NOAH - God Will Not Forget You Sunday, August 20, 2017 10:30 AM Noah was a man of great faith Hebrews 11:7 (NIV) 7 By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that is in keeping with faith. Through a life of faith Noah 1. Listened for the voice of God 2. Was not afraid to choose to stand with God when a line was drawn in the sand 3. Victoriously experienced the salvation of God's ark of safety when Judgment came But, like those of us who choose to enter into a saving relationship with Jesus Christ, Noah's journey was not over when he stepped into the Ark of salvation. In fact, in many ways his journey was just beginning. Not only would he endure the storm of God's Judgment, but for almost a year Noah, his wife, his sons and their wives and all off the animals would remain on the ark. Genesis 7:24-9:1; 9:7-8; 9:12-17 (NIV) 24 The waters flooded the earth for a hundred and fifty days. 8 But God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and the livestock that were with him in the ark, and he sent a wind over the earth, and the waters receded. 2 Now the springs of the deep and the floodgates of the heavens had been closed, and the rain had stopped falling from the sky. 3 The water receded steadily from the earth. At the end of the hundred and fifty days the water had gone down, 4 and on the seventeenth day of the seventh month the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat. 5 The waters continued to recede until the tenth month, and on the first day of the tenth month the tops of the mountains became visible. 6 After forty days Noah opened a window he had made in the ark 7 and sent out a raven, and it kept flying back and forth until the water had dried up from the earth. 8 Then he sent out a dove to see if the water had receded from the surface of the ground. 9 But the dove could find nowhere to perch because there was water over all the surface of the earth; so it returned to Noah in the ark. He reached out his hand and took the dove and brought it back to himself in the ark. 10 He waited seven more days and again sent out the dove from the ark. 11 When the dove returned to him in the evening, there in its beak was a freshly plucked olive leaf! Then Noah knew that the water had receded from the earth. 12 He waited seven more days and sent the dove out again, but this time it did not return to him.
13 By the first day of the first month of Noah s six hundred and first year, the water had dried up from the earth. Noah then removed the covering from the ark and saw that the surface of the ground was dry. 14 By the twenty-seventh day of the second month the earth was completely dry. 15 Then God said to Noah, 16 Come out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and their wives. 17 Bring out every kind of living creature that is with you the birds, the animals, and all the creatures that move along the ground so they can multiply on the earth and be fruitful and increase in number on it. 18 So Noah came out, together with his sons and his wife and his sons wives. 19 All the animals and all the creatures that move along the ground and all the birds everything that moves on land came out of the ark, one kind after another. 20 Then Noah built an altar to the Lord and, taking some of all the clean animals and clean birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings on it. 21 The Lord smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: Never again will I curse the ground because of humans, even though every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done. 22 As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease. God s Covenant With Noah 9 Then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth. 7 As for you, be fruitful and increase in number; multiply on the earth and increase upon it. 8 Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him: 9 I now establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you 12 And God said, This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: 13 I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. 14 Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, 15 I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. 16 Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth. 17 So God said to Noah, This is the sign of the covenant I have established between me and all life on the earth.
VIDEO CLIP After so many months of floating on the ark, not knowing when the flood waters would recede, not knowing how long they would have to survive on the supplies they had, not knowing what life would be like following the flood; It would be easy for us to imagine all of the questions, loneliness, discouragement and weariness that Noah may have felt. In our own journeys with the Lord we often find ourselves in the same position. Living for God, but feeling alone, discouraged, weary and full of questions. In fact, I recently read an article in Christianity Today about the waxing and waning journey of the activists soul. In it the author writes Over many years of work in both government and ministry, I ve noticed a common storyline among the justice-minded, including myself. First comes the waking: We begin to ache over the wrong we see and yearn to set it right. Waking springs into working, a noble undertaking with encouraging initial progress. But eventually disappointment strikes, and we weary as the world s brokenness proves far more stubborn than we d imagined. Finally, one day we can find our idealism has withered to a lifeless husk. This story can play out in a single crash-and-burn moment, or in the slow wilting of hope the slumped shoulders of the nonprofit director, the once-singing public school teacher who now speaks in monotone. What sustains us when the rain stops? Maybe you can identify with this thought today. You are weary and withered wondering where God is. In this fourth look at the scriptures in Genesis that speak of Noah, there is one little phrase that stands out for me. One word of promise that gives us hope BUT GOD REMEMBERED NOAH (Genesis 8:1) I don t know about you but there are times when I need to be reminded and assured that God has not forgotten about me. Today I want to share 5 thoughts that help bring the assurance that God Will Not Forget About You
1. God LITTERALLY CAN NOT FORGET You Think about this for a minute He is God. He is omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient. He Can't forget. He can't lose or misplace something. You can't get lost under a pile of paperwork. You can't fall through the cracks (There are no cracks). He doesn't get tired, doesn't sleep. He can be everywhere and be everything to everyone at the same time. It's not like you would ever hear God say. "Oops, I totally forgot about that." If God could forget, he would not be God. In fact, the only thing the bible says God can forget, and this is a purposeful act off the omnipotent will of God Is your sins. "I will remember your sins no more" Isaiah 49:15 (NIV) 15 Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! 2. God LOVES and CARES for your every need Just a quick review of scripture reveals that EVERY DAY God has promised to o Bear your burdens (Psalm 68:19) o Give you bread (Matthew 6:11) o Pour out New Mercies (Lamentations 3:23) o Give you strength (Isaiah 33:2) o Dispense justice (Zephaniah 3:5) Peter powerfully reminds us that 1 Peter 5:7 (NIV) 7 Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. He doesn't always tell you how He will care for you, but He does tell you that you will never be out of His care. He doesn't always tell you when He will answer your prayer, but He does tell you that His timing is always perfect. I want to read one of my favorite verses from the book of Hebrews, and though I don't normally teach from the Amplified Bible, I love the emphasis that it puts on this particular verse of promise. Hebrews 13:5-6 (AMP) 5 for He has said, I will never [under any circumstances] desert you [nor give you up nor leave you without support, nor will I in any degree leave you helpless], nor will I forsake or
let you down or relax My hold on you [assuredly not]! 6 So we take comfort and are encouraged and confidently say, The Lord is my Helper [in time of need], I will not be afraid. What will man do to me? Be not dismayed whate er betide, Beneath His wings of love abide, Through days of toil when heart doth fail, When dangers fierce your path assail, All you may need He will provide, Nothing you ask will be denied, No matter what may be the test, Lean, weary one, upon His breast, God will take care of you, Through every day, o er all the way; He will take care of you, Civilla D. Martin, 1904 3. God Has PLANS for your FUTURE We can be assured that God will not forget about us because we are told that He has plans for our future Jeremiah 1:5 (NIV) 5 Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations. Jeremiah 29:11(NIV) 11 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
4. God's SILENCE is not the same as God's ABSENCE God, Who is everywhere, never leaves us. Yet He seems sometimes to be present, sometimes to be absent. If we do not know Him well, we do not realize that He may be more present to us when He is absent than when He is present. Thomas Merton, No Man Is an Island I want to go back to the article I referenced earlier and the question the author posed - What sustains us when the rain stops? In answer to his To sustain this good work, our commitment to justice and mercy must be paired with an even stronger commitment to cultivating a vibrant inner life rooted in Christ. Here s the simple and age-old truth: If we have no source beneath the surface, we will eventually run dry. The work of justice and mercy cannot be sustained apart from a vibrant inner life. will we set one commitment above even the noble calling of justice: an inner life rooted deep in Christ? That is as costly, and simple, as small daily choices decisions that become habits over time. Whatever else I do today, I will spend time with my Father. Whatever else I prioritize this week, I will receive the gift of Sabbath. Whatever else I put on my calendar, I will set aside a day for solitude. When we do Isaiah says Isaiah 58:11 (NIV) 11 The Lord will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail. 5. God calls us to move forward in FRUITFULNESS God's plans for Noah didn't end with the building of the Ark. God's purpose for Noah was not just the preservation of his family and the animals. One the flood was over and the waters receded, God's call came again to Noah. This time God called Noah to move forward in Fruitfulness.
Genesis 9:1 (NIV) 9 Then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth. God's call also included God's promise - A rainbow. In other words, God was saying what I have called you to will be accomplished.