I remember seeing pictures of Noah’s ark in my storybooks when I was a child. The animals are on the deck with Noah. They’re smiling. Noah’s smiling. His family is smiling. Everything is clean and shiny.

Whoever drew those pictures hasn’t spent much time around animals. I like animals. I have three dogs and a cat. But I also know what it would be like to be trapped on a boat with a bunch of animals for more than a year.

Can you imagine the noise? Can you imagine the insects? Can you imagine the smell? It would be4 enough to drive you crazy.

Is it any surprise that the first thing Noah did when he got off the ark was kill some animals? “Then Noah built an altar to the LORD and, taking some of all the clean animals and clean birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings on it.” (Genesis 8:20) I don’t know that sacrificing an animal was a pleasant experience, but if anyone ever enjoyed it, I bet Noah did.

So why would he put up with the noise and the smell? Why would he live that long in the middle of a bunch of animals? Because the only alternative was death. The ark was where life could be found.

Like it or not, the church can be that way. It’s not always easy putting up with other people. While the noise and smell may only be figurative, life in the church can be exasperating at times. But we have to remember that, like it or not, it’s in the church that life can be found.

When you think you can’t take it anymore, remember Noah. When the donkeys are braying and the stalls need shoveling, think about what the alternatives are. If we can put up with the hard times, we may find that the sun shines again and the rainbow comes out.

If you haven’t found an ark, I mean a church, in your area, let us know. Choose “Contact Us” from the top menu, then fill out the form, indicating that you would like help finding a church.

Some of them are amazingly expensive. Like the Ferrari FF listed at Neiman Marcus; it can be yours for only $390,000. You may want to hurry. They only have 10 available.

For mom, Amazon lists a black pearl necklace for a mere $76,500 dollars. Don’t worry… the item ships for free.

Another option is a gift card from Halcyon jets. A $5 million gift card! Actually, it’s called a Dream Card, and it gives you full access to their complete fleet of jets, as well as a private aviation specialist and a personal concierge.

For the truly discriminating, might I suggest you consider purchasing an island? You can get a lovely 20-acre island off the coast of Rio de Janeiro for a mere $8 million. Sorry… only one per customer.

Most of us won’t be spending quite as much on Christmas gifts, though many will spend more than they should. There’s something about the Christmas season that makes us want to give gifts in a big way.

However, we know that the greatest gift has already been given. No one can match the extravagance of our Heavenly Father, who gave us what the apostle Paul calls an “indescribable gift.” (2 Corinthians 9:15) God gave us His own Son, not as a Christmas gift, but as the gift that never stops giving. God’s Son, Jesus, came and died, to give us all the right to claim the gift of eternal life.

The apostle John famously wrote, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16–17)

In this season of giving and receiving, let’s take time to remember the greatest gift of all: God’s Son. And let’s make sure that we’ve claimed the gift He offers each of us: the gift of eternal life.

It seems to be natural. Have you ever met a child that didn’t like stories? That didn’t want to be read to at night?

It’s not surprising that so much of the Bible is made up of stories. Well, maybe it is surprising. When we think of what we’ll find in a religious book, we often expect some sort of rule book or owner’s manual, telling people exactly how to live. And some of the Bible could be described that way.

But it’s mostly stories. Stories of grand adventures. Stories of everyday life. Stories of miracles and stories of tragedies. Stories that make you want to stand up and cheer, as well as stories that make you want to boo the villain.

Reading these stories can be a bit like reading any other history book. Until we get to that special part where God invites us to be a part of the story. To add our story to the stories that we find written in the Bible. To jump into the flow of God’s story and ride it all the way to the end.

I love looking at the videos on this website. People tell their story in those videos, their story about how God made them part of His story. Like the stories in the Bible, these stories involve tragedy and victory, great happiness and deep pain. And the stories have happy endings, because God can take every story and make it end well.

You’ve got a story. It’s a unique story that’s being written every day. But your story needs an ending, a happy ending. And I know that the only way your story can end happily is if you make your story part of God’s story.

Jokes about hell were rampant.  Messages were posted for Satan to come retrieve his residence.  The phrase “hotter than hell” was used often.  People would even joke about needing to go to church if this is what hell was going to be like.  The outbreak of wildfires across the state contributed to the jokes about hell.  And every one of them was missing the point.  It wasn’t just that the heat and fire here cannot really compare at all to what the reality of hell will be. It is that the heat and fire are not the worst part of hell.

The most frightening part of hell is that we will be separated from God forever.  Our rebellion against God – our sin – has separated us from God.  He is perfect and holy.  Sin cannot exist is His presence.  Yet He loves us so much that He could not stand the thought of us being out of His presence.  So He sent His only Son to this earth to do what we could not.  His Son came and lived a holy life here.  He did what He should do and never did what He should not have done.  He was perfect and holy.  And then He died to pay for our sins.  So that by sharing in His death we could be restored to relationship with God. 

God fixed it so that we could live forever in His holy presence.  Unholy people can be made holy by the gift of Jesus.  Believe in Him and live with God forever.  Choose not to believe and be separated from God forever.  That is that scariest part of hell.  God has fixed the problem with hell by offering His Son.  Believe it.  It is the best news you will ever hear.

Blessings,

steve

The day before, I hadn’t felt that way. I was wrestling with a decision, a decision that would change my life forever.

I was a teenage boy at a church camp. I had heard a man from a church, a judge, describe things he had seen in his line of work, particularly cases of troubled young people. I came from a good home, but those stories made me take a hard look at myself. And I knew that I wanted a change.

I wanted to be clean. I knew that there were things in my life that weren’t right. I knew that I had done things I shouldn’t have. Above all, I knew that I was living a life focused on me. That way of living had left me stained and dirty.

If someone were to look at me from the outside, they would have seen a good kid. But I knew there was more to the story. I wanted to be right with God, and I knew that I wasn’t good enough to be right with God. I needed His help to be clean again, to get rid of the stains my past had left.

So on a dark August night, I stepped forward and said that I wanted to be born again. I wanted to be baptized into Christ. I was lead into the Central Texas waters of Lake LBJ, cold water that made me shiver. I remember being lowered into the water, seeing it close above my head. Then I came out of the water, a changed person, a new creation as the Bible says. I had been born again into the family of God.

That dark August night led to the bright August morning. Where I had felt stained, I now felt clean. Where I had felt weighed down, I now felt nothing but freedom.

The night was gone. The sun was shining. And I was right with God.

If you haven’t experienced the wonder of new birth, merely reading about it isn’t enough. You need to live it for yourself. Go to the front page of this site, read the four steps there, then let us help you get right with God.

In recent years, Governor Bill Richardson announced his intention to pardon Billy (whose real name was Henry McCarty; “Billy” came from his alias, William Bonney). However, Richardson decided against doing so on his last day in office, and Billy continues to wait for his pardon.

None of this matters to Billy, of course. He’s long past caring about whether the State of New Mexico considers him a fugitive or not. Politicians can say what they want, but young Billy’s fate was decided long ago. As the writer of the biblical book of Hebrews says “man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment.” (Hebrews 9:27)

What about my pardon? I never killed anyone, as Billy the Kid is said to have done. I’ve done no time in prison nor ever been in trouble with the law. But I need a pardon, just as badly as Billy does.

The Bible says that everyone has sinned and needs God’s mercy. (Romans 3:23) Without God’s pardon, I’m no better off than Billy the Kid or any other villain who has lived on this earth. Fortunately, God doesn’t make me wait. The same passage that says that we’ve all sinned also says that Jesus paid the price for that sin, so that I don’t have to. (Romans 3:24)

If you don’t know how to receive the pardon God offers, read through the four steps you’ll find on the home page of this site, and you’ll learn that you don’t need a governor to declare you not guilty. God can do that for you today. No waiting involved.

The trouble with life is that it is so unpredictable. It just happens. If I am not ready, it goes on anyway. Birthdays come, children grow up and leave home, cars break down, and teeth get cavities, whether I am ready or not. Even the exciting things of life can come and go without giving you time to get ready: a baby’s first step, a first kiss, a “take it or leave it” job offer. Sometimes the unexpected is not exciting, just painful: natural disaster, life threatening illness, or a child’s crisis. If I am going to handle the surprises of life, I need a way to be as prepared as I can be for the road ahead.

I need to understand what is important in life, I need to know what my purpose is for living, and I need to know how to make sense of what happens when life interrupts my living. Something needs to make sense out of all this. So here is what works for me. I believe God is in control of my life, I believe he has a purpose for me during my life, and I believe I will live forever because of his love for me.

So the unexpected curves and events of life make sense to me; not that I understand everything that happens, but because I trust in the one who does understand everything that happens. And frankly, if I didn’t believe someone bigger than me was in charge, I am not sure I could take it. However, I know I am part of a bigger plan and I have a purpose within that plan.

You too can know that your life makes sense because it has purpose. Let me help you find it.

Then almost rudely she queried, “Why?” As I looked at her face, I realized she didn’t understand the motive and I started to formulate an answer that should have been obvious to her as well as to me, but I had rarely framed a response. “It’s about souls to Heaven. It’s all about heaven. We want people to get to heaven,” I finally affirmed.

“Oh,” she countered and her book came out, signaling that our conversation had ended.

The book of I John talks about: Doing what God wants you to do, believing in Jesus, confessing sins, loving your brothers by actually do things in addition to saying them and then in chapter 5, verse 13, he writes:

These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.

In his gospel, John says God loved the world so much that He gave Jesus so we can believe in Him and have everlasting life. John 3:16-17:

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

It’s All about Heaven!! Our mission, obligation and responsibility is to tell the remaining 2/3 of the world’s population (4.4 Billion) about Jesus, so that those who do what God commands will go to Heaven.

Sooooo:

For you, is going to Heaven important?

Why?

How do YOU get to Heaven? And what are you going to do about it?

They didn’t stay in bed all day. It was a day for being with family, for worship and for recreation. It was a time for all the things that could get neglected during the regular work week. The principal goal of the day was rest.

Rest has a bad reputation today. For many, the word “rest” smacks of laziness and sloth. We live in an “always on” society, where people brag of their ability to multitask (which is another word for not concentrating on any one thing!). Our cell phones beckon us night and day. E-mails clamor for our attention. We want instant, we want immediate, we want everything done now. Where does rest fit into such a society?

If you’re getting ahead of me, you probably think I’m going to propose that we return to one day per week of rest. While that’s certainly a positive thing, I don’t think it’s enough. I don’t think we should be satisfied with one day of rest. I don’t think we should be satisfied with weeks or months of rest.

We should be seeking rest that has no end. In the Bible, the writer of the book we call Hebrews says, “So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his.” (Hebrews 4:9-10)

This isn’t a one-day-a-week rest. It’s a one-day-that-never-ends rest. He’s talking about the rest we’ll have when this life is over, the rest that we’ll have with God.

That’s the Sabbath I want. Not just one day. I want to come into the presence of God and know that I can forever turn off my cell phone, shut down my computer and enjoy being with Him. I won’t have to worry about work or bills or retirement any more. All I will have to do is rest.

That same writer goes on to write, “Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience.” (Hebrews 4:11) Sounds like a good goal, the same goal people had under the old Sabbath. The goal is rest, God’s rest, the eternal Sabbath.

His treatise is a letter he sent to Christians in the city of Rome and it is in the eighth chapter that he poses the question and notes that no external influence can cause separation.

Yet Paul, the Apostle, knew the whole answer which began in Moses’ book of Genesis, in Chapter 3 when God asks of His creation “where are you?”, Adam was afraid for he had disobeyed the Lord God and hid himself. The answer was finalized by the visionary prophet Isaiah when God used his pen say:

“Your iniquities have separated you from your God; and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear.” Isa 59:2

The question remains, who can separate us from the love of God? And the answer is—we can when we choose not to follow his ways. We can when we disobey his rules for living. We can when we hide behind our habitual sin. We can when we decide to be unholy and unworthy.
But, if we choose to allow Jesus to redeem us, save us, make us Holy, affirm that we are worthy—Then NOTHING can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord!

Sooooo.. Are you separated from God?

Why have you chosen to be so distant from Him?

Are you like Adam, having disobeyed God that you have hidden yourself from him?