More Than Bread

Send me a Text Message! Today at Calvary we started a new series, a 50-Day Journey called "The Jesus Way." There's even a devotional guide that goes with it. If you aren't a part of Calvary, you can download it online at https://www.calvarycwow.org/resources -- This is the first message in the series and in-between messages, I'm going to do something in the gospels. For th...

Send me a Text Message! Our God is able to do immeasureably more than anything we could ever ask for or imagine. And not only is He able to do it, I believe He is doing it. So I'm asking for more. With the open heaven's all around us, I'm asking Him for more. I'm asking Him to do more than I can imagine. I want to be part of a move of God that makes it impossible to stay seated...

Send me a Text Message! What does it take for us to persevere, to be a people who never give up? I think Paul would say that it takes a connection, a connection to Jesus and a connection to people. And he would say that it takes prayer, all-prayer. Pray at all times with all kinds of prayer for all people with all perserverance. Don't give up praying and when we pray together, there's ev...

Send me a Text Message! The apostle Paul is writing his friends to help them when they encounter darkness and in a way the first thing he says is this: If darkness is near, heaven isn't far. Dark times are often isolating times. When we go through dark times we begin to believe we are not only alone, but we are far from God. But don't miss God's words, in Paul's words, "Be...

Send me a Text Message! Here is the statement I want to start with so that it saturates you heart, mind and soul for the next 20 minutes or so. The grace God has given you is not just for you. It's His grace and He's asking us to steward His grace. The grace He gives you is not just for, it's for someone else. The question is who? Because there is nothing more amazing than being a c...

Send me a Text Message! Taking a Monday break by posting last weekend's message from Calvary is becoming a habit. But, this one matters to me. Not that other messages don't matter, but this one gave me a sense of hope and expectancy as I worked on it...and a sense of conviction as I spoke it. With all my heart I believe God is inviting us to a year of unforgettable walks. I'm asking...

Send me a Text Message! For 1000's of years Satan has been thumming his nose at God, rejecting and ridiculing the wisdom and the grace of God. But when the grace of God flows (to us and through us) the wisdom of God is made known. Grace has a Cosmic effect. The importance of the church is that it's not just a place where worship services take place, it's a people through whom the pu...

Send me a Text Message! You have a seat at the table, in the heavenlies, with Christ. We've all heard that phrase before, "a seat at the table." We're looking for a seat at the table. When it's used in an organization, it's about having a place, having a voice. Usually when we say we want a seat at the table, it's because we feel we deserve a part; we deserve to...

Send me a Text Message! Ephesians 2 is a tough passage of scripture. But it also contains one of the greatest transformation stories of all time. I was a nobody. I was dead, doomed and  damned -- but God --.  Oh, how I love those two words, "but God." Later on you should circle those words, highlight them, underline them in your Bible.  "I was dead, doomed and damned but God, is so...

Send me a Text Message! I love what Paul Miller writes in his book, "A Praying Life." He writes, "If you are not praying, then you are quietly confident that time, money, and talent are all you need in life. You'll always be a little too tired, a little too busy. But, if like Jesus you realize you can't do life on your own, then no matter how busy, no matter how tired you...

Send me a Text Message! How well do I know God? If there was one and only one question we should ask ourselves as we start a new year...it would be, "How well do I know him?" Jesus once was overheard praying, he said, "Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent." (John 17:3) How well do I know God? Moses spoke with God...

Send me a Text Message! In his book "The Prayer of Jabez" Bruce Wilkinson writes, "To bless in the Biblical sense means to ask for or to impart supernatural favor.  When we ask for God's Blessing, we're not asking for more of what we could get for ourselves. We're crying out for the wonderful, unlimited goodness that only God has the power to give us."  I think t...

Send me a Text Message! In this episode, you will hear Jesus ask a question, that on first hearing, you may be tempted to think, "That's the dumbest question I've ever heard." He walks up to one broken man lying in the midst of hundreds of broken people. They're all laying around a pool because of a legend that when the pool bubbled, the first one in would be healed. Jesus...

Send me a Text Message! In Malachi 3, I believe Malachi, or rather God through Malachi, is trying to tell us that generosity ushers in heaven on earth, that generous people are the people who unwrap heaven.  So in this episode I'll dare you to take a NY's dare to be more generous than you ever thought possible. And actually it's not my dare.  It's God's.  "I dare you...

Send me a Text Message! There is a light that shines in the darkness and in the end, Christmas wins. In the days after Christmas there there’s still darkness and we will still need light. We need the light of hope for the darkness of difficulty. Difficulty didn't take a break over the holidays. We need the light of hope. We need the light of generosity for the darkness of selfishness.  Christ...

Send me a Text Message! For the last episode of Come Lord Jesus, I just want to offer this post-Christmas question. What if Jesus had never come? What if it never happened? What if all we have for Christmas is Santa, elves, and the naughty-nice list. What if there was no Christ in Christmas? What if there were no ripples of heaven on earth that continued to this day? What if Jesus never came?

Send me a Text Message! DON'T LISTEN TO THIS -- If you are going to Christmas Eve services at Calvary Harvest Fields. :) It's not exactly the same, but similar! But if you aren't going to Christmas Eve services at Calvary, I hope that this episode encourages you with the Christmas truth that Jesus is on a mission to bring you home for Christmas!

Send me a Text Message! In this episode, we are going to talk about favor. That's an interesting word isn't it? Favor. It's used multiple times in the Christmas stories. When we think of the word favor, it's usually used in a sentence like this, "Hey would you do me a favor?" When we ask someone to do us a favor we're saying, "You don't owe me. I don&ap...

Send me a Text Message! In the end light wins, darkness loses. Why? Because we have Jesus. He is our Unwavering Certainty in the midst of uncertainty. He is our Sacrificial Savior who covers us in his love when we are prone to fear. He's our Overflowing  Abundance when scarcity whispers,  "Protect what is yours, there’s not enough to go around." He is our Almighty King, our Righteou...

Send me a Text Message! The angels said to the shepherds, "For a savior has been born to you..." That to you was just for them, it includes us. Listen to me, the glory of Christmas is not that  God was born in a mess without a family, it's that He welcomes messy people into his family. This is Jesus' trademark. He wasn't born in a gated community or a palace with guards. H...

Send me a Text Message! I love the iconic manger images of little baby Jesus, but I have to be honest, it's full-grown Jesus with whom I want to be side-by-side. It's the one who stilled the storm, fed the crowd, healed the outcasts and noticed those in the margins of life. It's the one who could gather a crowd but loved you one-on-one. It's the one who riled up the religious l...

Send me a Text Message! Revelation 12 does not describe a merry, little Christmas. Christmas is a holy war, a cosmic battle for the glory of God, with a vicious villian. Like Frodo and his fellowship against Sauron in the Lord of the Rings, or Iron Man against Thanos, even Little Red Riding Hood against the Big Bad Wolf. A cosmic battle agnst the hosts of darkness. We live in a culture that sees e...

Send me a Text Message! I used to pray, God put me in the place where you can use me the best, but these last few years, my prayer has changed, now it’s God put me in the place where you can love me the best. And isn't this what Jesus is saying is the reward of those who have little strength and keep his word and love his name? Yes, sure this is an open door to make a difference.  This is the...

Send me a Text Message! So in this episode and the next we are going to hit the last two letters, but I’m going to deal with them together…because they go well together. They go well together because they both reference a door. The church of Philadelphia has an open door. The church of Laodecia has a closed door. Will this Christmas bring you an open door, or a closed door?

Send me a Text Message! In this episode we will look at two "Christmas" letters, one to Thyatira and one to Sardis. With both churches there is this sense of unfinished business. There's a need to keep progressing, keep growing, keep become more of a force for good and God. With Thyatira, it was a bit more of a commendation and with Sardis it was a bit more of an urgent diagnosis. B...