Calvary Church of Port Orchard

Today’s topical message by CCPO Elder Dan Prespa focuses on the love of the glorified Jesus as revealed in the Gospel of John, Chapter 13. Dan also emphasized the truth that Jesus is coming soon to take us to be with Him in the rapture of the church. Until then, we are to obey Jesus’ words in John 13:34: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another” (NKJV). Associated notes and links are at calvarypo.org under Sermon Archives, Topical, https://calvarypo.org/sermons/the-love-of-jesus-john-13/ Maranatha!

I Have Set Before You Today Life and Good, Death and Evil – Deuteronomy 29:20-30:20, Nov. 27,2022 Deuteronomy 29 concludes with Moses’ prophecy that the nation – the people and the land – would, despite all the warnings of Deuteronomy 28, rebel against God and consequently experience those judgments, including expulsion from the land. History has proven this to be the case. The Jews were expelled from the land on two occasion – By Nebuchadnezzar in 586 B.C. to Babylon and by the Romans in A.D. 70, into a worldwide dispersion. Fulfilled prophecy is proof that the Bible is true! In Deuteronomy 30, Moses tells the people that God is always ready to restore them to the place of His blessings if “you return to the Lord your God and obey His voice, according to all that I command you today, you and your children, with all your heart and with all your soul, that the Lord your God will bring you back from captivity, and have compassion on you, and gather you again from all the nations where the Lord your God has scattered you” (Deuteronomy 30:2-3). In May 1948, the world witnessed the miraculous return of the Jewish people to their land and as a nation, as prophesied in Ezekiel 36 and elsewhere in the Bible. Although the nation is not yet fully restored, God brought about the re-establishment of Israel: "I do not do this for your sake, O house of Israel, but for My holy name's sake” (Ezekiel 36:22). As these prophecies were literally fulfilled, we know that their prophesied future spiritual restoration will be literally fulfilled someday. As New Testament believers, we observe (and experience) the same inclination to rebel against God, a curse of the fall. But the same God always stands ready to forgive and restore us when we humbly receive the gift of eternal life through faith in His Son, Jesus. Associated notes and links are at calvarypo.org under Sermon Archives, Deuteronomy, https://calvarypo.org/sermons/i-have-set-before-you-today-life-and-good-death-and-evil-deut-2920-3020/ Maranatha!

Deuteronomy 29 begins with Moses announcing the completion of this second giving of the Law, which, together with the laws given at Mt. Sinai 40 years earlier, completes God’s laws given to the Israelites. Moses then warns the people that pride and rebellion would keep them from heeding the warnings that were intended to keep them from danger. In the New Testament, Jesus also warned the people of His day that their pride and rebellion would keep them from receiving Him and so they would die in their sins (John 8:24). God calls believers today to warn those we know to humble themselves, repent, and receive Jesus or else they too will die in their sins. Pastor Kevin exhorts us remain faithful to God “that there may not be among you a root bearing bitterness or May There Not Be a Root of Bitterness Among You – Deuteronomy 29-1-19 wormwood.” Associated notes and links are at calvarypo.org under Sermon Archives, Deuteronomy, https://calvarypo.org/sermons/may-not-be-among-you-a-root-of-bitterness-deuteronomy-291-19/ Maranatha!

This week, we conclude ur study of the extended portion of Deuteronomy 28 in which God revealed to the Israelites what “…shall come to pass, if you do not obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments and His statutes which I command you today…” (Deuteronomy 28:15). The warnings listed in the final verses of Deuteronomy 28 include prolonged sicknesses and other plagues leading to drastic depopulation; worldwide dispersion; misery and fear of annihilation of the Jewish race as well as the humiliation of being put up for sale in Egypt as slaves with no buyers. These prophecies were literally fulfilled in the nation’s history. Deuteronomy 29:1 concludes Moses’ second giving of the law, the first being 40 years earlier at Mount Horeb. Pastor Dustin reminds us again that these warnings / curses were given out of God’s love and compassion for his children. They were disciplines intended to bring the nation to repentance, return, and restoration. The final restoration of the Jewish nation will take place when Jesus returns to set up His 1,000-year rule on earth, a period known as the Millennial Kingdom. In the meantime, Jesus speaks to all of His believers in Luke 11:28b, “…blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it!” Associated notes and links are at calvarypo.org under Sermon Archives, Deuteronomy, https://calvarypo.org/sermons/he-will-scatter-his-people-among-the-nations-deuteronomy-28-58-291/ Maranatha!

We continue this week in our study of the extended portion of Deuteronomy 28 in which God revealed to the Israelites what “…shall come to pass, if you do not obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments and His statutes which I command you today…” (Deuteronomy 28:15). Today’s passage foretold the horrific conditions that would ensue when a nation continued in its rejection of God including societal chaos, defeat in war, crop-destroying insects, siege, severe famine that drove people to cannibalism, and eventual deportation from the Promised Land. Pastor Dustin explains that, according to the “spiritual mathematics” that govern the universe He created, blessings come to a nation that honors and obeys God; increasingly severe curses befall the nation that rebels against Him. Despite these warnings, both the northern and southern kingdoms of Israel fell into idolatry and sexual depravity like the nations around them, and these consequences were literally fulfilled in the history of Israel up to the time of the Assyrian captivity of the northern kingdom in 722 B.C. and the Babylonian captivity of the southern kingdom in 586 B.C. Associated notes and links are at calvarypo.org under Sermon Archives, Deuteronomy, https://calvarypo.org/sermons/cursed-is-the-nation-that-shuns-god-deuteronomy-2836-57/ Maranatha!

Deuteronomy 28:18-35, You Have Forsaken Me S-1512-KL This week, we begin examining the extended passage in Deuteronomy 28 in which God revealed to the Israelites what “…shall come to pass, if you do not obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments and His statutes which I command you today…” (Deuteronomy 28:15). In detail, God lists the many things that bring a curse and described their corresponding and increasingly severe "curses” (judgments), with the intent that the Israelites would recognize when they were being judged by God and then repent and return to Him. Pastor Kevin shows how these curses/judgments were realized throughout the history of Israel and how God demonstrated His mercy time and time again in spite of Israel’s repeated disobedience and “the wickedness of your doings in which you have forsaken Me” (Deuteronomy 28:20b). Although Deuteronomy 28 was written to Israel, not America, these judgments for sin are based on God’s unchanging character. Pastor Kevin shows how these judgments are being realized in our country today, with increasing intensity as our society intensifies its rejection of God and His moral law. Without repentance and a return to the God of the Bible, our country will continue accelerating towards self-destruction. Pastor Kevin exhorts us to remember that America is not our real home; a better, eternal home awaits true believers, those who remain faithful to Jesus despite the increasing darkness of our world. Associated notes and links are at calvarypo.org under Sermon Archives, Deuteronomy, https://calvarypo.org/sermons/you-have-forsaken-me-deut-2818-35/ Maranatha!

In this week’s study, Pastor Kevin shows how both the Blessings (for obedience to God) and the Curses (for disobedience) of Deuteronomy 28 were realized in Israel from the time Joshua lead the Israelites across the Jordan River into the Promised Land until their eventual deportations: the northern kingdom, Israel to Assyrian in 722 B.C. and the southern kingdom, Judah, to Babylon in 586 B.C. Although Deuteronomy 28 is not written to the church today, it is written for us, and we see parallels in the history of the United States. Comparing the history of Israel with current events in our country / world, we can expect the rate of decline in our society to only accelerate. However, the believers’ hope lies not in the world but in the soon and “glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:13), and Pastor Kevin exhorts us, despite the increasing pressure to do so, “do not turn aside from any of the words which I [God] command you today, to the right or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them” (Deuteronomy 28:14). Associated notes and links are at calvarypo.org under Sermon Archives, Deuteronomy, https://calvarypo.org/sermons/obey-god-be-blessed-disobey-be-cursed-deut-281-18/

Deuteronomy 26:16-27:26, The Lord Has Proclaimed You to Be His Special People S-1510-KL This week, we look at final verses of Chapter 26, in which Moses concludes his second imparting of God’s law, this time to a new generation of Israelites about to enter the Promised Land. He exhorts them to obey, as they have promised, and tells them, “The Lord has today declared you to be His people.” As the New Testament reveals, all who believe in Jesus Christ today, even Gentiles, have been adopted into the family of God and are likewise commanded to obey God’s laws. In Chapter 27, God gives instructions meant to reinforce the importance of the law, including construction of a stone altar and for a ceremony of blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience, which the Israelites were to carry out upon their crossing the Jordan River into the Promised Land. Recent archeological discoveries have documented the biblical account in amazing detail. For more information, see: May 1, 2022 Worship-Only-in-the-Place-that-your-Lord-Chooses-Deut-11:30-12:9 https://calvarypo.org/sermons/worship-only-in-the-place-that-your-lord-chooses-deut-1130-129/ June 1, 2022 study by Aaron Lipkin titled, “Recent Discovery of Lead Tablet in Ancient Hebrew Proves Jewish Exodus and Entry into Promised Land” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdbyxJnTmOc&t=4324s Associated notes and links are at calvarypo.org under Sermon Archives, Deuteronomy, https://calvarypo.org/sermons/the-lord-has-proclaimed-you-to-be-his-special-people-deuteronomy-2616-2726/ Maranatha!

Using King David as an example and Psalm 51 as his text, guest speaker Brian Headrick, Pastor of Calvary Chapel Tacoma, proclaims God’s great mercy, grace, and love towards the repentant sinner. When we acknowledge our sin, recognize our transgression against a holy God, and humbly seek His forgiveness, God completely forgives, renews, and restores us to a right relationship with Him. There is nothing we can do to earn His forgiveness, and there is no one that God cannot forgive! Associated notes and links are at calvarypo.org under Sermon Archives, Topical, The Power of Repentance – Psalm 51, https://calvarypo.org/sermons/the-power-of-repentance-psalm-51/ Maranatha!

In today’s message, Pastor Kevin reminds us that while the ceremonial aspects of the mosaic law were fulfilled in Jesus, the civil and moral laws, taking into consideration the cultural context, apply to us today. The principles provide guideposts for living a life and having a society that God can bless and avoid the destruction and misery that always accompanies disobedience. He shows how this applies specifically to the laws concerning prostitution, usury, and vows, which conclude Deuteronomy 23. Deuteronomy Chapter 24 verses 1-4 address divorce. Scripture is clear that God’s plan for marriage is a union between is one man and one woman, both virgins at marriage and faithful to each other for life. Pastor Kevin addresses the reasons that God’s law allowed divorce under some conditions, discusses the New Testament teachings for believers today, and emphasizes that Jesus will forgive those who divorced outside of God’s provisions as He does any repentant sinner. Associated notes and links are at calvarypo.org under Sermon Archives, Deuteronomy, Marriage and Divorce in the Law and New Testament, Deuteronomy 23:17-24:4, https://calvarypo.org/sermons/marriage-and-divorce-in-the-law-and-new-testament-deut-2317-244/

In this week's teaching, Pastor Kevin expounds on the laws governing chastity before and faithfulness during marriage, explaining how these laws preserved the Jews to the present day, whereas most ancient cultures have since died out as a natural result of disease and fertility loss associated with sexual immorality. We also see once more how God's laws protected Jewish (and captive gentile) women and children from violence and abuse, in sharp contrast to the pagan cultures surrounding them. We see how misery and family chaos resulted whenever these laws were ignored. While believers today are not under the mosaic law, we do understand that God's moral law is timeless. A healthy fear of God and knowledge of the consequences of disobedience constrain us to obey for our own good as well as to please God. Pastor Kevin implores the young people to keep themselves pure before marriage so as to receive all that the God intends for them to enjoy with their future life partner. Associated notes and links are at calvarypo.org under Sermon Archives, Deuteronomy, God's Command on the Importance of Virginity - Deuteronomy 22:13-30, https://calvarypo.org/sermons/gods-command-on-the-importance-of-virginity-deuteronomy-2213-30/ Maranatha!

This week, we look at the commands in Deuteronomy 21:15-22:12, which address inheritances, rebellious sons, hangings, and various other rules governing everyday life. Considering the cultural context and underlying purposes of these rules, we see how these laws benefited the Jewish people and how they apply to us today. Because of the Law, the Jewish people were miraculously preserved until the birth of Jesus, fulfilling God's promises to Abraham that all the world would be blessed through his family, and until the present day. Of special note, Pastor Kevin shows how Deuteronomy 21:23 applies to Jesus as explained in Galatians 3:11-14 The associated notes and links are at the church’s website (calvarypo.org) under Sermon Archives, Deuteronomy, He Who is Hanged is Accursed of God, August 14, 2022. https://calvarypo.org/sermons/he-who-is-hanged-is-accursed-of-god-deut-2115-2212/ Maranatha!

This week, Pastor Kevin reviews God’s commands in Deuteronomy 18:9-14 to shun abominable occult practices using a contemporary example: a congregant testimony about a witch that lived for a time with her family in New Mexico. Then, in Deuteronomy 18:15, Moses proclaims God’s promises to someday send another prophet like himself (Moses) Whom the people are to “hear” (listen and obey). New Testament scriptures prove that Jesus was “that prophet like Moses,” fulfilling this key messianic prophecy. Chapter 18 concludes with God’s warning about the false prophets who would come and gives the key instruction on how to identify them. The associated notes and links are at the church’s website (calvarypo.org) under Sermon Archives, Deuteronomy, Him you Shall Hear, July 17, 2022. https://calvarypo.org/sermons/him-you-shall-hear-deut-1815-22/ Maranatha!

Deuteronomy 18:1-14, July 10, 2022 - Our God has Not Appointed Such for You, S-1496-KL Today's study examines God's requirements for and privileges of the Levitical priests and His prohibitions against all forms of occult practices. The tribe of Levi was the only one of the twelve tribes of Israel to inherit no land as the "LORD your God has chosen him out of all your tribes to stand to minister in the name of the LORD, him and his sons forever" (Deuteronomy 18:5). When Israel obeyed God's command to support the priests, the people were taught the Word of God, and the nation prospered. When they failed to do so and the priests were forced to look for other means of support, they and the people fell into religious apostasy, and the nation suffered. While Christians are not under God's laws for the Jewish people, we see the same principle play out today. To the extent that pastors seek to teach the whole counsel of God and their congregations allow them to do so, families and society are blessed through their obedience. Sadly, today we see how compromise and apostasy in our churches has led to our society's steady decline into moral and spiritual chaos. God also wisely forbids his people from engaging in any form of spiritism / occultism, as even seemingly benign activities are gateways to satanic influence and control. As Christians, we must be aware of the spiritual battle we are in and the strong delusion and spirit of the Antichrist that is at work in our world today. Pastor Kevin exhorts believers to remain true to the Word of God and shun satanic influences in order to protect ourselves and our families from destruction.

While God desired to be their king, He knew the new nation of Israel would soon reject Him and demand a king “like all the nations around us.” In today’s passage, God establishes His requirements and restrictions for these future human kings, which when obeyed, kept the nation under the umbrella of God’s protection and blessing and when disobeyed, resulted in the nation’s descent into idolatry, corruption, and eventual destruction. Pastor Dustin shows how, in the same way, how God’s instructions to us today are “guard rails” that keep the obedient believer out of sin, spiritual darkness, and self-destruction and in a joy-filled walk with Jesus, the Light of the World. The associated notes and links are at the church’s website (calvarypo.org) under Sermon Archives, Deuteronomy, God’s Laws Concerning Kings, June 26, 2022. Be sure to right-click and refresh your browser to see the newly posted info at the web site. https://calvarypo.org/sermons/gods-law-concerning-kings-deuteronomy-1712-20/ Maranatha!

This week’s study examines God’s instructions for Israel’s justice system, with a tiered court structure, a model America’s Founding Fathers followed when writing the US Constitution. God then warns against false witnesses and corrupt judges, and He reiterates commands against idolatry and blasphemy, which if followed, would protect the legal system from corruption. The wisdom and applicability of God’s commands are evident today as we see increasing corruption in the courts as the nations of the world have increasingly turned away from God. The associated notes and links are at the church’s website (calvarypo.org) under Sermon Archives, Deuteronomy, You Shall Not Pervert Justice, June 19, 2022. https://calvarypo.org/sermons/you-shall-not-pervert-justice-deut-1618-1711/ Maranatha!

This video teaching was originally recorded on December 30, 2009. It is re-released here to assist the Christian wondering about the timing of the last days. Many reject the idea of the soon coming of Jesus because people have been naming dates of Jesus’ return for over a century. Obviously, they were wrong. Why were they wrong? Is it possible to know the season of Jesus second coming since He told us, “Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near.”? Luke 21:28 NKJV Pastor Kevin answers these questions in a ways that are just as applicable today as they were in Dec 2009.

In this week’s study, Pastor Kevin expounds on God’s command in Deuteronomy 15:19-23 that the Israelites sanctify (sacrifice to Him) the firstborn of their flocks and herds and how this points to Jesus as one example of the “scarlet thread” throughout Scripture. Like Jesus, the selected animals were to be young males without blemish. They were to be sacrificed to God and eaten by the household “year by year in the place which the Lord chooses” (Deuteronomy 15:20), pointing to Jesus, the perfect “Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29) Who would be crucified in Jerusalem on Passover 1,500 years later. In Deuteronomy 16, Moses reviews the three feasts (of seven) for which Jewish males were required to “appear before the Lord your God in the place He chooses” – Passover, the Feast of Weeks (Pentecost), and Tabernacles. The feasts all point to Jesus, and Pastor Kevin explains how Jesus perfectly fulfilled the four spring feasts – Passover, Unleavened Bread, First Fruits, and Pentecost – at his First Coming and how the three remaining (fall) feasts – Rosh Hashanah (Feast of Trumpets),Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement), and Feast of Booths/Tabernacles – will be fulfilled at His Second Coming. The associated notes and links are at the church’s website (calvarypo.org) under Sermon Archives, Deuteronomy, God Uses the Jewish Feast to Point to Jesus, June 12, 2022. Be sure to right-click and refresh your browser to see the newly posted info at the web site. https://calvarypo.org/sermons/god-uses-the-jewish-feasts-to-point-to-jesus-deut-1519-1617/ Maranatha!

This video teaching was originally recorded on December 30, 2009. It is re-released here to assist the Christian wondering about the timing of the last days. Many reject the idea of the soon coming of Jesus because people have been naming dates of Jesus’ return for over a century. Obviously, they were wrong. Why were they wrong? Is it possible to know the season of Jesus second coming since He told us, “Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near.”? Luke 21:28 NKJV Pastor Kevin answers these questions in a ways that are just as applicable today as they were in Dec 2009.

CEO of Lipkin Tours and amateur archeologist Aaron Lipkin from Jerusalem, Israel presents latest findings related to the recent discovery of a lead curse tablet found among rubble from a prior excavation on Mt. Ebal. The prior excavation, conducted by the late archeologist and University of Haifa Adam Zertel, uncovered a structure that Zertel became convinced was the altar built by Joshua upon entering the Promised Land as commanded by Moses in Deuteronomy 27:4 and described in Joshua 8:30-31. Years later, Mr. Lipkin convinced American archeologist Dr. Scott Stripling to sift through the rubble piles a second time, this time with water, which lead to the discovery of the lead tablet. Mr. Lipkin gives exciting details of the finding and the technologies used to analyze and interpret the ancient writing on tablet, which corroborate the biblical accounts in amazing detail.

Deut 14:1-29, May 29, 2022, S-1490-KL In this week’s study, God uses Moses to warn the Jews against the pagan practice of cutting themselves. Pastor Kevin then goes to 1 Kings 18 to review the account about the worshipers of Baal doing this very thing in an attempt to conjure their false god to bring fire down from heaven. Kevin also shows the current yearly practice of Shiite Muslims severely cutting themselves in memory of the murdered grandson of Mohammad in 680 AD. He then equates this demonic practice with the current epidemic of young people cutting themselves. Why are they doing this? Why now? Moses then reminds the Jews about what foods they are allowed to eat and which ones they must avoid. Kevin points out that these prohibitions were to protect the Jews from diseases. There are no New Testament scriptures that mandate “kosher” eating requirements for the church, but they may be applied if one wants to eat healthy. During this portion of the study, Kevin alludes to his handout article titled, A Biblical Response to the Dear Dr. Laura Letter, which is posted at our website at the link below. The final section of Chapter 14 deals with the requirements pertaining to the people making sure the Priests were taken care of by the people’s tithing. The Levites were told by God that they were not to own property, nor work fields or flocks, because they were to teach the people to fear God and serve them at the Tabernacle/Temple. If they were not provided for, then the people would not be taught the Word of God and would thus fall into idolatry. The associated notes and links are at the church’s website (calvarypo.org) under: sermon archives, Deuteronomy, You Shall Not Cut Yourself, May 29, 2022. Be sure to right-click and refresh your browser in ordeto see the newly posted info at the web site. https://calvarypo.org/sermons/you-shall-not-cut-yourself/ Maranatha!