Calvary Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church of Alexandria, Virginia.

07/15/2025

As their future is uncertain, these 63 students, graduating from high school at Rikers, are beating the drum of redemption behind the cinderblock walls they live behind.

07/14/2025

Please consider watching this documentary on renowned Puritan Matthew Henry, best known for his biblical, Reformed, experiential, and practical commentary on the whole Bible, featuring Allan Harman, Ian Hamilton, Sinclair Ferguson, Jeremy Walker, me, and additional contributors. In two hours, you will learn the story of the man behind the Commentary, exploring his spiritual and family life, his ministry, and his historical context. Watch it with your family!

Watch here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPX9ARk-JkU

07/14/2025

08/16/2024

The Holy Spirit directed the laying of the foundations of the Church we belong to! His guiding of the Apostles is the theme of this Lord’s Day here at Calvary Reformed. As we worship together, it is a great joy that we know that our Church is not the result of the whims of men or of political maneuvering, but the creation of Christ by His full work and built from the beginning by God the Spirit! Please join us this Sabbath, August 18, as we REST in such an assurance, as we meet together in the “Church of the Living God” at 1:00 pm EDT; or, if it is not possible to meet with us in person, please join us here (Herschel Carlson)on Facebook Live.
First, we will rejoice at the unity found in the Holy Spirit’s work at the Jerusalem Council. The decision was reached that Gentiles were to be freely offered the Gospel of Grace by faith alone, without becoming Jews first by being circumcised. This “seemed good” to all, this “seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us,” and “having come to one accord!”
When the decision was brought to Antioch, Syria by letter sent with Barnabas and Paul, the Church “rejoiced because of its encouragement!” There were wonderful prophetic ministrations of Judas and Silas, who “encouraged and strengthened the brothers with many words.” Paul and Barnabas remained for a time in Antioch “teaching and preaching the Word of the Lord, with many others also.”
The clarifying of the Gospel brought this rich confidence and reassurance to Antioch, and then to the churches once afflicted with teaching that added conditions beyond Grace and Faith. The Gospel is now cleared of any confusion regarding admission to the Kingdom of Christ for the entire Age! Truly, Amos 9 is being fulfilled! The re-erected Tent of David under the new Headship of Christ is the House of Prayer and Worship for ALL PEOPLES!!
If we think the decision was too generous, we apparently join John Mark and his cousin, Barnabas. They were hesitant to go far into the Gentile world with this message of freedom from ceremonial laws.
But the Spirit chose Silas to join Paul, and they, “having been commended by the brothers to the Grace of the Lord,” went through Syria and Cilicia “strengthening the churches!”
Then we view the most extraordinary leading of the Holy Spirit, as doors are closed to Paul and Silas, though doors that Paul would have chosen. The will of God conquers the will of the Apostles! Another reason for our confidence!
It is the Lord’s Church, and it was never constructed by Apostles or Councils on their own!
At last, coming to Troas, the sea alone was before Paul and Silas. No more lands, provinces, or cities! Where shall they preach? Is the apostolic mission at an end? No!!
A burdened man in a vision pleads for help in Macedonia. And from a tiny beginning, the great movement West begins, leading to the very places the Holy Spirit once forbade them to go, and to Greece itself!
The Church is not malleable by human culture or engineering. It is our Church, in entirety built by the Grace and Mind of Christ! Not unimportant is it’s order! It was so important that the Spirit of Pentecost empowered every detail of the foundation laid by the Apostles and New Testament Prophets! Glorious Church of a Glorious Christ with Glorious Worship and Ministry until Jesus appears!
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Our Hymns and Psalm:
#51. “O Jehovah. Hear My Words.”
(Psalm 5)
#648 “My Jesus, I Love Thee.”
#701 “Redeemed, How I Love to
Proclaim It.”
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The Westminster Shorter Catechism:

Q. 43. What is the preface to the ten commandments?
A. The preface to the ten commandments is in these words, I am the Lord thy God which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bo***ge (Ex. 20:2).
Q. 44. What doth the preface to the ten commandments teach us?
A. The preface to the ten commandments teacheth us, That because God is the Lord, and our God, and Redeemer, therefore we are bound to keep all his commandments (Luke 1:74-75; 1 Peter 1:15-19).
Q. 45. Which is the first commandment?
A. The first commandment is, Thou shalt have no other gods before me (Ex. 20:3).
Q. 46. What is required in the first commandment?
A. The first commandment requireth us to know and acknowledge God to be the only true God, and our God (1 Chron. 28:9; Deut. 26:17); and to worship and glorify him accordingly (Matt. 4:10; Ps. 29:2).

08/14/2024

This evening, August 14, join us here on Facebook Live between 7:00 pm and 7:30 pm EDT for a season of refreshment in God’s Word. Our focus will be on Loving God!

07/31/2024

Tonight, on this last day of July, we join our hearts together in love for God and love for His Law. We will meet here on Facebook Live from 7:00pm to 7:30pm EDT. This is the regular midweek service of Calvary Reformed of Alexandria, VA. Please be with us!

07/27/2024

Readiness and perseverance are our themes from Scripture as we assemble tomorrow on the wonderful Day gifted to us by our Master! He is Lord of the Sabbath!
Join us in God’s presence at 1:00 pm EDT in person or here on Facebook Live. We welcome you!
Are you wearied by the hurt you feel to see the Lord publicly mocked and His Creation Mandate ridiculed by the Satanic “mystery of iniquity?”
Do you hesitate when warfare is called for by the Warrior Savior King
of Psalm 110? Our viewing of Paul’s First Missionary Journey will give us aid!
The follow-up report to the Church in Antioch, Syria- the Church that commended Paul and Barnabas to the Holy Spirit for this ministry- was a report of fulfilled mission. Yet it included Satanic occult resistance, angry crowds of persecutors, and even the near stoning to death of Paul at Lystra. Far from shrinking, the Gospel went forward in power. Paul even returned to the site of his near death!
We saw his first sermon at Antioch Pisidia. There he preached that the Gospel was offered in confidence of three great realities.
First, the Covenant made with the fathers and with David did not fail.
God is faithful to the promises made millennia ago! These promises center upon the coming and work of Jesus Christ. Second, the Lord Jesus is victorious King forever, raised from the dead and seated upon an unassailable Throne. Third, preaching is God’s chosen means for the ingathering of people from every point of the earth! Preaching cannot fail, for God is at work bringing multitudes to bow before the Lamb who was slain and to know His victory over sin and Satan!
What is of greatest value, the Pearl of Great Price, will be opposed by the lovers of the cheap fallen world system and its godless lusts.
But it is so valuable that it must be valiantly carried to the remotest parts of the earth without cowardice or fear! After all, the message carried is also the strength and comfort of those who carry it obediently, if even to the point of severe suffering or death. The power of God unto Salvation for everyone who believes is revealed in continuance. God gives fearless boldness because the message is the very power of God!
Let us go on!! The Crown awaits!
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Our Hymns and Psalm:
#545 “When This Passing World is
Done.”
#184 “The King of Love My
Shepherd Is.” (Psalm 23)
#606 “Teach Me Thy Way, O Lord.”
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The Westminster Shorter Catechism:

Q. 33. What is justification?
A. Justification is an act of God’s free grace, wherein he pardoneth all our sins (Rom. 3:24-25; 4:6-8), and accepteth us as righteous in his sight (2 Cor. 5:19, 21), only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to us (Rom. 5:17-19), and received by faith alone (Gal. 2:16; Phil. 3:9).
Q. 34. What is adoption?
A. Adoption is an act of God’s free grace (1 John 3:1), whereby we are received into the number, and have a right to all the privileges of the sons of God (John 1:12; Rom. 8:17).
Q. 35. What is sanctification?
A. Sanctification is the work of God’s free grace (2 Thess. 2:13), whereby we are renewed in the whole man after the image of God (Eph. 4:23-24), and are enabled more and more to die unto sin, and live unto righteousness (Rom. 6:4, 6; Rom. 8:1).