Stephen De La Vega

  No survivors. If you weren’t on the ark, you didn’t survive. It’s the unfortunate truth. We have an ark today. Jesus built it with His life and it is life-giving. Think of it as the cross. In the past 6 episodes, we have seen how Noah’s Ark is the ride of our lives because the true story from ancient times is the same story for us today. Come to the cross. The door is open. Step aboard the Ark and live.   This post is Episode 7 of an 8-episode series about boarding and deboarding Noah’s Ark. If you’re visiting this series for the first time, you should start at Episode 1: The Story of Our Lives . Otherwise, sit back and experience Episode 7 .   Episode 7: Victory Over Death   As I mentioned in Episode 6 , Noah’s story didn’t end when his son found him naked and drunk. His other sons covered him through an act of honor and forgiveness and his story is remembered even today as a reminder of God’s judgment upon the unrighteous and His promise to all life ...

  Sometimes I clam up when it comes to openly talking about Jesus and claiming Him as my Savior and Lord outside of Christian circles. I bet I’m not alone in this. Somehow the gospel of Jesus doesn’t always roll naturally off the tongue, even from tongues of seasoned Christians. A year ago, I pondered this question: How did Peter transform from denying Jesus at the cross to boldly preaching the gospel to people across social, economic, cultural, and political classes? So, I launched into a personal exploration of his story which grew into a 9-session series in our work Bible study. Any one of us could’ve been Peter, an everyday, hard-working fisherman earning a normal living and spending non-work time with family and friends. By the end of the series, we recognized Peter as a man who loved Jesus more than he loved himself, and who died a martyr because he wouldn’t stop declaring Jesus as the Savior of the world. In a series of 3 blog posts, we look at what made Peter the outs...

                       Violence       Rage         Manslaughter       Murder                                     Trafficking     Slavery       Exploitation                                           Oppression             Injustice                              Defrauding            Harassment       Abuse                         Threats        Bullying            Intimidation...

We may not think of Jesus’ tomb as a tomb of honor, but it was. It was prepared with honor, it was sacrificed with honor, and Jesus was buried in it with honor. But it was not honor that led Him there. The death of Jesus was a death of mockery, deceit, divisiveness, lies, misunderstanding, and, especially, hatred, retaliation, and pain. But this was all part of God’s gracious plan to restore us into His fellowship. Amazing grace led Jesus to the cross. It’s a story known across the globe and through the ages. We can be saved because of God’s amazing grace. Grace ushered Jesus to the cross and to His earthly grave. By grace we are saved through faith, by grace we enjoy a personal relationship with Christ, and by grace we serve a resurrected Lord. How could someone spread His arms so open with love, and leave them extended to take the blows of torture, of humiliation, of rejection ...even rejection from His Father? How can someone’s love be so perfect? ...