This week on the Calvary Church Podcast, we open our new Christmas series, The Whimsy of Christmas. In a season filled with wonder, joy, and sacred mystery, we begin by looking back—way back—to a moment when the world was waiting in silence.

For 400 years, God’s people lived through what’s often called the Intertestamental Period: four centuries without a prophet, without fresh Scripture, without a clear word from heaven. It was a time of longing, questions, and quiet anticipation.

And then—Christ was born.

In this opening message, “The End of the Beginning,” Pastor Nick explores how the birth of Jesus didn’t simply start the Christmas story; it brought an end to an era of silence. The arrival of Christ broke through the stillness with hope, light, and the promise that God had been working all along—even when He seemed quiet.

Join us as we rediscover the whimsy and wonder of Christmas, and remember that God often does His best work in the silence.

Subscribe, share, and celebrate the season with us!

In this week’s message from Crushed, we discover that not all weight is destructive—some is life-giving. Hebrews 6 describes hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure, rooted in Jesus who has gone before us. While life’s pressures can leave us feeling crushed by pain, failure, or fear, God offers a different kind of weight: the overwhelming, stabilizing power of hope.

Crushed by Hope reminds us that when everything else is shifting, Christ holds us steady. His hope doesn’t deny the storm—it secures us through it.

When despair presses in, let the weight of hope in Christ press back even harder.

In this week’s message from Crushed, we explore the devastating power of words. Proverbs 18:21 reminds us that “the tongue has the power of life and death,” and many of us know firsthand how words can wound, discourage, or even crush our spirit.

Yet, Scripture also shows us another way. In 1 Peter 2:23, we see Jesus, who—even when insulted and mistreated—did not retaliate but entrusted Himself to God. Crushed by Our Words challenges us to recognize both the weight of what we say and the healing available when we surrender our wounds to Christ.

Words can crush, but in Jesus, there is restoration and the power to speak life instead of death.