Today we celebrate Good Friday, the day the Lamb of God took away the sin of the world. What a beautiful, terrible day. If it were only for the sorrow and bleakness of it all, we could not call it good. What can possibly be good about an innocent man being ruthlessly beaten and brutally murdered for crimes He did not commit? But because it was Jesus, because it was the Son of God, because He did not stay dead, because we are healed by His stripes, because our peace comes through His chastisement, because our life comes through His resurrection, it is not only good, it is great.

We celebrate, not from some morbid fascination with death, or that we are glad that our Savior had to die, but because our Savior died FOR US! He took MY place on that cross, He bore MY shame on that day, and the nails that pierced His hands and His feet nailed MY sin to that piece of wood, and took them from me forever. That act of selfless, sacrificial love cast my sins as far from me as the east is from the west, and has made me right with God. It is good indeed. No, it is GREAT indeed. Praise You Jesus for Good Friday, thank your or your love for us!

Because we are not having a Good Friday service at Calvary Belmar this year, I highly recommend that you celebrate with your family or friends tonight, buy some juice and crackers and take communion together, remember what Christ has done for us, and celebrate, because it’s GOOD!

Isaiah 53

53 Who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? 2 For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, And as a root out of dry ground. He has no form or comeliness; And when we see Him, There is no beauty that we should desire Him. 3 He is despised and rejected by men, A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.

4 Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted. 5 But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed. 6 All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.

7 He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, And as a sheep before its shearers is silent, So He opened not His mouth. 8 He was taken from prison and from judgment, And who will declare His generation? For He was cut off from the land of the living; For the transgressions of My people He was stricken. 9 And they made His grave with the wicked— But with the rich at His death, Because He had done no violence, Nor was any deceit in His mouth.

10 Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief. When You make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, And the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand. 11 He shall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied. By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many, For He shall bear their iniquities. 12 Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great, And He shall divide the spoil with the strong, Because He poured out His soul unto death, And He was numbered with the transgressors, And He bore the sin of many, And made intercession for the transgressors.

Calvary Belmar - A Church that Loves Jesus in Lakewood, Colorado

Come experience the joy of Easter with us this Sunday, April 8th at Calvary Belmar in Lakewood. This is a great opportunity to reflect and rejoice in what Christ has done for us. We will also have a casual lunch and egg hunt for the kids immediately after Easter service, so stick around!

Our service begins at 10am at our normal location:
1 Garrison St.
Lakewood, CO
80226

Calvary Belmar - A Church that Loves Jesus in Lakewood, Colorado

Join us after our Easter service (Easter Sunday, 10am) for a complimentary community lunch and Easter Egg Hunt!  Join us in Lakewood for this free community event.  All are welcome, so bring your friends! We’ll have great food and activities for the kids as well as a community meal to celebrate Easter. Our service starts at 10am, and we will begin the Egg Hunt and lunch after service.

We will hold the egg hunt at our normal service location:

1 Garrison St. - Lakewood, CO 80226

Calvary Belmar - A Church that Loves Jesus in Lakewood, Colorado

Join us for our Easter service on Sunday, April 8th, 2012 at 10am!

We’ll spend some great time worshipping the Lord and celebrating the resurrection of Jesus, followed by lunch and an easter egg hunt for the kids.

It’s going to be a great time, don’t miss it!

We’ll hold our Easter service at our normal service time and location:

1 Garrison St.
Lakewood, CO
80226

Blessings,
Pastor Nate

Calvary Belmar - A Church that Loves Jesus in Lakewood, Colorado

Men, come join us for a great time of food, fellowship and study this Saturday, February 18th!

Here are the details:

• Saturday, February 18th, 9am
• In Arvada
• If you are interested in coming, please contact us and we’ll get you details!
• If you’d like to carpool from Lakewood, let us know.

Have a blessed day!
Pastor Nate

Calvary Belmar - A Church that Loves Jesus in Lakewood, Colorado

We’ve got some big, exciting changes coming up at Calvary Belmar. As of February 5th, we will be moving our location AND our service time. We will now be meeting at 10am at 1 Garrison St, in the CCU Music Building. This is a great opportunity for us to reach our community on a new level and grow into our own space. I am very excited to see how the Lord will use this for His glory.

For the next two Sundays (Jan. 22 and Jan. 29), we will remain at 8525 W. Alameda and have our 6:30pm service. So, join us Sunday evenings for the next couple weeks, and then join us as we move to our Sunday morning service in February!

Calvary Belmar - A Church that Loves Jesus in Lakewood, Colorado

Join us for our Christmas Eve service!

Christmas Eve in Lakewood, CO! Christmas falls on a Sunday this year, so we get to have our Christmas Eve service on Saturday night. What a blessing to be able to gather and worship our King together on Christmas Eve.

Our service will be at 6:30pm Christmas Eve, Saturday, December 24th, 2011 at the church building in Lakewood.

Join us for a family service as we worship the Lord together, sing some great classic Christmas Carols and celebrate our Messiah.

We will not have our normal service on Sunday, Dec. 25th in celebration of Christmas Day, as we will be having the Christmas Eve service the night before.

Blessings in Christ,
Pastor Nate

Calvary Belmar - A Church that Loves Jesus in Lakewood, Colorado

Finances, work and provision can be such stressful topics can’t they?  Money is often cited as one of the biggest points of contention in marriages, and financial stresses and managing our money can impact all of us, married, single, young and old.

As Christians, we have the hope and promise from God that He will be our provider.  That’s pretty huge when you think about it!  God, the one who created the universe, and sustains it, has promised to be your provider.  Yet for some reason we doubt.  From a purely logical standpoint, the one who created the universe should easily be able to provide for my needs.  After all, He is the one who created me, and the things I need, He can do whatever He wants with them.  It’s easy to agree with that statement in our heads, but we often have a disconnect in our hearts don’t we?

It’s important to remind ourselves of the promises of provision in scripture, and remember that God is the provider, not us.  Yes, you may have a job, and the money that pays your bills may come from that job, but ultimately, God is the one who provides for you.  And He gives you just exactly what you need, nothing more nothing less.  We have the clearest declaration of this promise in Philippians 4:19.

And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. - Philippians 4:19

After reading that statement, you may be saying to yourself “I don’t feel like God is providing for my needs, I was late on this bill last month, or I’m behind on rent, or I can’t afford the things that I think are important in life.” Remember, God has promised to provide for our needs, not necessarily our wants. And in promising to provide for our needs, He is providing not only for our physical needs, but even higher on His priority list is providing for our spiritual needs. Maybe your greatest need right now is to stretch your faith, or for you to learn to live without.

Rest in His promises, knowing that He will give you everything you need.  You are valuable to Him, and he has your very, very, very, very best in mind.

Will you trust Him?

Calvary Belmar - A Church that Loves Jesus in Lakewood, Colorado

The past few weeks at our Sunday night service, we’ve been reading through the first few verses of Romans 12, and discussing how we are called to BE the Church, not just go to church.  We are called to engage in our faith and fill our role in the body of Christ.  Each of us is uniquely gifted, and each of us is vital to the life and function of the Church.

This means that God wants to use each of us as His vessels to accomplish His purposes here on earth, in our Churches and in our workplace, in our schools, and in our world.  For some of us, this is a given, of course God wants to use us, that’s why we’re still here right? But for some, the thought of God wanting to use us sounds pretty crazy. Maybe that’s you right now. You’re sitting there reading this thinking “God really wants to use ME? Doesn’t He know who I am? Doesn’t He know what I’ve done? I don’t have any special gifts or talents, I can’t speak well…” Yes, God wants to use YOU! In fact, if you feel that way, you are the prime candidate to be used by the Lord. You see, God is not in the habit of using exceptionally talented people, He wants to use the ordinary, the unexceptional, the weak, the useless, the boring, the fallen, the broken, and the meek.

God is in the business of showing His glory and His grace. He wants to use those that will give Him the glory for the work He does. What better candidates than those who seem to be insignificant?

Let’s take a quick look at 1 Corinthians 1:26-31.

1 Corinthians 1:26-31 (NKJV) - For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence. But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God—and righteousness and sanctification and redemption— that, as it is written, “He who glories, let him glory in the Lord.”

Yes, you read that right, Paul just said “Look around at us, we’re a bunch of weak, foolish dummies.” God chose to use the weak and foolish things (you and me) to show how great HE is. It’s not about you, it’s about Him. So, can God you even you? Yes, absolutely, and that’s exactly what He wants to do.

“But I’m unqualified to serve God, I didn’t go to seminary, I don’t know the bible very well, I don’t know as much as I should.” That’s fine. God doesn’t call the qualified, He qualifies the called. If you belong to Jesus, you are called, and He will give you the qualification you need to serve. He will equip you by His Spirit to fill your role in the body of Christ. You don’t have to go to seminary to be used by the Lord. In fact, I would go so far as to say that sometimes higher learning for Christians can hinder our effectiveness in spreading the gospel, because we humans naturally tend to lean on our own skills, knowledge and talent rather than the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

So be confident in your calling. The Lord wants to use YOU to proclaim His message of hope to a lost and hurting world. He wants to use YOU to help His body, the Church, function as it should. The less confident you are in yourself, the more room He has to work in you and through you.

So be confident in God. He can and will use you to accomplish His purposes if you will let Him.

2 Timothy 1:6-7 (NKJV) – Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

Calvary Belmar - A Church that Loves Jesus in Lakewood, Colorado

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? - Romans 8:31

God is for you. He’s passionate about you, He’s crazy about you, His thoughts toward you are more numerous than the sand on the seashore. So, if GOD, the fore-knower, the creator, is for you, who can be against you?

Sometimes we can feel like the whole world is against us. Life can seem so crazy and overwhelming, finances aren’t working out, relationships are tough, we struggle against our flesh and to top it all off, maybe you get laid off from your job, or someone you trusted turns their back on you.

Maybe the whole world IS against you. But guess what, it doesn’t matter, GOD is for you. WHAT is all the world compared to the God who created it? What are all the armies of Hell compared to the God who formed them with a word?

God is for YOU.

He loves YOU.

He is on your side. It doesn’t matter what comes your way, God is for you. Nothing has come into your life that has not first passed through His hands. God is working all things together for your good (Rom. 8:28). He will be faithful to complete the work He has started in you (1 Thess. 5:23-24). Will you trust Him? Will you believe Him? Will you stand with Him in the storm?

Be encouraged that the God of the universe is for you today. He wants to accomplish your highest good, and is working everything together for your good. It may not always feel great, but it is being worked together to mold you into the image of Christ.

God is for YOU.

Calvary Belmar - A Church that Loves Jesus in Lakewood, Colorado