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There is often an initial romance after God calls you and sends you. But after the romance of that initial calling, there is the reality of a time of testing. This testing may be so severe that it tempts you to question your calling and His love for you.

And yet, God is just as much in control in that time of testing as He was when He first called you. You don’t have to thrive during this time of testing—you just have to survive.

Even for God’s own Son, His initial calling into earthly ministry was immediately followed by the reality of ministry (see Mark 1:11-12). All of it was preparing Jesus for a more fruitful, impactful and compassionate ministry.

We considered this time of testing in Jesus’ ministry and how we can learn from it to prepare ourselves for times of testing in our own walk with the Lord during our study in the Gospel of Mark this past Sunday.

Join us this Sunday as we continue our study in the Gospel of Mark. Our worship service stats at 10am. Join us in-person at the Regency or online at live.refuge.mn.

New Live Stream Link

We are so grateful for the technology we are able to use to connect with everyone. Being able to live stream our services has been a blessing! With our new website and app, we will live streaming our worship services (with a live chat feature) at live.refuge.mn. This new platform will give us more flexibility in sharing our time together.

We will continue to make our live stream available on YouTube for use with media streaming devices (such as ChromeCast or Roku), but will no longer have the live chat feature there.

Check it out this Sunday as we continue our study in the Gospel of Mark!

Baby Bottles for Change

Collection this Sunday (February 21st)

The baby bottles that were handed out at the beginning of the month will be collected this Sunday (February 21st).

By a baby bottle, you’re taking a stand for men and women in the community who need the support of Pregnancy Resource Center. Your support helps PRC share the love of Jesus Christ by preserving the lives of unborn children and meeting the specific physical, emotional, and spiritual needs through medical, educational, and counseling services.

PRC is a Christ-centered ministry that reaches abortion-vulnerable women, empowers men and women to make informed decisions, and encourages spiritual growth and godly community. Learn more about the ministry of PRC at PregHelpFriends.com.

K-5th Proverbs 3 Study

We've been working our way though Proverbs 3 with the K-5th graders at Refuge. It's a wonderful chapter full of applications and insights into the character of God!

Part of our time with the kids is working on memorizing the chapter. It's a venture of faith, but one that we hope will bless the kids and their walk with the Lord. To help with memorizing, two awesome ladies have set the scripture (NLT version) to a tune and created actions that we've been reviewing with the kids during our time together Sundays. This video is our first take and it only covers the first 8 verses—we hope to reshoot soon with better quality and more verses but wanted to share what we have.

Even if your K-5th child accompanies you during Sunday services, we hope this video (and the versions to come) will be a blessing to you and your family as you work with your child to hide God's word in their heart. If you have any questions, feel free to connect with Pastor Nate at nate@refuge.mn.

Refuge FM

Our radio station is a direct extension of our ministry of here at Refuge. Tune in and enjoy the various musical selections that point to Jesus and communicate the Gospel. It’s a wonderful opportunity to reach our community for Christ.

You can listen right now on 96.1 FM (in and around the St. Cloud area), in the Refuge app (more info below) or online at Refuge.fm.

Download the New Refuge App

The Refuge app keeps you connected with our fellowship. Get instant access to our live stream worship services, archives of previous messages, and notifications of upcoming events. You can also share messages with others and download messages for listening offline.

Download it on your smart devices today—just search for Refuge-A Calvary Chapel Church in the Apple App Store, the Google Play Store, or the Amazon App Store for Android.

We also updated our website! Check out the all new Refuge.mn for links to messages, access to live stream services, and much more!

New Online Giving Platform

We’ve moved from EasyTithe to Subsplash Giving! Giving will be simplier than ever and can be initiated on our website or in our app.

If you have recurring giving through EasyTithe, you’ll need to cancel your account and sign up for Subsplash Giving.

What you need to do:

• Login to your account on EasyTithe to turn off your recurring giving.

• Sign up for Subsplash Giving and set up a recurring gift (here’s a short video explaining the steps).

Please let us know if you have any questions.

At His baptism, Jesus’ call to ministry came with the heavens parting, the Spirit descending on Him like a dove, and God’s voice from heaven declaring His favor.

And immediately after that glorious moment…the Sprit sends Jesus into the wilderness. Life is like that—even for the Son of God. There’s an initial romance in the call to ministry followed by a time of severe testing.

While in the wilderness for 40 days, Jesus was tempted by Satan. The Gospel of Luke records three specific temptations (Luke 4:1-13), but there were most likely many more. This would have been a severe time of testing and suffering for Jesus—but it would prepare Him for the rest of His ministry.

Although Jesus emerged from this time of testing and temptation unstained by sin, He was changed by the human experience. Jesus was made perfect though suffering (Hebrews 2:10) and is our compassionate High Priest (Hebrews 4:14).

At His most vulnerable and physically weakest, Jesus felt what we feel. He could sympathize with our times of testing. He could understand the temptations we face. His time of testing produced an empathy and compassion for the people He was to serve in His earthly ministry.

And God also leads us through seasons where our faith is tested. These trials refine and purify us so that God’s heart and character is ever more gloriously reflected in our lives.

As You with Satan did contend
And did the vict'ry win,
O give us strength in You to fight,
In You to conquer sin.