Dear Ladies,
We are excited to partner with the Special Projects Administrator from the Office of the Mayor of Miami-Dade County on a project to send much needed supplies to 600 deployed individuals from the armed forces. We are asking for donations of items such as
>   chapstick
>   sunscreen or sun block
>   antibacterial
>   baby wipes
>   gum
to pack in shoeboxes that will be sent. If you can help by donating any of these items please bring the items to the church office no later than Wednesday, September 8.

If you have any questions, please feel free to call Laura at the church office at 305.233.5433 or email laura@calvarykendall.com.

Dear Ladies,

Are you experiencing a seemingly fruitless season in your life? Do you need encouragement? If so, we invite you to join the ladies of Calvary Chapel Kendall for a time of refreshing on Saturday, August 14 from 10am to 1pm. It will be a morning of worship, a time in the Word of God, and great fellowship at the Central Campus located at 16435 SW 117th Avenue.

The event is free, and you are welcome to bring your favorite baked good to share. Please sign up at the InfoCenter at either our Central or West Campus. Childcare will not be available.

If you have any questions, please feel free to call the office at 305.233.5433 or email laura@calvarykendall.com.

We invite you to join us on Tuesday, March 2nd at 7:30pm for an evening of worship, a time in the word and fellowship. We are continuing our study in the book of Ecclesiastes.

“But his delight is in the law of the LORD, And in His law he meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree Planted by the rivers of water, That brings forth its fruit in its season. Whose leaf also shall not wither; And whatever he does shall prosper.” Psalm 1:2-3 NKJV

All I can say is WOW….the Lord is amazing! There I was, at our Ladies Bible study kick off on the Book of Ecclesiastes. You are probably thinking “ok, where is this going? This has nothing to do with the above verse!” After the teaching, our pastor’s wife began the instruction on how we will approach this study. Her chosen passage for our practice study was Psalm 1:1-3 (don’t worry, I’m getting there!). So we get into small study groups and begin reading….I was so convicted! The Holy Spirit’s revelation hit me like a wall. You see, I had been slowly neglecting my study of the Word.

It started innocently enough….I got busy and enjoyed other hobbies and activities. I am a bookworm and took up reading again…reading is harmless in itself, but my reading began to take the time away from my time in the Word, my time in prayer, my time with Jesus! I opened my eyes in the morning and the first thing I did was grab whatever book I was reading instead of talking with my Lord and digging into His Word! All my free time throughout the day was spent again reading instead of meditating on the Word, or praising in music….I practically fell asleep every night while reading instead of conversing with Christ about my day, thoughts, feelings and concerns….instead of thanking Him for another day in His blessings!!

As I pondered on the scripture, my heart flutters on verse 2 “But his delight is in the law of the LORD, And in His law he meditates day and night.” Psalm 1:2 NKJV. How powerful! My heart tightened; it was painful! This verse spoke to me of joy…the joy and excitement of digging into the Word of God; looking forward to being in the presence of Jesus and to the great discoveries He will surely unveil! I had not been excited and looking forward to spending time in the Word; instead I went through the motions of reading my Bible, but my whole being was not in it….my other activities were on the back of my mind and I was excited and looking forward to those instead! I was heart-broken and ashamed!! But the Lord is so awesome that He filled me with joy right then and there because He exposed the problem and showed me what to do to fix it. Instead of feeling regretful or conflicted, I felt liberated!! JOYFUL-JOYFUL-JOYFUL!!! Praise the Lord!! He is soooo merciful!

Ok. So we move on to verse 3 “He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season. Whose leaf also shall not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper.” Psalm 1:3 NKJV. I was just ecstatic…I’m feeling on fire for the Lord again! Being the continuation of verse 2, verse 3 affirms why I am so thrilled, elated and overjoyed to study the Word of God! It keeps me alive! It is LIFE! The Word of God is my livelihood, my lifeline, my umbilical cord to the Lord. The Word of God is my nourishment; it is living and essential to our spiritual lives and growth. We pay an extremely high price for neglecting the Word as we NEED every word that God spoke and speaks to LIVE. I felt a growing void inside of me as I neglected the Word. My spirit felt as if it were dying a slow death, without mine even noticing it, I was drying up. I was out of touch with Christ.

As we study the Word, we become closer and more intimate with God; He wants us to put Him First in the day with constant interaction throughout the day….I was letting something so unimportant get in the way of my relationship with Christ! How crazy does that sound?!?! It was so subtle that I didn’t even notice….that’s all it takes; a little distraction for the enemy to grab a hold of it to keep on distracting you! That’s how vulnerable we are when Jesus is not FIRST. So what do we do? We have to be really active and protective in guarding our time with Him because our lives literally depend on it. Just as we rely on food and drink to sustain our flesh, we must rely on the Word to sustain our spirits. Jesus himself fought temptation with the Word of God “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4 NKJV). So it is clearly a matter of life and death to nourish and feed our hearts, minds and souls with the Word! Our lives are not sustained by bread or the food that we eat in the natural realm, but fortified, nourished and empowered with every Word that God has given us.

How about you? Is there anything or anyone getting between you and Jesus? Are you really listening as God’s Word speaks to you?

Let’s Pray:
Heavenly Father, we come to you so grateful for your amazing love and faithfulness. Thank you for grabbing a hold of us and never letting go, even when we don’t hold on to you for dear life. Lord, please give us an insatiable hunger and an unquenchable thirst for your Word as we seek Your will in our lives. Help us have our focus on the right place: You! You and You alone are our source of life. So we humble ourselves and ask that you continue to speak, sustain and strengthen us through your living and powerful Word. We love you so much….In Jesus name, Amen.

Other verses to ponder:
“Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!” (Philippians 4:4 NKJV)
“The joy of the Lord is your strength” (Nehemiah 8:10 NKJV)
“It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.’” (Luke 4:4 NKJV)
“Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.” (Luke 21:33 NKJV)

© 2010 Guillermina Brady.

We invite you to join us on Tuesday, January 12th at 7:30pm for an evening of worship, a time in the word and fellowship.

We will be starting our new Bible study in the book of Ecclesiastes. There is still space available in our small groups. The groups meet on different days of the week at different times. If you would like to see the January – March schedule for our Bible study and a list of the times and days of meeting visit our small groups page by clicking here.

This past Saturday, December 12th, was our annual CCk:Ladies’ Christmas Event. This year we hosted a breakfast at the Westin Colonnade in Coral Gables. The hotel was the perfect setting for our joyous occasion. As the doors opened we were instantly welcomed with jolly smiles and warm greetings. The buffet breakfast was a sweet and delicious treat. Following breakfast came a magnificent time of worship which was nothing short of glorious. As the ladies joined in on the worship, their voices traveled through the halls of the Westin Colonnade with what sounded like Heaven. Lourdes Garcia shared a message entitled “Do you Hear what I Hear” and focused on Psalm 4 and Revelation 2-3, the Seven Churches.

Our day was like unwrapping a wonderful gift: the fellowship was like unraveling the beautiful bow around the gift, the time of worship was the unwrapping of the Christmas paper and the teaching of the word was the precious gift that God planted in our hearts that day. It was a wonderful time where every heart was reached by God’s word and lives were blessed by the ultimate Christmas gift, Jesus Christ.

Abide in Me, and I in You—John 15.4

When a new graft is placed in a vine and it abides there, there is a twofold process that takes place. The first is in the wood. The graft shoots its little roots and fibers down into the stem, and the stem grows up into the graft, and what has been called the structural union is effected. The graft abides and becomes one with the vine, and even though the vine were to die, would still be one wood with it. Then there is the second process, in which the sap of the vine enters the new structure, and uses
it as a passage through which sap can flow up to show itself in young shoots and leaves and fruit. Here is the vital union. Into the graft which abides in the stock, the stock enters with sap to abide in it.

When our Lord says: “Abide in me, and I in you,” He points to something analogous to this. “Abide in me”: that refers more to that which we have to do. We have to trust and obey, to detach ourselves from all else, to reach out after Him and cling to Him, to sink ourselves into Him. As we do this, through the grace He gives, a character is formed, and a heart prepared for the fuller experience: “I in you,” God strengthens us with might by the Spirit in the inner man, and Christ dwells in the heart by faith.

Many believers pray and long very earnestly for the filling of the Spirit and the indwelling of Christ, and wonder that they do not make more progress. The reason is often this, the “I in you” cannot come because the “abide in me” is not maintained. “There is one body and one spirit”; before the Spirit can fill, there must be a body prepared. The graft must have grown into the stem, and be abiding in it before the sap can flow through to bring forth fruit. It is as in lowly obedience we follow Christ, even in external things, denying ourselves, forsaking the world, and even in the body seeking to be conformable to Him, as we thus seek to abide in Him, that we shall be able to receive and enjoy the “I in you.” The work enjoined on us: “Abide in me,” will prepare us for the work undertaken by Him: “I in you.”

In—The two parts of the injunction have their unity in that central deep-meaning word “in.” There is no deeper word in Scripture. God is in all. God dwells in Christ. Christ lives in God. We are in Christ. Christ is in us: our life taken up into His; His life received into ours; in a divine reality that words cannot express, we are in Him and He in us. And the words, “Abide in me and I in you,” just tell us to believe it, this divine mystery, and to count upon our God the Husbandman, and Christ the Vine, to make it divinely true. No thinking or teaching or praying can grasp it; it is a divine mystery of love. As little as we can effect the union can we understand it. Let us just look upon this infinite, divine, omnipotent Vine loving us, holding us, working in us. Let us in the faith of His working abide and rest in Him, ever turning heart and hope to Him alone. And let us count upon Him to fulfill in us the mystery: “Ye in me, and I in you.”

Blessed Lord, Thou dost bid me abide in Thee. How can I, Lord, except Thou show Thyself to me, waiting to receive and welcome and keep me? I pray Thee show me how Thou as Vine undertaketh to do all. To be occupied with Thee is to abide in Thee. Here I am, Lord, a branch, cleansed and abiding—resting in Thee, and awaiting the inflow of Thy life and grace.

© The True Vine: Meditations for a Month on John 15:1-16, written by: Andrew Murray, Moody Press

Already Ye Are Clean Because of the Word I Have Spoken Unto You—John 15.3

What is the pruning knife of this heavenly Husbandman? It is often said to be affliction. By no means in the first place. How would it then fare with many who have long seasons free from adversity; or with some on whom God appears to shower down kindness all their life long? No; it is the Word of God that is the knife, shaper than any two-edged sword, that pierces even to the dividing asunder of the soul and spirit, and is quick to discern the thoughts and intents of the heart. It is only when affliction leads to this discipline of the Word that it becomes a blessing; the lack of this heart-cleansing through the Word is the reason why affliction is so often unsanctified. Not even Paul’s thorn in the flesh could become a blessing until Christ’s Word—“My strength is made perfect in weakness”—had made him see the danger of self-exaltation, and made him willing to rejoice in infirmities.

The Word of God’s pruning knife. Jesus says: “Ye are already clean, because of the word I have spoken unto you.” How searchingly that word had been spoken by Him, out of whose mouth there went a sharp two-edged sword, as he had taught them! “Except a man deny himself, lose his life, forsake all, hate father and mother, he cannot be My disciple, he is not worthy of Me”; or as He humbled their pride, or reproved their lack of love, or foretold their all forsaking Him. From the opening of His ministry in the Sermon on the Mount to His words of warning in the last night,
His Word had tried and cleansed them. He had discovered and condemned all there was of self; they were now emptied and cleansed, ready for the incoming of the Holy Spirit.

It is as the soul gives up its own thoughts, and men’s thoughts of what is religion, and yields itself heartily, humbly, patiently, to the teaching of the Word by the Spirit, that the Father will do His blessed work of pruning and cleansing away all of nature and self that mixes with our work and hinders His Spirit. Let those who would know all the Husbandman can do for them, all the Vine can bring forth through them, seek earnestly to yield themselves heartily to the blessed cleansing through the Word. Let them, in their study of the Word, receive it as a hammer that breaks and
opens up, as a fire that melts and refines, as a sword that lays bare and slays all that is of the flesh. The word of conviction will prepare for the word of comfort and of hope, and the Father will cleanse them through the Word.

All ye who are branches of the true Vine, each time you read or hear the Word, wait first of all on Him to use it for His cleansing of the branch. Set your heart upon His desire for more fruit. Trust Him as Husbandman to work it. Yield yourselves in simple childlike surrender to the cleansing work of His Word and Spirit, and you may count upon it that His purpose will be fulfilled in you.

Father, I pray Thee, cleanse me through Thy Word. Let it search out and bring to light all that is of self and the flesh in my religion. Let it cut away every root of self-confidence, that the Vine may find me wholly free to receive His life and Spirit. O my holy Husbandman, I trust Thee to care for the branch as much as for the Vine. Thou only art my hope.

© The True Vine: Meditations for a Month on John 15:1-16, written by: Andrew Murray, Moody Press

Join us for our annual Christmas event. This year we will host a breakfast at the Westin Colonnade Coral Gables, located at 180 Aragon Avenue, Coral Gables. The cost is $15* and includes buffet breakfast. (Valet and self-parking are available at the hotel for an additional charge of $8.)

Registration forms are available at the CCk:InfoCenter.

* Registration Deadline: December 6. After that date, registration will be upon availability and subject to a $5 late fee.

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If you have any questions, please feel free to call the office at 305.233.5433 or email laura@calvarykendall.com.