Los Angeles is the forgetful city. We don’t often think too much about the past or much more than a few years in our future. I’ve been meditating the last few weeks on the forgotten biblical truth on hell. Hell is one of those things that has been dislodged from the modern pulpit and much more so from modern conversation. If it’s not mentioned in the pulpit, there’s no way it’s going to gain a hearing outside. If the church doesn’t preach hell, the world sure won’t!

Jesus portrays hell as a place of weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matthew 8:12). It’s a place devoid of the presence and glory of God. A lot of people think that hell is unfair. But think about this: Hell is simply God saying, “no” to being in His presence. Everybody claims that they have a right to reject God in their life. Everybody intuitively believes that they can walk away from God. But how can you say that you have a right to say, “no” to God and then say God has no right to say “no” to you at the end of your life? Or would you say that you have rights that God doesn’t?

If you accept the premise of hell a lot of things follow:

Only when you understand what you have been saved from can you really appreciate the significance of the idea of salvation. If you don’t have hell what exactly are you saved from? But with the idea of hell we fall on our knees in gratitude that we have saved from the depths of destruction unto a life eternal.

The doctrine of hell also gives us perspective on what is at stake in this life. In Philippians 3 Paul speaks of “enemies of the cross” whose end is destruction. But he never says this casually. He says this with tears in his eyes (vs. 18). So often we have all these relationships with people who are going to hell but we don’t say a word. Instead of weeping for them we laugh with them. Instead of warning them we talk about the last sports game. There are family members and friends who stand on the precipice of disaster and we speak not a word.

I think about these ideas and it drives me to repentance for the shallow and insignificant ways I spend my time. May God revive this truth so long forgotten to his church and his people.

I’ve been gearing up for the next year of preaching here at City Light. I’ve been reading, thinking and praying for inspiration and direction. Sometimes I go back to “older voices” for inspiration. I love the puritans and older preachers who bring us back to fundamental temptations and realities. Here’s Phillips Brooks:

“The great danger facing all of us… is not that we shall make an absolute failure of life, nor that we shall fall into outright viciousness, nor that we shall be terribly unhappy, nor that we shall feel [that] life has no meaning at all – not these things. The danger is that we may fail to perceive life’s greatest meaning, fall short of its highest good, miss its deepest and most abiding happiness, be unable to tender the most needed service, be unconscious of life ablaze with the light of the Presence of God – and be content to have it so – that is the danger: that some day we may wake up and find that always we have been busy with (husks and) trappings of life and have really missed life itself. For life without God, to one who has known the richness and joy of life with Him, is unthinkable, impossible. That is what one prays one’s friends may be spared – satisfaction with a life that falls short of the best, that has in it no tingle or thrill that comes from a friendship with the Father.”

I realized that’s the great temptation for so many of us. The greatest danger is not that we’ll make a failure out of life or lose our faith entirely or that we’ll become miserable. The greatest danger is that we’ll miss out on God’s greatest blessings. The biggest enemey of the great is the good. The greatest danger is that we’ll settle for having a good marriage, a good career and good friends. Those are good things but not the greatest thing. The danger is that those good things will keep us from the greatest thing – LIFE ABLAZE with the glory of God.

At our church we’re going to be reading through the New Testament in 60 Days. So many people base their Christian walk on:

- Their feelings

- Christian books

- Advice of other Christians

But often we negelect the very words of God Himself. So for sixty days we’re going to seek to saturate ourselves in God’s word and prayer. We’re going to be doing in not as individuals but as a community. We hope to enhance this experience by sharing our thoughts, prayers and experiences on the City Light Church Facebook page. I’ll also be twittering at twitter.com/denniskang along the way. If you want to follow us log onto our website at citylightchurch.org or Facebook page.