribulation. The good news is that Jesus has overcome the world. His death paid our ransom.

As a "part 2" Rory teaches more about the Holy Spirit, who is vitally important in a believer's life for power to be a witness and to live the daily life of a Christian.

Previously in this chapter Jesus taught about the need to abide in Him to bear fruit and about how we need to love one another. Now he pivots from our relationship with one another to our relationship with the world. We are part of the world but must not be conformed to it. We can’t be of the world and still follow God – that is trying to serve two masters. We also need to expect persecution. Jesu...

Still in the upper room, Jesus is giving final instructions to the disciples. A command, not a suggestion, is that they love one another as He has loved them. By this they will lay down their lives one for another and bear fruit, which is what they were chosen to do.

The podcast of Calvary Prineville contains the latest sermons from Pastor Rory Rodgers, and occasionally live recordings of the latest worship service.

The last home group meeting in the park, as Rory continues his teaching in Proverbs. Proverbs 8, as the Bible as a whole, points to the source of wisdom, Jesus.

Against the advice of some, Paul travels to Jerusalem, knowing the dangers that await - a journey similar to Jesus'.