The beauty of the family of God is how diverse and different we are, but what unites us is Jesus Christ. We all have our unique personality and identity, but when it comes down to it the way Jesus thinks and loves is also the way the church should too. Pastor Ryan challenged the church to be united in a world that is divided. His main point was

This is our first publish of WHY WE SING. The purpose of WHY WE SING is to help you understand the song Biblically so you can worship God more emphatically.

Pastor Ryan poured out and communicated a burden God put on his heart for the church in America. In a nutshell, we’ve been blessed with freedom from sin and death through Jesus’ sacrifice and we’ve been blessed to exercise our faith freely in our great nation. Pastor Ryan was challenged by God that we’ve taken those freedoms for granted and the time to steward them well is now.

Pastor Ryan wrapped up The Essentials series with the importance of being ready at all times for Jesus to return. Maybe you’ve heard the comments or have said them yourself recently… “It feels like Jesus could come back at any moment now.” Pastor Ryan unpacked the Parable of the Ten Bridesmaids (Virgins). Most scholars drive home two major points

Pastor Ryan continued to cover essentials to the Christian faith and things we need to carry on into life as it reopens. COVID 19 sparked a renewal in prayer at Calvary and in our personal lives. Pastor Ryan said we’ve had more time to pray and more things to pray about. It doesn’t mean we all grew in our prayer life, but it definitely rose to greater importance in the church, as a whole.

Pastor Ryan shared the powerful statement that Jesus gave his disciples in a troubling time, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” Jesus was clear, the way to the Father, to God, was through faith in Him. The chaos, confusion, and uncertainty of our nation have us overwhelmed and frustrated. The certainty of Jesus in just one sentence gives us comfort, strength, and clarity in our current world.

Two weeks ago, George Floyd’s death sent shockwaves through our nation and the world. The video of Floyd’s tragic death left everyone in disturbed and angry. No one could believe what they saw occur in Minneapolis. Our nation is hurting and peaceful protests turned to riots. What has bubbled to the surface is in the past few weeks is racism, a sin that needs to be confronted head-on.

The Baptism of the Holy Spirit was so essential to God that Jesus promised it to his disciples. He told His disciples to wait in Jerusalem until they were filled with the power of the Holy Spirit before going out to be witnesses to their surrounding world. The disciples experienced hunger and thirst that caused them to obey and seek the fulfillment of this promised power for ministry.

Today, in 2020, we don’t commemorate Pentecost as if it was a historical power we can only remember. No, the Holy Spirit continues to come and fill all believers who seek this prophetic, promised power from God.

During an interesting week for the church, Pastor Ryan preached about the importance of knowing our true identity as THE Church. When Jesus started THE CHURCH he began it by building people, not a building. Pastor Ryan shared how he grieves that we are not together as the body should be since Jesus started a community of believers known as THE Church.

Hebrews 10:25 says, “And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.” This is a favorite scripture verse for pastors! I’m seeing this scripture being used quite a bit right now and for good reason, we haven’t been able to gather the way we are meant to as the fellowship of believers.