Rich Kao

This clip is for pure fun....the amazing power of touch, feel & taste....can pro basketball player Caron Butler pick out the right straw?

Friends, let's go change the world.  We only have one life to live, then eternity with Jesus.  Let's do it in our generation.

Here is an excerpt & quote from our "Simply Deep and Deeply Simple" teaching series, which focuses on the "Big Truths" of the bible.  Part 1 was on the Trinity.

“The trinity is the first community and the ideal for all communities.  It’s the only community that has not beeen stained by sin.  In the diversity of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, there is perfect unity as one God that communicates truthfully, loves unreservedly, lives connectedly, serves humbly, interacts peaceable and serves selfllessly.  The trinity is the ideal community in every way.  Or, to say it another way, God is a friend, and has Friends.”     p.12, Doctrine, Driscoll & Breshears.

The life of Noah has been illuminated for me in recent days, and three themes have come to me as I've reflected on his story, all which revolve around that which Noah is most known for - building the ark. 

1. God has an ark of salvation for you.

Sometimes in our passion to do good, be light, be salt, we forget there is an end goal to the gospel.  And that's to see people get saved.  We may not be called to be a Billy Graham that leads the multitudes to Christ, but we do have an "appointed" group of people God wants us to impact.  In Noah's case, he saved 7 other people, his three sons, their wives and his own wife (Gen 7:13).  Not massive results, but then God wasn't looking for massive results.  He was looking for Noah to fill "his boat" with the appointed ones.  What mattered to God was not the number, but their "potency" and "future impact."  With the seven that Noah saved, they repopulated the whole world.  If I had the privilege of being the prayer warrior that prayed Billy Graham into the kingdom (as the story goes), I could leave this earth deliriously satisfied that I got the "one" I was supposed to get into my ark.    We may not be called as a full-fledged evangelist, but God does have ones apppointed for us to bring to faith in Him.

2. God has an ark of destiny for you. (Gen. 6:14a)

Noah was called to do something that had never been done before.  It was unique. It was novel.  It was unheard of.  We are all born with a unique destiny and calling.  And it requires faith to walk in it because no one else has been down that path in the exact same way God is calling you down the path.  No one had built an ark before.  Noah had no "mentor" in that sense.  And yet, Noah fulfilled his call. And he did it exactly as God told him (Gen. 6:22).  Many times we think God just gives us the big picture, the headlines, and then leaves us to figure out the details.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  God delights to guide us in the details, the hows, whens, wheres, and more.  Read Gen. 6:14-16.  God was specific with Noah, and He will be specific with your calling.  It can take time to unfold.  It takes a long time to harvest gopher wood for the ark, but it will come.  And when you hear the "rain falling" you will be glad you built your ark.

3. God has an ark of intimacy for you.

Noah was a righteous man that walked with God (Gen. 6:9).  It was that ark of friendship, fellowship and intimacy with God that ultimately carried him above the floods of life.  It was what kept him safe above the storms, and waves and wind.  In actuality,  this intimacy was the foundation for the first two arks, as they gave Noah the confidence he needed to walk out his calling, and the authority he needed to call his family "into the boat."  This is where is all began for Noah, and it's where it begins for us; living in nearness to God.  When that is our life, then it becomes redemptive and a glory to God.  And that is the whole point.