Your Ark Encounter

A series on God’s calling: Noah
 (Click on the link below to read the verses.)
Genesis 6:5-22 

[Traditionally we think of someone who has received “God’s call on their life” as being a missionary or pastor or some other paid ministry position. But God has called all of us into ministry. And there’s not just one way that He does it. In this series, we will look at how God called people in the Bible to ministry, and what that means to us.]

  

In July 2024, my wife and I visited The Ark Encounter in Kentucky with our granddaughter Everly. The main attraction was a life-size representation of the ark that Noah built. 

They speculated on many daily details of living that I had never considered. It was all very interesting, but somewhat theoretical for us.

 

That was, until later that year when Hurricane Helene caused significant damage and loss of life in many states across the southeast. North Carolina was especially devastated with flooding, and particularly the city of Ashland.

 

In Genesis, Noah didn’t face a hurricane resulting from atmospheric conditions off the coast. He faced a hurricane of God’s judgement due to the wickedness of mankind.

 

⁵ The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time.   NIV

 

In fact, the people were so evil that God regretted that he had ever created mankind. Scripture tells us that, “God’s heart was deeply troubled”. As a result, he came to a difficult decision.

 

⁷ So the Lord said, “I will wipe from the face of the earth the human race I have created—and with them the animals, the birds and the creatures that move along the ground—for I regret that I have made them.”            NIV

 

However, God always provides a means for redemption. He is constantly seeking us out to draw us to him. The same was true at this time and he found just the right person. “Noah found favor with the Lord”.

 

Therefore, God called Noah to be an integral part of his redemptive plan; he called him into ministry; he called him to build an ark.

 

¹⁴ “Build a large boat from cypress wood and waterproof it with tar, inside and out. Then construct decks and stalls throughout its interior. ¹⁵ Make the boat 450 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high.      NLT

 

God’s call could easily have puzzled Noah because he was many miles from any large body of water. Also, he may have felt overwhelmed by such a large project to undertake with just his family. Finally, living in such an evil and godless culture may well have given Noah serious doubts. Yet, he obeyed.

 

²² Noah did everything just as God commanded him.            NIV

 

Just like Noah provided the means for saving humanity then, Jesus has provided the means for saving humanity now. He has made it possible for anyone to metaphorically, “board the ark to be saved from the flood”.

 

God is still at work today. Like Noah, he’s calling us to be a part of his plan of redemption; he’s calling us into ministry; he’s calling us to “build an ark”. 

So, what is your ark encounter that God is calling you to do?

 

Copyright 2025 Joseph B Williams

Feel free to share this blog with others.

www.lifelinebasketball.blogspot.com

 

 

 

Pleasing Dad

A series on the book of Hebrews:
Encouragement to endure and live faithfully
(Click on the link below to read the verses.)
Hebrews 13 

[When you first start to follow Christ, often it’s done with great excitement. It’s like falling in love when all you can think about is the other person, and you want to tell everyone you know. But then the day-to-day pressures of living can push out those feelings and dull your enthusiasm. In this series, we will look at how the author of Hebrews tried to counteract falling out of love with Jesus.]

  

In the fall of 1968 when I left for my freshman year of college, my Dad told me that he expected me to write a letter every week. Of course, this was long before everybody had a cell phone, let alone emails. In fact, I’m not even sure that there was a pay phone on our dorm floor.

 

I must have complied with my Dad’s request. It was all he asked me to do to please him. It was left unsaid that he also expected me to attend classes and keep up with my schoolwork. But still, it wasn’t a burdensome request for pleasing Dad.

 

Over the generations, Israel had gotten off track. They had become focused on obeying rules, rather than developing a relationship; offering sacrifices, rather than showing mercy; observing religious festivals, rather than walking humbly with God. They had lost sight of how to truly please the Lord.

 

In this chapter, the writer of Hebrews ended his letter with verses about how the Hebrews could please God. The writer exhorted them about their moral and religious behavior.  No topic was off limits.

 

He told them to keep loving one another; to keep their marriage sexually pure; to stay free from the love of money; to avoid strange teachings; to follow the example of their spiritual mentors. He reminded them that pleasing God included trusting in His promises, in who he is and in what he did for them.

 

^5b “I will never fail you.
    I will never abandon you.”       NLT

 

 ⁸ Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.          NIV

 

¹² So also Jesus suffered and died outside the city gates to make his people holy by means of his own blood.                NLT

 

In the same way that my Dad told me how to please him, the writer told the Hebrews how to please God. He didn’t focus on rules or religion, but on relationships.

¹⁵ Therefore, let us offer through Jesus a continual sacrifice of praise to God, proclaiming our allegiance to his name. ¹⁶ And don’t forget to do good and to share with those in need. These are the sacrifices that please God.          NLT

 

The prophet Micah, after asking what offerings would please God, came to this conclusion.

 

⁸ The Lord has told us what is good. What he requires of us is this: to do what is just, to show constant love, and to live in humble fellowship with our God.                 GNT

 

Copyright 2025 Joseph B Williams

Feel free to share this blog with others.

www.lifelinebasketball.blogspot.com

 

 

 

Why God?

A series on the book of Hebrews:
God disciplines His children
(Click on the link below to read the verses.)
Hebrews 12:1-29 

[When you first start to follow Christ, often it’s done with great excitement. It’s like falling in love when all you can think about is the other person, and you want to tell everyone you know. But then the day-to-day pressures of living can push out those feelings and dull your enthusiasm. In this series, we will look at how the author of Hebrews tried to counteract falling out of love with Jesus.]

  

Have you ever cried out to God asking, “Why God?” One of the most painful times in my life occurred a few years after getting married. My wife was pregnant for our first child. We did everything we could to prepare for the new arrival.

 

We painted and wallpapered the nursery; bought a rocking chair for holding our baby while feeding; refinished the highchair I had used as a baby; assembled the crib; and had a baby shower. But then the unthinkable happened!

 

My wife went in for her regular prenatal checkup with our family doctor. When he wasn’t able to find a heartbeat, he immediately sent her to the hospital. They did an ultrasound, also not detecting a heartbeat. An OBGYN told us that our baby was still born! Why God! It wasn’t so much a question as it was a cry for help.

 

The Hebrews knew that feeling. They had given everything they had to follow Jesus. Made every sacrifice with the hope and expectation that he would return. They had suffered through persecution – but still nothing. It had gotten to the point where they were ready to reject Christ. “Why God”!

 

That’s when the anonymous writer of Hebrews stepped in. He wrote how Jesus was superior to their Jewish heritage, beliefs and traditions. In fact, he was the fulfillment of them. He reasoned with the Hebrews; he quoted Old Testament scripture; he warned them of consequences; he listed faithful followers.

 

Finally, in this chapter, he reminded them that God is like their earthly father who guided them through loving discipline. But, as their Heavenly Father, God’s goal was for them to draw closer to him and to grow in their faith.

 

¹⁰ For our earthly fathers disciplined us for a few years, doing the best they knew how. But God’s discipline is always good for us, so that we might share in his holiness.      NLT

 

However, not only was the Lord’s discipline for them to become holy and righteous, but also it was proof of his love.

 

⁵ “My child, don’t make light of the Lord’s discipline,
    and don’t give up when he corrects you.
⁶ For the Lord disciplines those he loves,
    and he punishes each one he accepts as his child.”            NLT

 

God is not only a disciplining parent who loves us, but also a demanding coach who pushes us. He pushes us to go beyond what we think we’re capable of; to go beyond our self-imposed boundaries; to go beyond our own self-centered interests. Ultimately, he wants us to go beyond ourselves to help others.

 

The writer instructed the Hebrews to live lives that would share the ‘joy of redemption’ and ‘hope for restoration’ with those around them; to be an example for others to follow; to help others work through their own pain and suffering.

 

¹⁴ Try to be at peace with everyone, and try to live a holy life, because no one will see the Lord without it.       GNT

 

Sometimes there are no easy answers when we cry out to God. But no matter what, we can know for sure that he loves us, is always with us and understands our pain. After all, his own son whom he loved cried out with the same question. “Why God”!

 

Copyright 2025 Joseph B Williams

Feel free to share this blog with others.

www.lifelinebasketball.blogspot.com

 

 

 

 

By Faith

A series on the book of Hebrews:
Heroes of faith
(Click on the link below to read the verses.)
Hebrews 11:1-12:3 

[When you first start to follow Christ, often it’s done with great excitement. It’s like falling in love when all you can think about is the other person, and you want to tell everyone you know. But then the day-to-day pressures of living can push out those feelings and dull your enthusiasm. In this series, we will look at how the author of Hebrews tried to counteract falling out of love with Jesus.]

  

In 2010, Michigan State had a really good football team. Their regular season record was 11-1, and they were the Big Ten Champions. As a result, the Spartans were invited to the Capital One Bowl game in Orlando on New Years Day.

 

My wife and I decided to go to the bowl game, along with my brother, his wife, their son (all big Spartan fans) and one of my sisters. 

By faith, we bought tickets for the game, tickets for our flight and reserved a hotel room. We hoped and believed that the Spartans would be victorious.

 

Hebrews was written to Jewish Christians who were struggling. They had been severely persecuted. As a result, they were beginning to lose hope that Jesus would return. It was so bad that they were losing their faith. 

They needed encouragement. They needed to see the big picture. They needed to see God’s faithfulness at work.

 

The author of Hebrews begins chapter 11 by defining faith in terms of hope for an unseen reward.

 

¹ To have faith is to be sure of the things we hope for, to be certain of the things we cannot see. ² It was by their faith that people of ancient times won God's approval.            GNT

 

In this chapter, the writer mentions a number of Old Testament people who had acted “by faith” under difficult circumstances and gained God’s approval. Noah had built a boat in the middle of dry land. Abraham had left his home for a land unseen. Moses led the people of Israel out of slavery in Egypt.

 

And yet, we read that they never saw what they had hoped for. They never received God’s promise. They were living with delayed gratification… by faith.

 

¹³ All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth.  NIV

 

With the bowl game, like these Old Testament Jews, even though we had acted by faith, we didn’t receive what we had hoped for – a Spartan victory. But we still had hope because there was always next season. The Israelites had an even better hope!

 

¹⁶ But they were looking for a better place, a heavenly homeland. That is why God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.                   NLT

 

Following chapter 11, the writer begins his conclusion using the word “therefore”. This means that what was to follow was the whole reason why he had written about all those Old Testament people. Here’s what he wrote.

 

¹ Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, ^2a fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.    NIV

 

Like the writer did in chapter 10, he gave them a “to do” list beginning with the two-letter phrase “let us”. He encouraged them to “throw off everything that hinders”; to “run with perseverance”; and to “fix your eyes on Jesus”.

 

This was good advice for Christians struggling in the first century. It’s also good advice for Christians struggling in the twenty-first century! 

We don’t always get what we hope for. But if we live by faith, God will be pleased with us and one day say, “Well done my good and faithful servant”.

 

Copyright 2025 Joseph B Williams

Feel free to share this blog with others.

www.lifelinebasketball.blogspot.com