Westminster Calvary Chapel

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...

At the end of Acts 8, we see a deacon in charge of bread distribution program who spoke up during persecution as an evangelist, and now is being used on a special assignment. He had been led by God to different areas in his country to proclaim the message about Christ to the people he found himself around. We can take Philips example of witnessing to others for ourselves and the interesting thing...