In 1878 bandits hid their stolen gold somewhere in South Dakota. Yet, this treasure is worthless if no one knows where it is.
Many years before I became a pastor, I really spent a lot of my summer wakeboarding and I remember a friend of mine one day came out on the boat with us and he decided to snap a few pictures.
Do you remember that old song, “Don't Worry, Be Happy?”
God wants you to give him your heart, what does that mean? What does it mean to give someone your heart?
"The last thing to be converted on a man is his pocketbook." Is your wallet a believer? Has it been converted? What does that even mean?
"You can't take it with you when you die." That's what everyone says, but there is something you can take with you when you die.
Sometimes we have bad ideas and we make bad decisions. God had a good idea which was to send Jesus to take your place. Your sins are forgiven. You are at peace with God.
What is the opposite of Chaos? It's Peace. It's the Peace that Jesus first shared with his disciples when he appeared to them in the upper room on Easter evening.
"They have taken away my Lord..." The tomb was empty and for Mary there was only one explanation. The body had been taken. Mary stood outside facing the tomb, weeping.
When Jesus suffered and died on the cross, he was taking the sting of your sins into his own body.
Look up and live. That was a safety initiative when I was in high school in Australia. It's also the instructions God gave to the Israelites in the Old Testament. And it's what God says to us even today.
God feels furthest away when we're in the middle of a temptation. Yet, we're not alone. Jesus has faced similar temptations and when he answered them, he did it for you.
