Westminster Calvary Chapel

Over the years of pastoring, I’ve learned that fellowships change as God rotates His flock. Some people follow God & others don’t! Either way, God is the one who makes the adjustments as He sees fit. Here’s what it looks like practically, every year we provide & encourage a Bible reading program at the start of 2024 we provided a 2-year plan which is incorporated into the church app. So far, we’ve...

John continues on with the third test on how a child of God should understand the balance between the assurance God gives us and the warnings He lays out! We’ve been told repeatedly that God is love and we’ve also been instructed that because God is love we too should love! So what does that love look like?

What makes our faith in Jesus Christ genuine? In this section of 1 John we can understand that it’s not just that we say we’re believers, but that we act out our faith. John repeatedly says You’ve already heard this. Yet, as the aged Apostle he tells them to live out the message Jesus gave by loving each other! Challenges to our love comes from those close to us. Just like when Cain murdered his b...

Today we’re going to look at John 15 and the verse Jesus spoke to us during our week of prayer & fasting. In spite of all the hardships we encountered in 2023, God wants us to know that we’re a chosen people with His blessing for bearing lasting fruit! This truth is so simple we can overlook the fragrance of grace He is showering us with.

As we walk with the Lord, we learn that there are seasons He has ordered for our lives. Each one perfect in its time. We learn to celebrate the work of God in the timing of God! As a church, from time-to-time we remember the past by re-calling the miracles along the way. Here’s a sample of 1-year. 

On Christmas people are open to hear about Jesus & the Christmas Story. In fact, some learn that Jesus is NOT a fairy tale in a make-believe world. For the first time some people learn of the kindness of God apart from man-made religion. The gospel of Matthew ells us that Jesus came to everyday people, people who were hurting & had problems. The point is, God gives hope where HOPE is missing!

When Jesus ministered, He always brought people to a decision point. In Matthew 7 we’re coming to the end of the Sermon on the mount and as He closes, Speaking to the multitude, Jesus brings the crowd of people to a decision point. We have a choice on how we will individually respond to what Jesus taught & how HE speaks to us today. And by way of application, today’s message will focus on things t...

In this chapter we see God’s plan continue to unfold. There’s a few difficult conversations approaching. One with Jacobs brother, Esau, from 20-years earlier. When a family meltdown left emotions high and anger boiling over! The second conversation is with God as desperation leaves Jacob grasping for help. He’s in a conflict between faith & fear as the past catches up with him. God was using it as...

The bigger picture of 1 John is focused on counterfeit Christians who were trying to convince genuine Christians that a person could be saved and still practice sin. In chapters 1&2 John focused on the test of “fellowship.” Because the talk of believers was not matching the lives of believers. We’ve learned when a person says they’re a Christian it’s biblically sound to expect fruit. It’s the evid...

God has a plan that He’s working out. And in part of His plan we may sense something is happening. Tonight, in God’s unfolding plan, a course change happens as Jacob is being re-routed back to his home town after 20-years of being away. As we begin this study, may we recognize the people in Biblical history is ordinary people with natures just like yours. We can understand in this chapter, God was...

As we study the bible, we quickly learn there are two-types of storms God uses in the life of His people (Instructive & Corrective). Instructive Storms are storms to develop our faith and come as God allows difficulty into our lives. They occur as we’re in the middle of God’s will for our lives. These storms can fall on us out of nowhere! Corrective Storms are storms God brings to get our attentio...

Many of you know that we've dealt with some hardship over the past few weeks, yet we've seen God's steady hand of faithfulness through it all. As we look to the scriptures, we know the Psalmist, David, was a man after God's own heart but still had struggles of his own. From family problems with his kids, to committing adultery, and even problems with pride. David prayed for God to give him an "und...

Jacob is running from his brother Esau and he’s fleeing from Beersheba, 450-miles to the north, to his mother’s brother (Laban) in Haran. On the first night of his journey God appeared to him in a dream. Jacob responds to God’s promises by committing to honoring God with all of his increase. It’s such a beautiful thing when a person begins to grow in the Lord and the lights come on. That’s what’s...

In our text today, John has a strong encouragement for the church: "remain in fellowship with Christ" (NLT). But how do we do this? Pastor Jeff will teach us what this looks like by taking a detour and pulling out practical instruction from Colossians 3. We are taught what this looks like as a church and it begins with getting rid of old practices and putting in place new spiritual values.

John circles back to the “little children,” those who are NEW to the faith. He sets the urgency of the hour with two critical lessons for the church: It’s “the last hour” & the signs of “the last hour.” He warns for the Antichrist and also many Antichrist. But He’s warning the church to not be deceived by those who are claiming Christ, but are lying with their lifestyle. Because when doctrine is d...

It’s important to grasp the contemporary issues within this chapter because Jacob’s decisions on the road of life are just like ours! We’ve seen a man engage in family drama, pressure, strife, manipulating. The very actions, attitudes, & emotions we wrestle with. Commentators say that Jacob is a great picture of just being human! I think he’s a perfect display because his encounter with God leads...

We live in an age where many people know about Christ & claim to be saved but their lives don’t reflect faith. John has been teaching the church that profession without proof IS A LIE! While he’s speaking to the family of Christ, we see he identifies three portions of believers. In this section of verses, we see the family make up & get a strong warning. 

Today, John’s giving us the foundational test of what genuine Christian fellowship looks like thru doctrine and morals, which is the application of truth! John loved the church and he wanted them to be health & maturity that their lives would have purpose & be full of joy. He’s not teaching us to be directed to a set of religious standards. Rather, that we’re being called into relational standards...

In today’s study, the Bible focuses in on Isaac as we see his faith over an extended period of time. When he was faced with a famine, God wanted Isaac to stay in the promised land This type of story is repeated throughout the Bible and our lives. In the end, it was devastating decision that took a decade before the full consequences to played out. God wants us to know that growth in the Christian...

When I was a new believer my friend Kevin from San Diego modeled generosity perfectly to me. He didn’t lecture he demonstrated Biblical truth with his life and I caught on to it. He showed me how generosity works by living it. So, over the years, I’ve learned that the Christian life is more often caught than taught! It's during moments of fellowship many Bible truths are absorbed as we see other b...

Today we introduce a new study through the epistle of 1 John. Why? Because his aim was to anchor in the church with simple truth so that fellowship with God was maintained! John was writing to deepen the spiritual life of the church. The three main points throughout 1 John is Fullness of joy, Freedom from sin, Assurance of salvation. Wouldn’t we all like more of that in our life?

After we read about Saul’s conversion, God recorded the very practical advancement of ministry. We have a picture of an older believer wrestling to obey God (Ananias) as he steps out to serve a younger believer - Saul. Saul was 28 - 31 yrs. old at this point. Some think this Ananias was a leader in the church at Damascus at the time. With a simple observation we learn in vv.10-12 God was at work o...

Chapter 25 backtracks a little to give us a few more details about the family of Abraham after Sarah’s death. Abraham lived another 38-years after Sarah died and he got married again – to a woman named Keturah. There's a powerful observation here, because we see the lasting effects of the hand of God on Abrahams “reproduction system." It lasted beyond Sarah’s death - He’s having kids at 140 years...

After leading the Israelites for 12 years, Nehemiah had to go leave to Babylon for a short season. When he returned he found the people of God drifted into error and compromised by returning to faithless living. When you stop listening to God's Word, you start living in opposition to God’s will. In this chapter, we even see Nehemiah reference the "mixed multitude" which speaks of those who wanted...

We move into the Next Generation as Isaac takes center stage while God continues the promise of blessing Abraham and his descendants. This is a transition chapter where we Abraham implementing a plan to employ his head servant to find a bride for Isaac. Perhaps it sounds strange, but if parents were more involved in character evaluation we would have less divorce. Let's mine out of this chapter a...