Calvary Evangelical Free Church

Calvary Evangelical Free Church · calvaryefree.church

Listen to our latest weekly messages from Calvary Evangelical Free Church located in Rochester Minnesota. Find and watch the corresponding sermon video in our Calvary Sermon Archive, https://www.calvaryefree.church/sermons/ or on our YouTube channel, https://www.youtube.com/@calvaryefcrochester Calvary’s Mission is to glorify God by making disciples of Jesus who live out passion for Christ and compassion for people. Learn more about Calvary at https://www.calvaryefree.church/im-new/ and view what we believe at https://www.calvaryefree.church/about/mission-values-beliefs/

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Episodes 81

God’s Testimony
7d ago · 33:58
It is God’s argument, based on the facts of history and the confirming work of the Holy Spirit, that faith in Jesus Christ alone secures for us eternal life. Well, it’s good to be back with you, church. My family and I had a wonderful time away in Michigan over the last few weeks. I had an opportunity to teach middle school kids for a week at camp. So that was interesting. That was fun. Our kids had a chance to serve at camp, which was fun. They taught handcrafts and washed dishes and things like that. We parasailed for the first time. I don’t know if you’ve ever done that before, but that wei
Believe and Live
14d ago · 36:01
Josh Laack explores why the Christian life must be lived out by believing what God has revealed, and obeying His commands for our lives. Good morning, Calvary. My name is Josh Laack, and I have the joy and honor of serving as your elder board chair. And I also have the joy of being a part of the preaching team here at Calvary. And over the last little bit here this summer, we’ve been going through together this series in First John called Walk in the Light. When you hear the phrase walk in the light, what comes to your mind? For me, I think of the long journey that I took in my own life, towar
You’ve Got to Love Both
21d ago · 38:56
The same God who demands our love, commands us to love our brothers and sisters. Good morning everybody. Thank you very much for being here. Those that don’t know me, my name is Steve Ansell, and I’m part of the preaching team through the summer this year. Now, if you’ve been coming in the last few weeks, you know that we’re going through the book of First John. And today we’ve gotten to chapter four and we have two verses, verse 20 and 21. And if you see, the title is You’ve Got to Love Both. So you might be sitting there and going, love, I think we’ve done love a few times already this summe
Confident Love
28d ago · 26:40
We can confidently stand before the judgement seat of God because His perfect love paid in full the punishment we deserved. If you have your Bibles, you can open up to First John chapter four, First John four, verses 18 and 19. That’s what we’ll be in this morning. And as you turn there, I’d like to share a little story with you. Before we had cell phones where you would take videos and pictures of all your memories, this is what my parents used. This is an RCA camcorder. This was shoulder-mounted because it was so heavy. It’s like a rocket launcher, right? You would just, you carry this, and
Mutual Indwelling
1mo ago · 36:26
The Christian life is a life of mutual indwelling – God in us, and us in God. Having a saving faith in Christ is something that radically transforms us because it changes us in two profound ways; it moves us into a position of abiding in the Triune God, and it results in God abiding in us. It’s great to be with you this morning. If you don’t know me, my name is Jamie Robinson. I’m the worship pastor here. Usually I’m leading worship, but this morning I just got to sit in the congregation and enjoy worshiping alongside you. I’m so grateful for the worship team that we have here, all the volunte
Love Embodied
1mo ago · 29:23
Because God embodied love by sending His son, we must love others. Good morning, Calvary. Christ is risen. Amen. Some of you might be looking up here saying, you know, I thought it was hazy this morning, but that does not look like Pastor Kyle. And you would be correct. I’m Jason O’Grady. I’m one of the elders here at Calvary. I also have the privilege of being on the teaching team. You see, Pastor Kyle, in addition to his fantastic preaching and being able to divide the word of truth, he also loves to train up others to preach as well. And so I’m grateful to be able to do that. I have to be h
Spiritual Leading and Misleading
1mo ago · 33:49
As careful Christians, we must assess the information we hear about God by comparing it to God’s revealed word, so that we know whether the source is reliable. Well, I was talking to a friend one time about spiritual matters. She was an actress alongside me in a play that I was in. And this was many years ago. And she was telling me about how she was part of the Unitarian Universalist group that was in town. If you’re not familiar, Unitarian means that God is a single entity. They chose this word to directly oppose the Trinitarian view of God as the Bible teaches. Universalist means that every
God is Greater Than Our Heart
1mo ago · 35:35
For those of us who have had our hearts transformed by the grace of Christ, God’s Spirit must and will break our resistance to his commands. Well, we’re about halfway through our series in First John. How’s everybody doing? You doing okay? As I said at the beginning, First John is near the top of the list of the most personally challenging books of the Bible. Spiritual challenge is found throughout this book. And that’s because from beginning to end, John relentlessly stays on the topic of how to know your own heart. The reason he’s writing to the church is to prevent them from falling prey to
Love One Another
2mo ago · 25:56
Our love for fellow believers, or the lack of the same, has eternal consequences. Good morning. Forty-five years ago, on May 17th, those of you that are Norwegian know the significance of that date, I preached my first sermon at Calvary. Calvary was a lot smaller then. We met in southeast Rochester we had about 150 people who attended on a regular basis. And I was actually a pastor at the time, a small church in southeast Minnesota. And we did what was called a pulpit exchange, where the pastors went to a different church to preach for that particular Sunday. So, I was invited to preach here a
The Practice of Sin
2mo ago · 35:44
Those who are a new creations in Christ, who are born again by the grace of God, will live in repentance and righteousness. Those who only claim to be Christians, but are not actually transformed by God’s grace, will be exposed by their sin. Well, I’ve talked to a lot of you who have become part of Calvary in the last few years. And sometimes I’ll ask, what made you decide that Calvary was the place for you? And almost to a person, the answer has something to do with how carefully and seriously we handle the Bible. And I’m glad we’re known for that. I’m glad this. This church is known for its
Children of God
2mo ago · 35:35
To understand ourselves better, our future better, and our God better, we must abide in the Lord. Why abide? Because Jesus is coming back! Well, good morning church, and good to be with you today. I was having a chat. He doesn’t know I’m about to say this. I was having a chat with my friend Philip recently, and we were talking about this truth. Parents of young children, I listen up, I want to help save you some money. Your kids don’t care where you travel in the world, so long as there’s a pool. Right. See, when I was growing up, my dad was a teacher and therefore had, you know, a modest sala
Abide
3mo ago · 33:12
Since God has anointed us with his Holy Spirit, we must remain obedient to the instruction of the Holy Spirit, as he leads us with the unchanging gospel, so that we’re not deceived by error. Earlier this year, a leader in a progressive, theologically liberal so-called church denomination was speaking at an event for their group. And she made headlines because in her speech, she paused and said, this is a very dangerous thing I’m about to say now, which is helpful, because what she was about to say is near the top of the list of the most heretical things that can be said. It was dangerous. It’s
Wolves in Shepherd’s Clothing
3mo ago · 37:16
John shows how to deal with false teachers by broadening our common conception of the antichrist, reassuring believers of the supernatural reality of their faith, and building a framework for discernment of false teachers. So I’m going to read from 1 John chapter two, verses 18 to 25, which is what we’ll be discussing today together. I say discussion. It’s a sermon. Don’t answer unless it’s rhetorical, especially goes out to my children, who out of force of habit, will no doubt talk over me at some point. And security, if you could just keep an eye out for them, actually. Carry them away at th
Do Not Love the World
3mo ago · 33:00
The difference between remaining firm in Christ or being swept away by sin is determined by what you love, so you cannot love the world. Well, we’re getting to the point in our series in First John, when you will start to see some of the preaching team up here on Sunday mornings. And I am excited for you to hear the sermons that these guys have been preparing. We got together yesterday for our second workshop to share outlines with each other. And it was just a great time of learning together. A couple of months ago, we used the passage that I am preaching this morning as a group exercise. So
This Is Who You Are
3mo ago · 34:05
As followers of Jesus, we have a new identity in Christ. If you trust Jesus, this is who you are. There will not be a sing-along this week. I was asked if we could do the whole album this week. That would be something, wouldn’t it? I think the elders would want a word with me if we did the whole album. No, we will not be singing this morning in the sermon. But strangely, we will be looking this morning at the portion of First John that is most like a song. For the last four weeks, we have been carefully exploring John’s magnificent instructions for determining the state of your own soul. His s
Loving Our Brother
3mo ago · 33:28
Deep, dedicated, Christ-like love for brothers and sisters in Christ is the most visible characteristic of saving faith. You cannot carry around hate and anger and have any confidence you actually know Christ. All right. How many of my fellow 90s kids have been on YouTube in the last couple of weeks to listen to In the Light, huh? I know you’re out there, I know. By the way, for those of you who do not fit that very narrow demographic that I’m talking about, there was a band called DC Talk that released one of the best-selling Christian albums of all time back in 1995 called Jesus Freak. And o
Christ Our Advocate
4mo ago · 35:38
The goal is not to sin. But if we do sin, we can trust in Jesus and all he has accomplished for us on the cross, provided that we walk with him. Well, I hope you’ve enjoyed our study of chapter one of First John. It’s a passage of scripture that I find myself returning to over and over again as a pastor, particularly in counseling situations. It’s one of the most helpful diagnostic and self-diagnostic tools that we have in the Bible. It’s like that intake form that you that you fill out before you go to a doctor’s appointment. It doesn’t contain all the procedures and all the medicine for deal
Paths of Light and Darkness
4mo ago · 31:06
Because God is entirely light, with no darkness of sin in his character, we must identify, repent, and rid ourselves of all sin. In his book, The Knowledge of the Holy, A.W. Tozer wrote, what comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us. So, if Tozer came over to your house this afternoon for lunch and he wanted to get to know you very early in that conversation, he would have you describe the thoughts that come into your mind when you think about God. Now, you might think that he’d get to know you better if he asked about your family or your career. What a
The Life Made Manifest
4mo ago · 33:45
If you put your trust in Christ, you will be united in fellowship with God the Father, God the Son, God the Spirit, and with all of God’s people for eternity. Well, that was some Easter, wasn’t it? Wow. What a joyous and God glorifying time all together. Just as one big church family together. People keep coming up to me and thanking me for putting in so much extra work to make it happen. Full disclosure I did one third of the work that I normally do on a Sunday morning. The sun was already up when I got out of bed on Easter Sunday morning. That never happens for me on any Sunday. Okay, so I d
I Have Seen the Lord
4mo ago · 33:14
Mary’s first encounter with Jesus is a beautiful picture of the restored relationship we have with God when we put our hope in the resurrected Christ. How could she have the honor to be the first to see the Lord? A woman like her. She was a Jewish woman from means, but not of stature. From a prosperous and quite religious fishing town of Magdala. You would have thought that she would be regarded highly among her people, but the demonic presence in her life made her an outsider, tormented, unclean, separated from the community. That was until the day that another Galilean came to town to preach
Son of Man
4mo ago · 19:31
Couldn’t God have accomplished all his goals, including forgiving us as sinners, without the pain and trauma of the cross? Tonight we gather as a church in spiritual unity with believers all over the world to celebrate the central tenet of our faith. If you look at a fire, you’ll see blue, orange, yellow flames rising to the sky. What you’re seeing is the fire that has cooled. It emanates from a center where the flame is so hot that it’s clear or white. The visible flame is the product. It shoots out in many directions from a much hotter source. Tonight, we as the church are the visible flame
Finally: God’s Permanent Answer to Our Greatest Need
5mo ago · 39:24
Through the blood of Christ, God has finally provided a permanent answer for our greatest need. We are a church located in Rochester, Minnesota. Our Mission is to glorify God by making disciples of Jesus who live out passion for Christ and compassion for people. Learn more at www.calvaryefree.church Well, I have the honor of introducing this morning my good friend Brian Farone. Brian serves as the superintendent of the North Central District of the EFCA, which is our district. And actually, you all probably have good reason to thank Brian later, if you see him after the service, because I firs
The Brutal Cross
5mo ago · 33:42
When we understand what Jesus truly suffered, we have a more accurate understanding of both the ugliness of our sin and the cost of God’s grace to save us from it. Well, in just two weeks, we’ll be celebrating the resurrection of Jesus on Easter Sunday morning together. There are two things that I cannot stress to you enough about this. The first is that Easter is a fantastic time to invite a friend to come to church who may not know the Lord. While it’s true that fewer non-Christians feel comfortable attending church services, Easter Sunday still holds some sway in our culture, and I can assu
Possible with God
5mo ago · 33:05
To inherit eternal life with Jesus forever, we need to set aside and sacrifice anything in our lives that would prevent us from following him whole-heartedly. I’m not sure if I’ve ever explained the graphic for our sermon series in the Gospel of Luke. You can see it’s shaped like a flip book with different colors corresponding to different parts of the book. Yellow is for the birth narrative. Blue is for the section of Jesus baptism in preparation for ministry. Orange is for Jesus public ministry, which began in Luke 4:14 and has been going ever since. So, that’s two chapters of birth, two cha
Let the Children Come
6mo ago · 32:49
Children should come to Jesus because everyone must come to Jesus like children. Well, our passage this morning is unique because of how much we already are on Jesus side on this one. We’re on his side of the argument, and that doesn’t happen very much in the Bible. Usually, when I read something that Jesus says, I find it to be deeply challenging because of how far away I am from it, and how far I am from living it out correctly. Jesus says anger is murder. Uh oh. That’s not good for me. He says lust is adultery in your heart. He says you can’t serve God and money. Be perfect as your heavenly

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Episodes 81

God’s Testimony

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You’ve Got to Love Both

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Mutual Indwelling

Love Embodied

Spiritual Leading and Misleading

God is Greater Than Our Heart

Love One Another

The Practice of Sin

Children of God

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Do Not Love the World

This Is Who You Are

Loving Our Brother

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Paths of Light and Darkness

The Life Made Manifest

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Episodes 81

God’s Testimony

Believe and Live

You’ve Got to Love Both

Confident Love

Mutual Indwelling

Love Embodied

Spiritual Leading and Misleading

God is Greater Than Our Heart

Love One Another

The Practice of Sin

Children of God

Abide

Wolves in Shepherd’s Clothing

Do Not Love the World

This Is Who You Are

Loving Our Brother

Christ Our Advocate

Paths of Light and Darkness

The Life Made Manifest

I Have Seen the Lord

Son of Man

Finally: God’s Permanent Answer to Our Greatest Need

The Brutal Cross

Possible with God

Let the Children Come