The unlikely and gloriously ordinary men that Jesus called to be His Apostles were transformed by His great love. But one of the Apostles missed out on that transformation. He never saw the resurrected Jesus or received the indwelling power and presence of the Holy Spirit. Though he wrestled with remorse, he never repented. In the end, his sin and …

By Allan Benson

As we continue our study of the Apostles, we turn our attention to a group of lesser-known Apostles. Though they aren’t mentioned much in Scripture, Jesus chose these three young men from His disciples to be His apostles: James the son of Alphaeus; Judas (not Iscariot), who was also called Lebbaeus and Thaddaeus; and Simon the Cananite, who was als…

As we considered Thomas and Matthew, we again see the kinds of people God calls to follow Him. Thomas was a realist who was often perceived as a pessimist. Matthew was a notorious tax collector—a traitor to the Israelites. But we see that Jesus looks beyond those attributes and changes them from the inside out. Maybe you feel like you say the wrong…

By Calvary Chapel Eldoret

Philip and Bartholomew were Apostles of Jesus. They were also real people—just like us. And just like us, Jesus loved them so much that He received them just as they were. But Jesus loves us too much to leave us as we are. He fined-tunes, harnesses, and focuses the best parts of our personalities while He alters, transforms, and changes those parts…

For the past several Sundays, we’ve been looking at portraits of the people Jesus chose to be His followers. They were the unlikely ones—real people with failures and flaws who encountered Jesus and were impacted by His ministry. They were compelled to follow Him. Then, the cross happened. Their hopes and dreams of Jesus being their Messiah were da…

Pontius Pilate would have been intrigued to hear that Jesus was calling Himself the King of the Jews—or at least that was what the Jewish religious rulers were counting on. They hoped the claim would cause Pilate to do what they wanted. Of course, they would have handled the matter by stoning Jesus, but only the Romans could carry out capital punis…

By Calvary Chapel Eldoret

Palm Sunday commemorates the Triumphal Entry of Jesus into the city of Jerusalem. It wasn’t necessarily how Jesus entered the city (riding on a donkey) that made it a triumph, but how He allowed Himself to be publicly hailed as the Messiah. When Jesus saw the city, He wept over it (Luke 19:41-44) because the people didn’t realize that God was comin…

By Calvary Chapel Eldoret

When Jesus considered sending out ministry workers into the harvest, He chose and sent a rag-tag bunch of young men from Galilee to radically change the world. Young men like James and John—two brothers with a reputation for retribution. They were sectarian, zealous, and ambitious, known informally as the “Sons of Thunder,”… yet they were changed e…

By Calvary Chapel Eldoret

Over 10 days in March of 2025, a small group of faithful servants traveled over 650 miles to 7 cities in 3 different countries to bring the hope of the Gospel to multitudes of refugees from Ukraine who have been displaced from the war. They had countless conversations, gave lots of hugs, shed many tears, and laughed many laughs. In the places they …

By Calvary Chapel Eldoret

By Calvary Chapel Eldoret

We are confronted daily with headlines about wars, famines, earthquakes, tsunamis, terrorists, disease, and death. If God existed, surely He would not allow these things to exist or to continue…or would He? And if so, why? Couldn’t He prevent some of these things? Couldn’t He have made a better world? Guest speaker Charlie Campbell answers these an…

By Calvary Chapel Eldoret

This past Sunday, we continued our study of the twelve ordinary men Jesus called to be His apostles and focused our attention on Andrew. Although we read more about his older brother (Simon Peter) God knew that this quiet, bold, faithful, and humble man would be willing to do what God had called him to—the good work of The Good Shepherd. There are …

By Calvary Chapel Eldoret

By Calvary Chapel Eldoret

Jesus, fully God and fully man, is still only one man. He knows that the opportunities for pastoral ministry are endless, but those willing to partner in the work with Him are few. He instructed His disciples to pray that more workers would be sent into His harvest. When these ordinary people prayed, they probably thought that God would send expert…

By Calvary Chapel Eldoret

All of us are called to glorify God in all that we do—no matter the specific call God has for our life. Whether you’re an artist, teacher, banker, plumber, or pastor, God’s call on your life is no less holy and no more sacred than anybody else’s call. The key to bringing God glory is seeing our calling as from Him and for Him. It’s for Him that we …

At the sight of the multitude, Jesus was moved with compassion because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd (Matthew 9:36). This was specific language God used in the Old Testament to describe His people. Jesus is the Good Shepherd that God promised to do the good word of feeding, tending, and seeking and saving the lost.…

Have you ever had a situation where you’ve tried every option and exhausted every resource? And yet, there seems to be a two-year-old in all of us that still says, “I can do it myself!” Eventually, our self-sufficiency and pride disappear when circumstances deplete our strength and resources so that nothing is left but to cry out to Jesus. Though H…

God chose to pour new wine into new wineskins. He decided to pour the person and power of the Holy Spirit into the most unlikely of vessels. But why? So that no one could boast and God alone would get all the glory. In this way, the adventure of the Great Commission could be available to anyone that Jesus would call to follow Him—even if that perso…

Jesus’ words & actions confounded the religious leaders around Him. After all, Jesus was eating with sinners, ministering to sinners, forgiving sinners, healing sinners, and (worst of all) calling sinners to be His followers. The religious leaders thought they were already righteous. They could not comprehend in their self-righteous hearts how the …

There are storms in life. Whether external or internal, there are moments where we feel hopeless to do anything about the circumstances we face. But Jesus has authority over the storms, whether from without or within. Sometimes He rebukes the storm, sometimes He calms the storm, and sometimes He does neither. Yet through it all, we learn that Jesus…

There is a stark contrast between someone hired to say something and a good shepherd—someone who has something to say because they live in awe and wonder about the God they love, serve, and believe in. They speak with authenticity, authority, and simplicity as they serve others with what they have learned and long to give away. The people of Capern…

By Calvary Chapel Eldoret

What is your part in the body of Christ? What is it that God has given you so you can build up others and love your neighbor in this fellowship? Only you and the Lord can answer that question. But whatever it is, it is essential that you “take heed to the ministry which you have received in the Lord that you may fulfill it.” (Colossians 4:17)…

On the first Sunday of the year, we review the history, vision, purpose, and practice of Refuge to answer these questions: What are we doing? Why are we doing it? What does it look like? We turn to the Bible to find the answers to those important questions so we can understand God's vision for His church.…

By Calvary Chapel Eldoret

By Calvary Chapel Eldoret

At the end of Matthew 9, Jesus saw the crowds around Him and had compassion on them “because they were confused and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.” (Matthew 9:36). It’s this compassion that led Him to encourage His disciples to ask God to send more workers to share the Good News. In the very next chapter, Jesus sent His disciples as those…

By Dominic Dinger

By Calvary Chapel Eldoret

“The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God…” (Mark 1:1) As 21st Century Gentiles, it's difficult for us to grasp just how dangerous, subversive & controversial it would be to write these important words. But when you consider the backstory of the man God used to write them, you can see why he had the courage, the passion & the urg…

The birth story of Jesus in the Gospel of John isn’t easy to find. There’s no list of names like in Matthew. There’s no heavenly host addressing shepherds as in Luke. But it’s still there! Because John highlighted how Jesus is God, we need to rethink what a birth story for God would look like.By Dominic Dinger

The world has a common saying: “I’ll believe it when I see it.” But is this always the best way to see? Must we always insist on seeing something before we’re willing to believe it has happened? Or is there a better way? Jesus met a man of faith who believed without needing to see. This man exemplified faith, love, and trust. He understood authorit…

As Jesus descended from the mountain where He delivered His sermon, He interacted with a leper. In the parallel passage in Luke 5, we read of another interaction Jesus had with a different man named Peter. While the leper struggled with his external condition, Peter struggled with his internal condition. However, there are similarities in their str…

Jesus wasn’t just a self-help guru sharing practical advice on how to get through life. Those who heard Jesus sensed the Holy Spirit stirring up their spirits as the ministry of the word happened. Something significant and important occurs when the Spirit of God works through the Word of God in the hearts of the People of God.…

Jesus ended His Sermon on the Mount with three warnings and this past Sunday, we considered Jesus’ third warning about faulty foundations. It’s a warning about merely listening to His words without actually doing what He said. Listening to Jesus can’t save you. Hearing sermons (in a building or on a mountain) can’t save you. You have to do what Jes…

You can’t just declare yourself a Christian. You must be born again. If you have been truly born again, there will be a transformation—you will become a new creation. There will be evidence of a genuine conversion that Jesus calls ‘fruit.’ In last week’s study, we considered Simon in Acts 8. Whether Simon was a genuine believer has been debated for…

Near the end of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus gives His disciples three dire warnings concerning false prophets, false professions, and faulty foundations. In our last study, we thoughtfully considered those who present themselves as sheep but are inwardly ravenous wolves. We see an example of a false prophet and a false profession in Simon the ma…

Jesus warned His disciples about false prophets who would look like them but were not His. They are not sheep but ravenous wolves. Jesus wasn’t using poetic language to make a point. There are some who look like Christians, talk like Christians, and walk like Christians, but are not Christians and intentionally prey upon Christians. So how do we kn…

Being a dedicated disciple of Jesus is impossible in our strength and with our resources. Even with all of the effort and human willpower we can muster, we will find ourselves lacking what’s required to do what God calls us to do. That’s why we need to cry out to God for His help continually. We must continually ask. We must continually seek. And w…

Jesus's words about judging are some of the most quoted, but they are also some of the most misunderstood. Jesus then talks about pieces of wood in peoples’ eyes, jewelry, and animals, which may explain the misunderstandings. But as we press into what Jesus says, we hear His heart around this important issue and things start to make sense.…

Our way of handling worry leads to hoarding, coveting, and even more worrying. When we try to manage worry in our own way, it ultimately leads to life-taking bondage. But God has a better way—one that gives life. God’s way is the antidote to our way. And in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus provides us with the antidote to reestablish the right order …