Calvary Assembly of God

The Bible is so full of the amazing promises that come when we allow the Holy Spirit to move in our lives. Things like…

• Anointing for service
• Empowerment for telling other about Jesus
• Answering those who criticize the gospel
• Praying more intimately
• Wisdom
• Growing in Christlike character
• Insight into difficult situations
• Discernment
• Creativity where there was stagnation
• And on and on and on

With all of the blessings that come with the Holy Spirit’s move in our lives, why wouldn’t we pray more frequently, “Come Holy Spirit”?

Beginning this Sunday we will be talking about some of the roles the Holy Spirit plays in the lives of Christians. We hope you can join us each week.

If you miss Pastor Craig’s message to all the moms on Mother’s Day, here is a recap directly from his blog. You can read his daily posts by clicking here.

“To be a mother is the greatest vocation in the world. No being has a position of such great power and influence. She holds in her hands the destiny of nations….” —Hannah Whitall Smith

A great example of this is a woman by the name of Rahab who lived in ancient Jericho. She was doing her best to provide for her family in a very unsavory way: she was a prostitute. Yet this is a woman who is commended for her faith in God (Hebrews 11:31) and her righteous actions (James 2:25).

I know many moms who work hard to provide for their families, sometimes taking jobs that are very difficult and pay a low wage. They still find the time to buy the groceries, fix the meals, do the laundry, help with homework, attend after-school functions, and a million other things. Even after all this they feel inadequate, like they are not quite measuring up to the “best mom” standard.

To those moms, I say this: Look at Rahab, and learn what she learned. Rahab tried to provide for her family too, but when she got to the point where she was completely desperate she turned her family over to God. By helping the young Jewish spies, she turned her back on her countrymen and lost any other options for help. She said, “I believe in God, and I’m willing to trust Him with my family completely” (see Joshua 2:1-13).

As a result, God’s faithfulness to her is something we still are blessed by today. In giving us the genealogy of Jesus Christ, Matthew says this: Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab, Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth, Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of King David (Matthew 1:5-6). Rahab went all-in with God, and is now an indispensable part of the lineage of Jesus Christ!

Here’s the pattern for all moms to follow:

Concern for your family → Your utter reliance on God → The salvation of all in your family who will listen → A legacy of God’s provision and faithfulness

Moms, you have great power and you hold in your hands the destiny of nations, if you will just turn your concerns for your family over to God, and leave them in His loving hands.

Hey, Calvary Assembly of God, how did you do on your 1:one:(12) challenge in April? Hopefully you got your 1 in! Whether you did nor not, May is here, so get started on your 1 for this month. There are lots of great things happening this month, so go get your 1!

For our guests that may not know what 1:one:(12) is all about… just ask us!

We were so honored to be able to present the story of the birth of Jesus in downtown Cedar Springs again this year. We had a nice introduction from Mayor Bob Truesdale, and a great crowd was on had to see this story come alive. I have way too many people to thank, so I hope I don’t leave anyone out…

• Joe built the manger
• Josh, Judy, Samantha, Crystal, Cherie, Jeff, Harrison & Rich were the actors
• Cindy and her 4H kids were our little shepherds
• Nancy brought out her horses
• Claudia and Betsy conceived and designed all our costumes
• The Cedar Springs Chamber of Commerce gave us room on their agenda to present this story
• Brandon shot the video
• God gave us absolutely beautiful weather so a big crowd could hear the story of our Savior being born as a baby because God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son!

One of the things Jesus said about Christians was that we are to be the light of the world. That means we need to be involved in our communities, visible to our neighbors, so the light of Jesus can shine out from us.

That’s just what we did last night for our third annual Light The Night event.

We are so grateful to all of the folks at Calvary who donated candy and prizes, and those who filled hundreds of bags with all that candy, and those who came out to greet our neighbors and run the games. Because of the rainy weather, we moved our event indoors, and so we are extremely thankful to Pastor Mary Ivanov who opened the United Methodist Church’s gym for us to use!

Whether it’s a public event like this or not, we pray you will always let your light shine for Jesus!

(Thank you Delbridge Langdon Jr. for supplying some of our pictures from last night.)

A note from Pastor Craig as a follow up to those who heard this morning’s message.

In a letter to a friend in which he was discussing the same passage we looked at this morning (Romans 12:3-5), C.S. Lewis wrote this —

“I would prefer to combat the ‘I’m special’ feeling not by the thought ‘I’m no more special than anyone else’ but by the feeling ‘Everyone is as special as me.’ In one way there is no difference, I grant, for both remove the speciality. But there is a difference in another way. The first might lead you to think, ‘I’m only one of the crowd like anyone else.’ But the second leads to the truth that there isn’t any crowd. No one is like anyone else. All are ‘members’ (organs) in the Body of Christ. All different and all necessary to the whole and to one another: each loved by God individually, as if it were the only creature in existence. Otherwise you might get the idea that God is like the government which can only deal with the people in the mass.” (emphasis added)

You ARE so special… to God and to me! Thank you for being a part of the Body of Christ, and a part of Calvary Assembly of God. I ♥ my church!

This award is recognition from our fellowship that Calvary Assembly of God is growing up. The award says that we have achieved the highest level of recognition in our fellowship.

While we are extremely honored to have come this far, we recognize that we haven’t “arrived” yet. Not by a long shot! If we could paraphrase what Paul wrote to the church in Philippi, we would say,

Brothers, we do not consider ourselves yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing we do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, we press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called us heavenward in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:13-14).

So we humbly accepted this recognition, but we are pressing on for all that God has for Calvary Assembly of God!

The church in Acts 2 was one of whom everyone spoke favorably. In other words, if they used bumper stickers, people would be spotting “I ♥ My Church” stickers all over town.

We still try to live this way. We want to be a church that is known for loving people and serving our community. So people say “I ♥ Calvary Assembly of God!”

These coffee mugs and t-shirts help us remember how we’re supposed to live. They are available at Calvary Assembly of God during our regular Sunday and Wednesday services. Or you may click here to order via email.

The coffee mugs are $5 each, and the t-shirts are $10 each.