Nothing We Can Do.

Some people may not like what I am about to say: Nothing that you can do can get you into heaven. Living a good life, helping out the poor, going to church--none of it will ensure that you will spend life after death with God. You may feel like that is quite a hopeless statement (especially coming from a pastor); however, let me explain how we can get to heaven. God is perfect and holy and we are not. No matter how hard we try, we will never be “good enough” to be with him, yet he loved us so much he provided us a way: through His Son, Jesus Christ. See, in Matthew 19:25 the disciples asked Jesus, “Who then can be saved?” to which Jesus responded, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” Believe it or not, you or I living with God in heaven is the most impossible thing imaginable! Our hope comes in John 3:16-18:

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

Nothing that you can do can get you into heaven.

If you believe in Jesus, the Son of God and in his death and resurrection to save us from our misdeeds and ill-thoughts; and if you desire to spend eternity with him, you’re saved! What is impossible for us to do through good-works and being a good-person is possible in the most beautiful way: through belief in God’s saving grace!

I hope you will join us at church on Sunday,

--Pastor Stephen Valcourt

This article wasoriginally printed in the Pincher Creek Echo

Teaching Our Children About Our Faith

It seems there is a push in the western world to let our kids find their own way. The general consensus in culture today says it's bad enough that you are religious, but don't you dare burden your kids with that nonsense! What is truly disturbing is that many Christians have bought into all of this!

While you may think that you are doing your children a service by "allowing" them to find their own way, I do not think you understand the consequences of such actions. To put it simply, leaving Christ out of your children's upbringing leaves them with an empty space inside. This is the space that God designed to be filled by Him--He gave us an unquenchable desire to fill this vacuum. However, if we do not teach our children that God's Holy Spirit is what truly fills this space, our children will be very quick to try filling it with things from the world around them. Without Christ this space cannot ever be truly filled, but without Christ they will continually seek to fill it.

The Bible has a lot to say about teaching our children about God and His ways (Proverbs 22:6, Ephesians 6:4, Psalm 78:3-8, Deuteronomy 6:7). However, today I would like to highlight the story of a woman named Hannah in 1 Samuel 1.

If we do not teach our children that God's Holy Spirit is what truly fills this space they will be very quick to try filling it with things from the world around them.

Hannah was barren (meaning she was unable to have children), but she desired a child with all her heart. She sought and sought after God in prayer until one day she made a promise saying, "O Lord of hosts, if you will indeed look on the affliction of your servant and remember me and not forget your servant, but will give to your servant a son, then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life, and no razor shall touch his head" (1 Samuel 1:10-11 ESV). Right here this woman determined that she would determine the direction of her son's life with God, and God honoured it! Hannah became pregnant with a boy named Samuel, and after he was weaned she took him to the Temple and said to Eli, the Priest: "Oh, my lord! As you live, my lord, I am the woman who was standing here in your presence, praying to the Lord. For this child I prayed, and the Lord has granted me my petition that I made to him. Therefore I have lent him to the Lord. As long as he lives, he is lent to the Lord" (1 Samuel 1:26-28).

Does this sound like leaving your child to find religion on his or her own? No! And that is not God's plan. If we truly want what is best for our children we will seek to teach them who God is. When we, as believers in Christ Jesus, have a child we stand before one another and dedicate her to God--to some extent following Hannah's example.

Do you think that we still won't have much of an effect on our children's faith, even if we do give them to God 100%? Look at the end of verse 28: "And he worshipped the LORD there." Samuel not only followed God, but became one of the most well-known prophets of God. Teach your children who God is and help them form a true relationship with Him. You'll be saving them heartache, and giving them the gift of eternity in heaven with God.

--Pastor Stephen Valcourt

Asking God's Opinion

Have you ever rushed into a decision, just to realize that it wasn't the right one? Or even worse--that you had been deceived? Have you ever thought afterward, "I guess I should have asked God about that one before I rushed into it"? In Joshua 9 we read the story of the Gibeonites. Israel had been busy defeating all their enemies in the promised land, as God had commanded them. God had told the Israelites to completely wipe out the nations near them, because these were perverse nations (think "infant sacrifice" and child prostitutes) and God did not want Israel to chase after these peoples' gods or practices. The Gibeonites were freaked out by everything going on, but they weren't stupid. They sent an envoy to Israel with "worn-out sacks for their donkeys, and wine-skins, worn-out and torn and mended, with worn-out, patched sandals on their feet, and worn-out clothes. And all their provisions were dry and crumbly" (Joshua 9:4-5).

Why would they do this? When they got into Israel's camp they told them that they had heard about what Israel had been up to and that they were from a distant land seeking peace with Israel. They tricked Joshua into making peace with them and into making a covenant with them to let them live.

Later on, the Israelites found out what happened--that the Gibeonites were actually from right next door--and debated what to do, but because of their covenant with them they chose to let them live.

Do you know what was missing in this narrative? Israel, God's chosen people with whom he had given commands and blessings, never once asked God's opinion on the matter. They ended up having to make concessions due to their wrong decision.

Now, I'm not trying to say that we need to pray about every decision we make in life. That would be insane! Asking God what you should have for dinner or if you should watch television or a movie is overkill. But when we look at making a life-altering decision, or one that could have consequences or anything substantial; as Christ-followers, shouldn't we give him the opportunity to show us how to proceed? Isn't that the definition of "following"?

So next time you have a decision to make, let me encourage you to take some time and pray about it. You never know what might happen when you ask God's opinion.

How has asking God's opinion worked in your life? Leave your comments below or on Facebook!

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--Pastor Stephen Valcourt

A Lesson From Downloading Today's iOS 7 update

Like many millions of users around the world, I faithfully updated my iPad to iOS 7.0 today. As I was trying to do so I can upon a problem: an error saying I could not download it. Not to be dissuaded, I tried again. And again. And again. After about ten tries it finally downloaded. Then I received another error. It turns out my battery was too low to complete the update. That was no problem. I simply plugged in my iPad and hit install. It sat there thinking before telling me the update was unavailable. So I tried again. And again. And again. Finally, after many more tries it successfully updated. Yay! I was among that special group of individuals running the latest software on their Apple device.

Then it hit me. How persistent was I in trying to get this latest update on my i-device so I could have the newest, shiniest features? In comparison, I don't think I am often that persistent in many of the (much) more important things in life. If I sleep in and don't have time to do my devotions before leaving for work, (wait for it) sometimes I shrug it off with an "I'll get around to it". I'll be praying for something and be frustrated because it hasn't happened yet.

But then there's those software updates that I wait for months for with bated breath and then try and try and try until I succeed. Perhaps I'm the only one who finds I'm often more persistent in the inconsequential things of life than I am in my faith. Maybe you think less of me now. That's okay, because I learned something about myself today, and my hope is that you'll take this as a reminder to look within yourself and see if you are doing the same.

Many blessings, and I'll see you on Sunday!

--Pastor Stephen Valcourt