Near-death experiences seem to reinforce the popular belief that the soul goes to heaven or hell as soon as the body dies. But the Bible repeatedly describes death as a dreamless sleep from which we awake at one of two resurrections.

What happens to people when they die? We don't need to be afraid of death. (Recorded in Australia in 2009)

It's a fact of life that people grapple with discouragement, despair, and depression. There are many causes of discouragement. How can we deal with it?

The great climax of the world's history is going to be when Christ comes and He sets everything right. Part 1 of 2

What does it mean when God says "I will open up the windows of heaven", speaking of tithes and offerings. Is that still valid today?

In the center of Revelation, a woman that flees into the wilderness and brings forth a man-child, is one of the most important studies of Revelation.

What does the Bible say about how to take care of our bodies so that we could have a longer, stronger, more abundant life? - Part 1

What does the Bible say about how to take care of our bodies so that we could have a longer, stronger, more abundant life? - Part 2

What do Herod, Herodias, Salome, and John the Baptist have to do with end-time Bible prophecy?

In the last days on this earth the devil is going to tell us to change one of God's commandments. We are going to have to choose between obeying God and obeying men.

666. What is it? What does it mean? How does one get it? Will you be lost if you have it?

What is prophecy? Are there prophets? Can we believe what the Bible says about the future? How do we know between true and false prophets?

There should be a difference in the way that Christians conduct themselves that shows what is in their hearts.

Our spiritual commitment should take priority over every earthly competitor for our time and attention.

Lucifer was perfect—a glorious angel. Yet he became obsessed with himself and rebelled against his loving Creator and stole the hearts of a third of the angels. Ever since, Satan and his demons have been fighting for the possession of every human heart.

All of us have sinned, and the penalty is eternal death. That’s the bad news. The good news—the gospel—is that Jesus came to save us from sin’s penalty and power completely and eternally.

While we cannot predict the day of Christ’s return, we can know that it’s close—“even at the doors”—by the signs given in the Bible. But God’s Word not only tells us approximately when Jesus will return; it tells us exactly how. Will He come in secret—or in a glorious display of angels and fire?

Many Christians teach that the Ten Commandments were nailed to the cross. But if that were true, why would the apostle Paul refer to them as being instrumental in his conversion? Other laws were indeed nailed to the cross, but not the one that explains how we are to love God and our neighbor.

Most Christians believe that the seventh-day Sabbath is only for Jews, but the Bible reveals that the Sabbath was established at Creation for all peoples.

To teach His people the way of salvation, God instructed them to build a sanctuary. This temple had three main areas: a courtyard, a holy place, and a most holy place. What the priests did in each compartment illustrates what our High Priest is doing today to eradicate sin from our lives.

God wants us to feed and to grow and to blossom as Christians but the devil keeps planting his teachings and his problems in the church to try to sap our strength and our attention. How can we know what his tricks are so that we don't fall into his traps?

God wants us to feed and to grow and to blossom as Christians but the devil keeps planting his teachings and his problems in the church to try to sap our strength and our attention. How can we know what his tricks are so that we don't fall into his traps?

There will be many people in Heaven with different views on how to live but what we cannot get wrong is what is required to get saved. What does God want from us?

The first angel of Revelation 14 proclaims a judgment that occurs before Jesus comes in glory. Once every case has been decided in the heavenly courtroom, Jesus will return with His rewards.

The last thing Jesus says before He ascends to heaven is to go to teach and baptize. The last words of Jesus should be a first priority for believers. If it's important to Jesus, it should be important to us.

Near-death experiences seem to reinforce the popular belief that the soul goes to heaven or hell as soon as the body dies. But the Bible repeatedly describes death as a dreamless sleep from which we awake at one of two resurrections.

What happens to people when they die? We don't need to be afraid of death. (Recorded in Australia in 2009)

It's a fact of life that people grapple with discouragement, despair, and depression. There are many causes of discouragement. How can we deal with it?

The great climax of the world's history is going to be when Christ comes and He sets everything right. Part 1 of 2

One person was killed and another was injured in a crash on Colorado 93 in Jefferson County near Arvada on Wednesday afternoon.

Exact services vary depending on the community each project targets, but supportive housing generally includes on-site case managers, often with some health care or job training classes available in the building.

Bridge House's "work-first" approach is similar to Aurora's philosophy of how best to lift people out of homelessness.

Rocky Flats Stewardship Council met regularly to monitor testing data at former nuke weapons site.

If no one claims the winning Powerball ticket, the money will go toward funding Colorado’s parks, recreation, open space and wildlife preservation projects.

The hit-and-run suspect allegedly waited for the victim -- an unidentified man in his 60s -- to get out of his car in the Autowash parking lot before running him over.

Westminster is the second community surrounding the 6,200-acre federal property to withdraw from an intergovernmental agreement supporting construction of a tunnel and bridge into Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge.

The Department of the Interior awarded the money from its Outdoor Recreation Legacy Partnership Grants Program.

Your feedback on the First Continental Congress, Douglas MacArthur and England's tangled history

"Cain brought an offering to the Lord of the fruit of the ground. And Abel . . . brought of the firstlings of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and for his offering; but for Cain and for his offering He had no regard" (Gen. 4:3-5).

True discipleship is characterized by obedience to God’s Word.

In John 8:31 Jesus issued an important statement to a group of people who were showing an interest in Him: "If you abide in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine." Sadly, they rejected His words, proving themselves to be less than true disciples. Jesus went on to explain why: "He who is of God hears the words of God; for this reason you do not hear them, because you are not of God" (v. 47). They listened but didn't really hear. They were interested but not truly committed. They were hearers of the Word but not doers (James 1:22).

In contrast, Abel did what God told him to do. He was, in effect, the first disciple. He was probably a better person than Cain—more friendly, moral, and dependable—but that's not why God accepted his sacrifice and rejected Cain's. Abel trusted God, and his faith was counted as righteousness. Like Abraham, whose faith was evidenced by his willingness to obey God and sacrifice his son Isaac (James 2:21-22), Abel's faith was evidenced in his obedient offering. He didn't rely on his own goodness but acknowledged his sin and made the prescribed sacrifice.

Perhaps God indicated His acceptance of Abel's sacrifice by consuming it with fire, as He did on other occasions in Scripture (Judg. 6:21; 1 Kings 18:38). But whatever means He used, God made his pleasure known to Abel.

Abel's brief life conveys a simple three-point message: we must come to God by faith; we must receive and obey God's Word; and sin brings serious consequences. If you hear and heed that message, you'll walk the path of true discipleship and be assured of God's pleasure.

Suggestions for Prayer

Make it your goal to please the Lord in everything you do today. Seek His wisdom and grace to do so faithfully.

For Further Study

Read these verses, noting what they say about pleasing God: 2 Corinthians 5:9; Ephesians 5:6-10; Philippians 2:12-13; Hebrews 11:6; and Hebrews 13:15-16, 20-21.

From Drawing Near by John MacArthur Copyright © 1993. Used by permission of Crossway Books, a division of Good News Publishers, Wheaton, IL 60187, www.crossway.com.

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"By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death; and he was not found because God took him up; for he obtained the witness that before his being taken up he was pleasing to God" (Heb 11:5).

When you walk by faith, you enjoy intimacy with God.

Our second hero of faith is Enoch. Genesis 5:21-24 records that "Enoch lived sixty-five years, and became the father of Methuselah. Then Enoch walked with God three hundred years after he became the father of Methuselah, and he had other sons and daughters. So all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years. And Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him."

What a wonderful epitaph: "Enoch walked with God." His life exemplifies the walk of faith. Adam and Eve had walked with God in the Garden of Eden, but their sin separated them from such intimacy. Enoch experienced the fellowship with God they had forfeited.

Enoch's faithful walk pleased God greatly. And after more than three hundred years on earth, Enoch was translated to heaven without ever experiencing death. It's as if God simply said, "Enoch, I enjoy your company so much, I want you to join me up here right now."

Like Enoch, there is coming a generation of Christians who will never see death. Someday—perhaps soon—Jesus will return for His church, "then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up . . . in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we shall always be with the Lord" (1 Thess. 4:17). Enoch is a beautiful picture of that great future event, which we call the rapture of the church.

As you walk with God, He delights in you. You're His child and your praises and fellowship bring Him joy. Psalm 116:15 says, "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His godly ones." Even death itself simply ushers you into His presence for all eternity.

Let the joy of intimacy with God, and the anticipation of seeing Christ face to face—either by rapture or by death— motivate you to please Him more and more each day of your life.

Suggestions for Prayer

Thank God for the promise of Christ's return.

For Further Study

Read 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18.

• What events surround the rapture of the church?
• How were the Thessalonians to respond to Paul's teaching about the rapture?
• How should you respond?

From Drawing Near by John MacArthur Copyright © 1993. Used by permission of Crossway Books, a division of Good News Publishers, Wheaton, IL 60187, www.crossway.com.

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"Enoch walked with God" (Genesis 5:24).

Walking with God includes reconciliation, obedience from the heart, and ongoing faith.

When Scripture speaks of walking with God, it's referring to one's manner of life. For example, Paul prayed that the Colossian believers (and us) would be filled with the knowledge of God's will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so they could walk (live) in a manner worthy of the Lord (Col. 1:9-10). To the Ephesians he said, "Walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind . . . [but] be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you" (Eph. 4:17; 5:1-2).

The Old Testament describes Enoch as a man who walked with God. Though relatively little is said about this special man, we can derive implications from his life that will help us better understand what it means to walk with God.

First, Enoch's walk with God implies reconciliation. Amos 3:3 says, "Do two walk together unless they have agreed to do so?" (NIV). Two people can't have intimate fellowship unless they agree. Obviously Enoch wasn't rebellious toward God, but had been reconciled with Him through faith.

Second, walking with God implies loving service. Second John 6 says, "This is love, that we walk according to His commandments." We obey Christ, but our obedience is motivated by love, not legalism or fear of punishment.

Third, a godly walk implies continuing faith, "for we walk by faith, not by sight" (2 Cor. 5:7). Colossians 2:6-7 adds, "As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith." By grace Enoch believed God and pleased Him all his life.

Do those who know you best see you as one who walks with God? I trust so. After all, that's the distinguishing mark of a true believer: "The one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked" (1 John 2:6).

Suggestions for Prayer

Praise God for granting the reconciliation, faith, and love that enables you to walk with Him day by day.

For Further Study

What do the following verses teach about your Christian walk: Romans 8:4; Galatians 5:16; Ephesians 2:10; 1 Thessalonians 2:12; and 1 John 1:7?

From Drawing Near by John MacArthur Copyright © 1993. Used by permission of Crossway Books, a division of Good News Publishers, Wheaton, IL 60187, www.crossway.com.

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"Without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is" (Hebrews 11:6).

Nothing you do can please God apart from faith.

Throughout history, people have tried everything imaginable to gain favor with God. Most turn to religion, but religion apart from Christ is merely a satanic counterfeit of the truth.

Many trust in their own good works, not realizing that even their best efforts are offensive to God (Isa. 64:6; Phil. 3:8). And the more we try to justify ourselves, the more we offend God, because "by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight" (Rom. 3:20).

Some trust in their family heritage or nationality. The Jewish people thought they were pleasing to God simply because they were descendants of Abraham. But John the Baptist warned them, saying, "You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore bring forth fruit in keeping with repentance; and do not suppose that you can say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham for our father'; for I say to you, that God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham" (Matt. 3:7-9).

Apart from faith, man cannot please God. And the first step of faith is simply believing God exists. That isn't enough to save a person—even the demons have that level of faith (James 2:19)—but it's a start, and by God's grace can blossom into full saving faith.

God has given ample evidence of His existence. Romans 1:20 says, "Since the creation of the world [God's] invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made." David said, "The heavens are telling of the glory of God; and their expanse is declaring the work of His hands" (Ps. 19:1).

Creation itself proclaims the existence, power, and glory of God, yet most people "suppress the truth in unrighteousness" (Rom. 1:18) by rejecting the Creator and denying their accountability to Him. Rather than bowing to the true God, they pay homage to "Mother Nature" or evolution. How foolish!

Suggestions for Prayer

• Praise God for the beauty of His creation.
• Worship Him as the giver of every good gift (James 1:17).

For Further Study

Read Romans 1:18-32. Is there a connection between denying God, practicing idolatry, and committing gross immoralities? Explain.

From Drawing Near by John MacArthur Copyright © 1993. Used by permission of Crossway Books, a division of Good News Publishers, Wheaton, IL 60187, www.crossway.com.

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"He who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him" (Heb. 11:6).

All who come to God in faith will receive the reward of eternal life.

We've seen that without faith it's impossible to please God. And the first step in faith is believing that God exists. In addition, we must also believe that He answers our prayers—more specifically, that He redeems those who come to Him in faith.

Scripture repeatedly tells us that God not only can be found, but also desires to be found. David said to his son Solomon, "If you seek Him, He will let you find Him; but if you forsake Him, He will reject you forever" (1 Chron. 28:9). The Lord says in Jeremiah 29:13, "You will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart." Jesus said, "Everyone who asks, receives; and he who seeks, finds; and to him who knocks, it shall be opened" (Luke 11:10).

At first glance those verses may seem to contradict Paul's teaching that "there is none who seeks for God; all have turned aside" (Rom. 3:11-12), and Jesus' statement that no one can come to Him unless the Father draws him (John 6:44). But really they're two sides of the same theological coin.

On one side you see man believing God and receiving Christ for salvation. On the other you see God enabling man to do so. Prior to salvation, a person is spiritually dead and utterly incapable of responding to the gospel. God must grant him or her saving faith. That's why the Bible contains statements like, "To you it has been granted for Christ's sake . . . to believe in Him" (Phil. 1:29); "As many as had been appointed to eternal life believed" (Acts 13:48); and "The Lord opened [Lydia's] heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul" (Acts 16:14).

God is the Great Rewarder, extending His love and grace to all who call upon Him. "Whoever believes in Him will not be disappointed" (Rom. 10:11).

Suggestions for Prayer

If you've been praying for someone's salvation, don't become discouraged. Only God can grant saving faith, but He gives us the privilege of participating in His redemptive work through faithful prayer and evangelism (Rom 10:1).

For Further Study

Memorize Ephesians 2:8-9.

From Drawing Near by John MacArthur Copyright © 1993. Used by permission of Crossway Books, a division of Good News Publishers, Wheaton, IL 60187, www.crossway.com.

• The Study Bible (mobile app)
• Grace to You Sermons (mobile app)
• John MacArthur’s complete sermon archive
• The MacArthur Study Bible
• The complete MacArthur New Testament Commentary series