Calvary Chapel Pastor's Blog

Ezekiel 33:32–33 (ESV): 32 And behold, you are to them like one who sings lustful songs with a beautiful voice and plays well on an instrument, for they hear what you say, but they will not do it. 33 When this comes—and come it will!—then they will know that a prophet has been among them."  It's not enough to be a hearer of the Word ...

Ezekiel 33:7 (ESV): "7 "So you, son of man, I have made a watchman for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me." God has always had a system of warning in place since the beginning of time. He uses His law, divine signs as well as mankind to warn of impending doom. Everyone and everythin...

Ezekiel 28:1–2 (ESV): "The word of the Lord came to me: 2 "Son of man, say to the prince of Tyre, Thus says the Lord God: "Because your heart is proud, and you have said, 'I am a god, I sit in the seat of the gods, in the heart of the seas,' yet you are but a man, and no god, though you make your heart like the heart of a god—" Pride is incred...

Ezekiel 21:14–15 (ESV): "14 "As for you, son of man, prophesy. Clap your hands and let the sword come down twice, yes, three times, the sword for those to be slain. It is the sword for the great slaughter, which surrounds them, 15 that their hearts may melt, and many stumble. At all their gates I have given the glittering sword. Ah, it is...

Ezekiel 20:42 (ESV): "42 And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I bring you into the land of Israel, the country that I swore to give to your fathers." What must God do to prove His Lordship to you? Isn't creation itself enough to illustrate the power and authority of our great God? Why must He flex through deliverance and judgment to dem...

Ezekiel 18:23 (ESV): "23 Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked, declares the Lord God, and not rather that he should turn from his way and live?"For God so loved the world...love is His nature and therefore He finds no pleasure when the wicked perish. He loves them with all the love He has to give and desires that they should live. Th...

Ezekiel 18:1–4 (ESV): "The word of the Lord came to me: 2 "What do you mean by repeating this proverb concerning the land of Israel, 'The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge'? 3 As I live, declares the Lord God, this proverb shall no more be used by you in Israel. 4 Behold, all souls are mine; the...

Ezekiel 17:22–24 (ESV): "22 Thus says the Lord God: "I myself will take a sprig from the lofty top of the cedar and will set it out. I will break off from the topmost of its young twigs a tender one, and I myself will plant it on a high and lofty mountain. 23 On the mountain height of Israel will I plant it, that it may bear branches and ...

Ezekiel 11:19–20 (ESV): "19 And I will give them one heart, and a new spirit I will put within them. I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, 20 that they may walk in my statutes and keep my rules and obey them. And they shall be my people, and I will be their God." What keeps us from being all-in ...

Ezekiel 11:16 (ESV): "16 Therefore say, 'Thus says the Lord God: Though I removed them far off among the nations, and though I scattered them among the countries, yet I have been a sanctuary to them for a while in the countries where they have gone.'" The Lord is our sanctuary, our place of peace and rest. We don't go to a building to enter th...

Ezekiel 9:4–5 (ESV): "4 And the Lord said to him, "Pass through the city, through Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and groan over all the abominations that are committed in it." 5 And to the others he said in my hearing, "Pass through the city after him, and strike. Your eye shall not spare, and you shall sho...

Ezekiel 3:26–27 (ESV): "26 And I will make your tongue cling to the roof of your mouth, so that you shall be mute and unable to reprove them, for they are a rebellious house. 27 But when I speak with you, I will open your mouth, and you shall say to them, 'Thus says the Lord God.' He who will hear, let him hear; and he who will refuse to ...

Ezekiel 2:4–5 (ESV): "4 The descendants also are impudent and stubborn: I send you to them, and you shall say to them, 'Thus says the Lord God.' 5 And whether they hear or refuse to hear (for they are a rebellious house) they will know that a prophet has been among them." The sent ones of God are in for a bumpy road. He isn't sending us i...

Ezekiel 1:1 (ESV): "In the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, on the fifth day of the month, as I was among the exiles by the Chebar canal, the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God." Circumstances are used by God in our lives for various reasons, one of which is to heighten or renew our spiritual acuity. We are far more open to see and h...

Lamentations 3:40–42 (ESV): "40  Let us test and examine our ways, and return to the Lord! 41  Let us lift up our hearts and hands to God in heaven: 42  "We have transgressed and rebelled, and you have not forgiven." In God's system, the way up is by bowing down. He doesn't exalt the proud and unrepentant, only the humble and repenta...

Lamentations 3:31–33 (ESV): "31  For the Lord will not cast off forever, 32  but, though he cause grief, he will have compassion according to the abundance of his steadfast love; 33  for he does not afflict from his heart or grieve the children of men." God's heart for man is blessing and abundant life. He has compassion for us when ...

Lamentations 3:24–25 (ESV): "24  "The Lord is my portion," says my soul, "therefore I will hope in him." 25  The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him." We have been given an inheritance through Jesus Christ. Most think the inheritance is heaven and it's not wrong to say that isn't wrong to say but in reality, ...

Lamentations 3:21–23 (ESV): "21  But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: 22  The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; 23  they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness." Life is up and down but one thing remains the same, God and His love and mercy for us. He will never chang...

Lamentations 2:19 (ESV): 19  "Arise, cry out in the night, at the beginning of the night watches! Pour out your heart like water before the presence of the Lord! Lift your hands to him for the lives of your children, who faint for hunger at the head of every street."  Hardships are meant to bring us closer to God. When we suffer chas...

Jeremiah 51:46 (ESV): "46  Let not your heart faint, and be not fearful at the report heard in the land, when a report comes in one year and afterward a report in another year, and violence is in the land, and ruler is against ruler." Violence and rumors can produce fear in the heart of anyone. Thankfully for the Christian, we can be at rest f...