Pastor Chuck Dies

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Hey church, this afternoon I got news that Pastor Chuck Smith, the founder of Calvary Chapels went to be in the presence of Jesus. He was a mighty 86 years old and had been fighting cancer. Despite this he was regularly preaching and even took to the pulpit last Sunday Morning. Pastor Chuck’s legacy will live on in all that Jesus has done through him. I, for one, thank the Lord for Him. There are two lots and lots of things I’ve learnt from Pastor Chuck but here’s two things that really changed my perspective on things:

1. No matter how big you are, or successful you seem, Jesus is bigger and better. It’s all about Him and only Him. 

If you speak to most Christians in this country they will not know the name “Chuck Smith” and yet it’s hard to overstate the significance of Calvary Chapel in how it has remapped Evangelical Christianity in the last 60 years. His impact can be seen in every church service that has electric guitar-driven worship, hip casually-dressed pastors, and 40-minute sermons consisting of verse-by-verse Bible expositions peppered with pop-culture references and counterculture slang. (source) Calvary Chapel helped rebirth a movement not because it promoted itself but because it promoted Jesus. Pastor Chuck didn’t consider it his ministry, it was and still is the Lord’s ministry.

2. Grace changes everything.

The second thing I’ve learnt from Pastor Chuck is that grace and not works is the means through which Jesus saves us. It’s all about His work not ours. As a pastor I find this truly freeing because I don’t have to worry about shuffling sheep from one church to another, or be concerned that I’m not culturally cool. The Bible says that it’s not by might, nor by power but by My Spirit.

God Bless Pastor Chuck and lets remember his own family and Calvary Chapel family at this time.

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