Calvary Chapel Of Lafayette, Louisiana

The story is told about an old farmer, back in the days before electricity, who watched one night as his hired hand left work to go and see his girlfriend. And he was carrying with him a lantern to light his path. The old farmer kidded his hired hand saying, “When I went a-courtin’ I never carried one of them things. I went in the dark. “Yes,” the hired man said slyly, “and look at what you got.” That humorous […]

While some news outlets are saying medical researchers are on the verge of finding a cure for cancer, oncologists are saying otherwise. One doctor puts it this way, “Although many cancers are being cured, there will never be a magic bullet pill that cures all cancer. The problem with finding a cure for cancer is that cancer is hundreds of diseases, caused by different things, so that no one strategy or treatment can cure them all.” In our study in […]

Perhaps you have heard the story of the man who went to the doctor’s office and the doctor told him, “I have some bad news and some very bad news for you.” The patient responded, “Give me the bad news first.” The doctor said, “The bad news is that you don’t have but 24 hours to live!” “Wow!” the patient said, “What’s the very bad news?” The doctor then told him, “I’ve been trying to reach you since yesterday!” One […]

Back in the early part of the Nineteenth Century, Crowfoot, the chief of the Siksika Nation, gave the railroad an easement through Indian land in southern Alberta, Canada. The railroad in turn gave Crowfoot a lifetime pass to travel anywhere the Canadian Pacific Railroad went. But Crowfoot never once used the pass. Instead, he put it in a leather pouch and wore it around his neck till he died. When we were born again, we were given access to all […]

The Pink Star diamond is the largest known diamond in the world rated vivid pink. It was mined by De Beers in 1999 and weighed a whopping 133.5 carats in the rough. In November of 2013, the diamond was auctioned by Sotheby’s for a record $83 million, making it the most precious gem on the earth. As valuable as the Pink Star diamond is, it doesn’t compare in worth to the spiritual gem Peter is going to talk about in […]

In his book God Can Make it Happen, Russ Johnston talks about getting the right perspective. He wrote, “When Goliath came against the Israelites, they thought ‘We can never kill him, he’s too big.’ But David looked at the Giant and thought, “He’s so big, I can’t miss!’” But we know that David didn’t just win the victory because he had the right perspective of his situation, he had the right respective of God. He knew that God was on […]

In today’s text, Peter is going to exhort pastors to adopt the leadership style of leading by example—as he says, “not as being lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock.” But as we will learn today, this leadership style is not just for pastors, but for everyone in the church who serves Jesus Christ. When Paul was speaking to the church at Thessalonica, he told them in 2 Thess. 3:9 that “we make ourselves examples […]

J. Vernon McGee often said, “The Christian life is a banquet, but it is not a picnic!” What did he mean by that statement? He meant that although the Christian life is full of blessings, it doesn’t mean it is going to be easy. There will be times when we face very difficult situations in our Christian walk. In today’s text, Peter calls those times “fiery trials,” which often come at us in the form of persecution. He tells us […]

James Hewett offers the following wisdom about a Christian’s spiritual gifts: “You have gifts not so much for your own sake as for the sake of others. You are like an apple tree that produces fruit not for its own consumption, but for the consumption of others. Your gifts are given so you can bless others by ministering to them.” (James Hewett, Illustrations Unlimited, 230) Peter says exactly the same thing in his short treatise on gifts in 1 Peter […]

Gene Barron had this to say about Christian love: “The world will not care what we know until they know that we care.” One of the main problems with many contemporary churches is a lack of care their members have for one another. That is not the way things should be in the church. Love changes everything, and as born again believers, we have been changed by the love of Jesus Christ. So when the world observes us they should […]