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Noah and the Ark

Is your faith anchored in reverent fear of God or complacency? Learn from Noah's unwavering faith, grace, and rescue mission.

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Noah’s faith was not passive—it was built on absolute certainty that God is who He says He is.

In a time when society ignored and rejected God, Noah walked in obedience, trusting in God's Word despite ridicule. His faith was not just belief; it was action. God called Noah to a rescue mission by grace, showing that faith involves responding to God's call with conviction and respect, not just receiving blessings.

We frequently desire a faith that offers comfort without requiring us to confront our challenges, and bestows blessings without the need for obedience. But true faith, like Noah’s, is anchored in a deep, reverent fear of God—acknowledging His power, sovereignty, and justice. Joshua MacLeod delivers a strong sermon encouraging us to assess if our faith is rooted in God's Word or just our personal views.

Listen now to be challenged, encouraged, and equipped to live out a faith that truly honors God.

Scriptures Referenced

Genesis 3:1, 3:3, 6:5-9, 7:5, 19:1-11; Joshua 6:21; Ezekiel 16-49, 33:11; Matthew 5:29-30; Luke 17:26-29; John 14:6; Romans 6:23; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10; Ephesians 2:8-10; 1 Thessalonians 5:2; 1 Timothy 2:3-4;2 Peter 3:9-10; Hebrews 11:1-7; Jude 1:7; Revelation 20:10

Key Insights

  • We want a faith in God that doesn’t require fear of God.
  • As you’re looking at your faith in God, is it anchored in reverent fear or are you taking Him lightly?
  • God will take drastic measures to protect His plans.
  • God doesn’t force people to do what we want them to do. God allows the consequences of our sin.
  • Jesus joined into the suffering.
  • God allows things He hates to accomplish what He loves.
  • The Gospel message is a message of grace.
  • Noah was given grace and then given an assignment. God has work for you to do.
  • If you’ve received grace, you’ve been assigned to a rescue mission.
  • How deeply do you believe God’s Word?
  • God takes people seriously when they take Him seriously.
  • Noah was mocked by everyone but he walked with God.

Prayer Targets

Please join us in prayer for:

  • A hunger for the Word.
  • Tears for the lost.
  • Testimonies to share.

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We would love it if you would consider joining us in person for one of our Sunday gatherings.

Gathering Times

  • Sundays, 9:00 AM
  • Sundays, 11:00 AM
  • Thursdays, 6:00 PM

Contact Info

Springhouse Church
14119 Old Nashville Highway
Smyrna TN 37167

615-459-3421

Additional Resources

CCLI License 2070006

Transcript
Speaker:

- Good morning, Springhouse,

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as you're coming and bringing your dollars

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for those in need.

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We appreciate you guys being here this morning.

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Those who are joining us on live stream,

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thank you for being with us today.

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It's a good day to be in the house of the Lord.

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And I just love,

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I just love the opportunity to witness baptism.

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Do you?

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Is that true?

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When people give their life to the Lord

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and they make that public proclamation

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that they are dead to the world,

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everybody say dead to the world, alive in Christ.

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We baptize, we baptize dead to the world,

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alive in Jesus Christ.

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And I can't think of a better way to be alive

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than in Christ Jesus,

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because when you're not alive in Christ Jesus,

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you're only alive in the world,

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which means that you're actually dead in the world.

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Does that make sense?

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Yes?

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But we are alive in Christ.

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Hey guys, tonight at 5.30, everybody say 5.30.

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Look at your neighbor and say chili time.

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Tonight is a chili cook-off tonight at 5.30,

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and we want this room to be filled.

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Listen, if you call Springhouse your home,

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if Springhouse is your family,

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tonight is a very important special night,

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a special gathering.

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We're gonna eat chili together,

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and then at 6.30, we're gonna gather for a time of worship,

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and we are going to be sharing some wonderful things

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about 2025.

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We have some transitions happening.

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We have some staff members we need to recognize.

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We have some new staff, new positions,

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some things coming on the horizon.

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We want to share with you exciting things,

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because everything in the kingdom is exciting.

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What God does is exciting.

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And so we want you to be here to be a part of it,

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'cause we need that connective tissue,

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because it's not just about me or the staff or the team.

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Guys, we're a part of this together, okay?

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And so come and be a part of that gathering tonight.

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5.30, we're gonna feed you.

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Children's ministry will be open this evening.

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6.30 to eight o'clock, we're at Vision Casting.

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Make a plan to be here this evening.

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And God is always saving the very best for right now.

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Is that true?

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We are continuing the journey of looking

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at the greatest stories ever told.

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And I got the privilege of sitting through this

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during the first gathering,

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and get ready to leave with a heart change.

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Are you ready?

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Joshua McCloud's gonna come share with us.

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Welcome, Josh.

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- I love you, thank you.

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It's pretty easy to preach when you get set up like that.

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If you haven't met with God,

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I probably won't be able to help you at all.

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Jonathan and worship team does so good every single week.

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Yeah, come on.

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You know, this year we started out with some doozy messages.

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These greatest stories ever told started with Adam and Eve

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talking about the fall.

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And then Pastor Ronnie shared last week about Cain and Abel.

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And today I'm talking about Noah and a catastrophic flood

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that covered the whole world.

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So it seems like that we missed maybe the mark

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of the feel-good sermons,

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but we may be landing in the faith-good sermons.

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And I'm talking today about Noah, who is a man of faith.

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And I pray that I will be faithful in this message.

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You know, let me say just a couple of things about Noah

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even before I start.

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Noah, he had certain faith.

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A hundred percent bet your life on God kind of faith.

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Noah followed God's instructions

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like his life depended on it, and incidentally it did.

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And Noah's faith helped rescue countless people.

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So let's compare our faith this morning

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to the faith of Noah.

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If you're able to stand,

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I'd like to read this passage of Scripture.

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And let's see if we can read this passage of Scripture

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with Kevin level gusto.

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So faith is the assurance of things hoped for,

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the evidence of things not seen.

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For by it the people of old received their commendation.

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By faith we understand that the universe was created

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by the word of God so that what is seen

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was not made out of things that are visible.

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By faith Abel offered to God

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a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain,

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through which he was commended as righteous,

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God commending him by accepting his gifts.

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And then he moved the clicker.

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(audience laughing)

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I guess that's my job.

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(audience laughing)

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And through his faith, though he died,

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he still speaks.

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By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death

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and he was not found because God had taken him.

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For he was commended as having pleased God

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and without faith it is impossible to please him

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for whoever would draw near to God must believe

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that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.

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By faith Noah being warned by God concerning events

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as yet unseen in reverent fear constructed an ark

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for the saving of his household.

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By this he condemned the world

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and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.

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This is the word of the Lord.

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Thanks be to God.

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You can tell who came from some Anglican background

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or something like that when you say,

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this is the word of the Lord and you see what happens.

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You may please be seated.

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Now I'm sure that all of us have heard the story of Noah.

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God was gonna destroy the world because of wickedness,

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but he had grace upon Noah and his family and saved mankind

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and all the animal kinds in a big boat.

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So when you're looking at the story of Noah,

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I guess the first question that we should ask is,

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did this really happen?

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Was there really a Noah?

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Was there really a boat?

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Was there really a flood?

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I was looking on YouTube and I watched this debate

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between Ken Ham, who's a creation scientist

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and Bill Nye the Science Guy, who's a scientist.

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And I listened to Ken Ham's arguments and I was like,

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wow, it really happened.

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This is incredible.

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And then I listened to Bill Nye the Science Guy

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and I was like, wow, wait, maybe it didn't happen.

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What are we gonna do?

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And so, you know, there's some people out here today

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that I'm sure that you think that the story

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of Noah totally happened.

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And then there's some people out here

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that I'm sure that you think

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that it was just a biblical allegory.

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So in light of that,

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I should probably tell you right up front,

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and I may be in the minority,

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but I absolutely believe the story of Noah.

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I believe that it actually happened.

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I believe that there was a boat and an ark and a flood

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and animals on the boat,

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and that it rained for 40 days and 40 nights, I believe it.

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And so some of you might dismiss my sermon today

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because I believe in that story of Noah.

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But while I'm at it, I might as well tell you

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some other crazy things that I believe.

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See, I believe that we are living on a big circle

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that moves at a thousand miles per hour,

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but it feels flat.

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And I also believe that there's a huge exploding ball

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of fire out in the sky that keeps our world alive.

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And there are nuclear explosions happening

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in this big ball of fire continuously,

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but it never burns up.

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I also believe that if this ball of fire

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was 5% farther away, we would all freeze.

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And if it was 5% closer, we would all melt.

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So honestly, believing in a catastrophic flood

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that covered the entire world,

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when 70% of the world is water,

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and every major culture in the ancient world

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talks about a major flood,

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I don't have a problem believing the story of Noah.

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But if we're honest, I think the problem that we have

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with the story of Noah is not the flood.

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I think the problem we have with the story of Noah

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is who caused the flood.

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See, we have a problem believing anything about God

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that doesn't align with our view

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of what we think God should do.

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The story of Noah reminds us that God can do anything

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that he wants to with his world,

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and he doesn't have to ask our permission.

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If you didn't know that the world is God's sandbox,

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not yours.

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My son John says, "Dad, you gotta warn people

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"to put on some boots when you preach

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"'cause sometimes you step on toes."

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Sorry, John.

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The story of Noah is very challenging to a modern world

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because we only want a God who ever brings blessing

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and never brings judgment.

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We want a faith in God that doesn't require

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any fear of God.

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I was listening to a sermon recently by Adrian Rogers.

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Adrian Rogers was a great man of God,

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he was a great speaker.

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And he said that the mark of a society on its last legs

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is when there is no fear of God.

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He said in his sermon, many of us talk about faith,

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and we talk about God's kindness and his grace and his mercy.

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But the fear of God includes God's power,

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his holiness and his justice.

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In the passage that we read earlier,

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or maybe I read depending on whether or not

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I've advanced the slide,

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it says that Noah in reverent fear constructed an ark

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for the saving of his household.

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Adrian Rogers went on to say in that sermon

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that the fear of God is a core foundation of faith.

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Now I know that reverent fear of God is very different

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than craven fear of God.

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And God doesn't want us to live in any fear

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because he has already demonstrated on the cross

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that he loves us entirely.

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But I think sometimes in the church,

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we've been running away so far from the craven fear of God

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that we've completely left out the reverent fear of God.

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See now, a human fears something that they can't control.

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We can't control God.

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It is only right and good for us to fear God

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because he is large and in charge, and we are not.

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There's a passage from C.S. Lewis's

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The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe,

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where Lucy asked a question about Aslan,

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who is a type of Christ.

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And she says, "Well, is he safe?"

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And Mr. Beaver says to Lucy, he says, "Safe?

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"Who said anything about being safe?

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"Of course he isn't safe, but he's good."

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So I wanna ask you, when you compare your faith

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to the faith of Noah,

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is your faith in God anchored in a reverent fear of God,

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or are you taking him lightly?

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Do you base your beliefs on your thoughts,

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or do you base your beliefs on his word?

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Noah was 500 years old when he started building the ark.

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Now I was working on a construction project yesterday,

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and I'm 47 years old,

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and I have like 47-year-old arthritis.

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So I woke up this morning feeling like,

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oh, can't believe that 500-year-old dude

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worked on an ark for 100 years.

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I can't even imagine what 500-year-old arthritis feels like.

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(audience laughing)

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And so Noah came 10 generations after Adam and Eve.

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So this is roughly 1,000 years after Cain killed Abel.

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And mankind had multiplied all over the earth.

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And there was some crazy stuff going on.

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There were these things called the Nephilim.

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I'm gonna tell you right now,

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I have no idea about the Nephilim.

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But apparently somebody over here does.

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You could go check there.

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Now, the reason why I don't know a lot about the Nephilim

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is the Bible doesn't say a lot about the Nephilim.

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But it does say a lot about Noah.

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So I can preach on that pretty easy.

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I do, however, know that there were complex cities

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and civilizations.

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Genesis 4 says that there were farmers and ranchers

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and artisans that were making music and craftsmen

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that worked in bronze and iron.

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But the thing is, after Cain and Abel,

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the world kept getting darker and darker and darker.

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The Scripture says that God rescued the animals,

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two of each kind, so that he could preserve life.

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That word kindness is one of my favorite words,

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just in general.

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Because the word kindness is the same

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that we get this idea of each by their kind.

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So there were two giraffes and they were the same kind.

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There were two elephants and they were the same kind.

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Let me tell you something.

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If you're in this building, you're humankind.

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There is no difference between you and somebody else.

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The idea of racism or thinking you're better

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than someone else is just craziness.

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We're the same kind.

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So when I show someone kindness, I represent to them

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that they are a beautiful person made in the image of God.

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See, in the days of Noah, there were lots of kinds,

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but there was no kindness.

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It says in Genesis 6, verse 5,

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"The Lord saw that the wickedness of man

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"was great in the earth,

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"and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart

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"was only evil continually.

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"And the Lord regretted that he made man on earth

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"and it grieved him to his heart."

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Now this is an incredible passage of Scripture.

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Did you know that you, as a human, can break God's heart?

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God is not indifferent to the man that he created.

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The actions of man can grieve the heart of God.

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There's a New Testament passage that says,

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"Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God

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"by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

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"Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and slimmer

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"and clamor be put away from you, along with all malice."

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God was grieved, not because he created a beautiful world,

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not because he created humankind,

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but he was grieved because man chose to reject him.

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Now we know from several passages of Scripture

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that God does not delight in wiping people out,

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even wicked people.

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In Ezekiel 33, 11, it says,

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"Say to them, 'As I live,' declares the Lord God,

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"I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked,

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"but that the wicked would turn from his way and live,

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"turn back, turn back from your evil ways,

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"for why will you die, O house of Israel?"

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1 Timothy 2, 3 through 4 says,

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"This is good, and it is pleasing

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"in the sight of God our Savior,

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"who desires all people to be saved

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"and to come to the knowledge of the truth."

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Finally, in 2 Peter 3, 9, it says,

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"The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise,

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"as some count slowness, but is patient towards you,

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"not wishing that any should perish,

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"but that all should reach repentance."

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So we know that God does not delight in wiping people out,

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but at the same time, we see in the sixth chapter

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of the Bible, in Genesis 6,

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that sometimes God will make a point,

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and he has a point where he says, "Enough,"

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and he wraps things up.

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I mean, think about this, we're still reading about Noah

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and learning about Noah and talking about this now,

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thousands and thousands of years later.

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God holds people accountable for want and sinfulness

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and sometimes he takes drastic measures

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to protect his future plans.

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In Luke 17, Jesus compares the day before the flood

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to the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah.

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And Sodom and Gomorrah, throughout the Bible,

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are cities that are described as places

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with pride and arrogance, greed and neglect for the poor,

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sexual immorality, abuse of power, and violence.

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Now, did you hear what I just said?

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Before the flood, what did society look like?

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Pride and arrogance, greed, neglect for the poor,

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sexual immorality, abuse of power, and violence.

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The Sodom and Gomorrah are all throughout the Bible,

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but those descriptions come from Ezekiel 16

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and Genesis 19 and Jude 1.

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But even in Sodom and Gomorrah,

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God wasn't quick to destroy them.

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In fact, he told Abraham that if there were 10 righteous

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people in the two cities combined,

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that he would not destroy the city.

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So can you imagine an entire world

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without 10 righteous people?

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It's pretty incredible.

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Noah and his family were eight people on the boat.

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We learn from 2 Peter 2, 5 that while Noah was building

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the ark, he was preaching.

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God was giving people the chance to repent

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by witnessing both the words and the works

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that were accomplished by Noah and his family.

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I've read through this book several times.

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I hope you've read through this book several times.

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I've never seen in this book a place where God forces people

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to repent and turn for him.

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That's another thing we don't like about God.

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See, we don't like that God allows things to play out

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and he allows people to do wicked things

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and allows wicked things to happen.

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We get this idea in our modern culture

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that if we just imagine a better future,

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that the things are gonna get better.

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Like this sentiment is encapsulated perfectly in the song,

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"Imagine" by John Lennon.

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And philosophers throughout history

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have been singing that song.

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They started things like the Renaissance

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and the Enlightenment and the Great Awakening

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and modernism and now postmodernism.

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And I'm not sure if John Lennon was a history buff or not,

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but he may have forgotten that Cain killed Abel.

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And I don't know if you're a history buff or not,

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but you may have forgotten that within 100 years,

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that within the past 100 years,

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Hitler and Stalin were killing millions of people

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on this same planet 100 years ago.

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One of the things that we forget about sin

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is that sin will always grow unless it's stopped.

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There is no harmless sin.

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Even a white lie leads to darkness and death.

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We don't take sin seriously.

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Sin is real.

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It's not a philosophy.

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It's a deadly growing cancer.

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I've seen firsthand the effects of sin

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in places like Darfur, Sudan, and in the Kibera slums,

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and in the Khaelishe slums,

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and in Haiti after an earthquake.

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And we wanna ask God, "Where are you?"

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Now, I can't give you the answers for God

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because I'm not God.

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But I do know something about this word.

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There's not a place in this word

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where the devastation and sin and horror

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of the atrocities and the earthquakes and the sickness

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and all of the things in this world,

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they're all in this book.

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So God didn't just replace all those things.

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You know what he did?

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He joined in.

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Jesus came and joined the suffering.

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I can't tell you that I understand everything that God does

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because God is eternal and I am temporary.

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Or maybe God says I'm eternal.

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In Him.

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I know that God allows what He hates

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to accomplish what He loves.

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From the creation of the world,

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God had a plan for the redeemer

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of this broken, sin-sick, horrible world.

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We learned last week that in Revelation it says,

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"The Lamb of God slain before the foundation of the earth."

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God always had a plan to send a redeemer.

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But in the days of Noah, it was the worst case scenario

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because there wasn't even anyone left to redeem but God.

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Genesis 6-8 says,

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"But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord."

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Now I know we've all had hard times and challenges

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and sin and problems.

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Noah's hard time was that the entire world

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was going bonkers and everyone only thought

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of evil continually.

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But it doesn't matter how dark this world gets,

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there is hope and God's favor is available

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for people who turn to God.

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I'm fascinated with this word favor.

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I love in the Bible, you can look up like the first time

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that a word is used in the Bible.

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The first time the word Spirit of God is used in the Bible

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is with Bezalel, a construction superintendent

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who built the tabernacle for God.

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And it says Bezalel was filled with the Spirit of God

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and wisdom and understanding and knowledge

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and craftsmanship.

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And we should pay attention to that.

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Like the first time the word filled with the Spirit,

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it didn't just come like this, it wasn't just a feeling

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but it was a creative power, excellence, wisdom,

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understanding, knowledge.

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The first time that Noah is mentioned

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or the first time that favor is mentioned is with Noah.

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The word favor means grace.

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And the word grace means to bend and stoop in kindness

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and deal mercifully.

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If God didn't have grace on Noah,

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then none of us would be here today.

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God knew that there were going to be more people than Noah

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that would want to get in the ark

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and remember their creator.

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The gospel message is a message of grace.

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I've had the luxury of traveling in more than 30 countries

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and I have deep dive studied in other religions

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because I wanted to know if they were true.

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But maybe they're true.

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How do I know?

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I want to test this.

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And I saw this common theme in every religion.

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And some people put this same theme on Christianity,

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but it's not in Christianity.

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And the theme is this, to get to God, you need to do X

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and then they fill in X.

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You might need to give more, you might need to give less.

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You know, in Islam, you've got these five pillars.

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You got to do this and this and this and this.

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In Hinduism, you got to withdraw from this and this and this.

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In modernism, you need to, whatever you do,

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you need to believe in nothing.

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But in Christianity, God said,

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"There's a chasm between us because of separation

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and there's nothing you can do."

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Sit in that for a second.

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There is a chasm, there is sin and death and brokenness,

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and there is nothing you can do.

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And so Jesus invented grace.

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Grace is when he comes down and lifts you out of a flood

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or a fire or a terrible circumstance,

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and he gives you eternity with him because of his grace.

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Genesis 6 with the Noah story

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is the first message of grace in the Bible.

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Now here's something interesting about Noah.

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How did Noah respond to grace?

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It's curious to me that Noah responded,

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he had reverent fear for God,

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and then he received grace, and so he went to work.

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So God gave Noah grace, and then he gave him work.

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Now the moment that I talk about work in a church,

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we're in trouble because, no, it's not work,

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there's no works-based salvation

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and there's grace-based salvation.

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There's a fantastic passage that talks about this subject.

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Ephesians 2, eight and nine.

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"For by grace you have been saved through faith,

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"and it is not your own doing, it is the gift of God,

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"not as a result of works, so that no one may boast."

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Okay, if you have not read that verse,

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it just validates what I said about Christianity.

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You can do it, it's not about you.

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It's about what Jesus did.

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You can either accept it or reject it, but you can't do it.

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But have you ever read the next verse?

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The very next verse says,

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"For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus

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"for good works, which God prepared beforehand

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"that we should walk in them."

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A lot of us are focused on the grace of God,

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but we're not focused on any work, right?

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Noah had a family that needed saved.

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When God gave Noah grace, he also gave him an assignment.

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I don't wanna get sidetracked,

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this is a whole sermon on itself,

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but if you have grace, you have work to do.

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It doesn't mean, the grace of God does not mean

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that you are allowed to sit on your hands

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and watch a lost and broken world get lost and die.

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If you have received the grace of God,

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you are assigned to a rescue mission.

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With no fear of God in our modern culture,

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we don't feel the need to rescue anyone.

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Nobody wants to build a boat

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because nobody believes that there will be a flood.

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If we're honest, we are more concerned

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with retirement than rescue.

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We are more about prosperity than people.

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We care more about a bonus

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than we care about building a boat.

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How many of us spent the majority of last week

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on a rescue mission?

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How many of us are building a boat for our families

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and our coworkers and our communities

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and our neighbor?

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How many of us believe in kindness?

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Or are we stuck in pride and power and sexual immorality?

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Noah feared God.

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Noah got to work.

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The boat could have fit a lot more people.

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The Bible says that the ark was bigger than a stadium.

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It was bigger than a football field.

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You can fit a lot of people in there.

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I've been to the Titans game.

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It was a stadium high.

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There were three decks.

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There were animals.

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There was food.

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And God miraculously called animals.

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And there are so many symbols in the book of Noah.

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I could talk about so many different things.

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Why did Noah have to wait in the boat seven days

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before it started to rain?

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Why did it rain for 40 days and 40 nights?

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Why was there only one door in the ark?

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Why did God himself shut the door?

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Why did Noah send out a raven and then he sent out a dove?

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Why did the dove go out three times

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and why did the dove come back with an olive branch?

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There's so much story.

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There's so much symbolism in the story of Noah.

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I could be here all day.

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But God told me to talk about faith.

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If you have faith in God, you have a reverend fear of God.

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If you have faith in God, you are a rescuer automatically.

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But here's the deal.

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Satan is a master of attacking your faith.

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You try putting a message like this together,

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he's attacking my faith.

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You try reading the word of God

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and sharing with your coworker,

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he's going to be attacking your faith.

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And here are three questions that are faith builders

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because they are faith challengers.

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Now Satan is allowed to tempt,

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but he's not allowed to win if you put your faith in God.

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Satan tempted Eve.

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Did God really say?

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Did God really say?

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And now we read this, we're modernists,

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we read this Bible and we said, "Did God really do that?

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Did God really do that?"

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I mean, come on.

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Like they didn't even have the internet.

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Did God, will God really do that again?

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It sound familiar?

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In the chapter, in the script for passage we read,

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it says, "Faith is the assurance of things hoped for,

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the conviction of things not seen."

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I wanna say something about faith.

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Faith means conviction.

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Conviction means you actually believe it.

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It's evidence, it's proof.

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Verse six says, "And without faith,

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it is impossible to please Him,

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for whoever would draw near to Him,

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whoever would draw near to God,

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must believe that He exists

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and that He rewards those who seek Him."

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When the Bible talks about faith,

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it's talking about a thing in which there is no doubting.

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Faith is the point at which your doubts are removed

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and you trust in God that He says who He says He is,

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that He is who He says He is.

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You know, even in James it says,

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"If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God

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who gives to all men liberally without reproach,

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and it will be given to him."

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But then it says, "But let him ask in faith,"

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and then what do the next words say?

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"With no doubting."

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See, it defines what faith is.

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Now I can have a belief

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that maybe the chiefs will win the Super Bowl.

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But I can't tell you I have faith in that.

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I'm not gonna bet my life on that.

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But when you're dealing with God,

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you don't want belief, you want faith.

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You want faith that is the kind of faith

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that puts you in action.

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Faith does not deal in feelings or philosophy.

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Faith deals in certainty.

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Now it is so counter-cultural

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to believe in anything with certainty these days.

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Probably most of you are like, "We don't like you, Josh.

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What are you talking about?

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You can't be certain about anything.

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Didn't you wake up today in a modern society?"

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You go into your job, or you go into university,

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and you talk about absolute truth and see what happens.

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The only truth believed in society with the philosophers

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and the teachers of our day

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is that there is no absolute truth.

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Now I'm gonna give you a little hack, okay?

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This is important, pay attention.

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If you ever get in a conversation with somebody that says,

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"There is absolutely no truth.

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You can't say that there's absolute truth."

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Ask them, "Are you absolutely sure about that?"

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See, the argument kind of breaks down pretty quick.

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Satan challenged Eve's faith in the garden,

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and he challenges our faith today.

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Did God actually say?

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Pastor Ronnie shared some questions

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where he was challenged in the scripture

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about the goodness of God and His Word.

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And he had a faith struggle.

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And he said in his faith struggle,

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he walked away from God for five years

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because he read something in the Word of God,

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and he couldn't figure it out.

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I have also had many a faith struggle.

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Let me tell you some of the stuff

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that gave me a faith struggle.

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Is sin really that bad?

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Like really eternal?

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Like you're gonna send people to hell because of sin?

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Really?

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Is there really heaven and hell?

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Did God really wipe out the world with a great flood?

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Did God really completely obliterate the Canaanites?

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Does God, does really following other gods than Jesus

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really keep people from heaven?

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Do continual habits of immorality, pride, anger, and greed

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really keep people from heaven?

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See, I wrestle with these things.

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I don't know if anybody else out there

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ever asked the question of God,

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and they're like, "I don't like this,

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and I'm reading something,

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and you tell me that this book defines me,

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but I wanna put you on my own terms."

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At our church, we read through the Bible in a year.

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One of the best ways to challenge your faith

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is to read the Bible.

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I often put a little note in my Bible studies that say,

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"What the heck?"

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If you've never had a what the heck moment with God,

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either you don't take God seriously,

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or His Word seriously, or yourself seriously.

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It's not like you're not gonna be able to read the Bible

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it's not okay to not wrestle with God in this day and age.

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And it is critically important to teach your children

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that wrestling with God is okay.

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I mean, they're gonna go out,

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and they're going to be made fun of

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for anything that looks like faith.

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Okay, Noah was mocked his whole life.

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But here's the thing,

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I don't think you're ever gonna have a satisfactory answer

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to the challenge of your faith until you meet with Jesus.

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I can't logic my way into meeting with God,

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but when I meet with God,

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I don't have any problems anymore.

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When I start conversations now with questions like these,

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I always start them with,

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"Jesus, I'm gonna look at the cross first.

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"I see this pain, I see this horror, I see this thing,

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"but I know that you love the world enough

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"to die on a cross for my sin

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"and the sin of everybody in this world.

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"I'm having a hard time with this passage, Jesus.

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"What the heck?"

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Sometimes God lets me sit for a while, okay?

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Sometimes he's not gonna answer me for like a year.

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But I can tell you that I have never had a question

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about God that God hasn't met with me about.

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Where did Noah get his faith with God?

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Where did this come from?

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This is one of my favorite verses about Noah.

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"Noah walked with God."

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You know how Noah built his faith

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and overcame the attacks of the enemy?

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He walks with God.

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God will take you seriously if you take God seriously,

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and he will not take you seriously

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if you do not take him seriously.

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If you aren't sure about God, start walking with God.

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I think if Noah was alive in our day,

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he would look around at our culture,

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he would say, "What the heck?

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"God, do I need to start building another boat?"

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And I think God would say, "I already built one,

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"and it's called the church."

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If you came in here today, you may not know it,

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but you stepped into an ark.

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You may not know it, but everybody sitting around you

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that has faith is a rescuer,

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and they care deeply about your soul,

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and they want you to spend eternity with them in heaven.

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Every person in this room is on a Jesus rescue mission.

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Sin wants to destroy you,

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just like it wanted to destroy Eve and Adam.

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Sin wanted to destroy Cain,

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and God wants you to be rescued by his grace.

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Noah stood out like a sore thumb.

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He was mocked by everyone.

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And if you're gonna walk in faith,

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you better not be seeking popularity.

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It's not gonna happen, but you can build a boat

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where your friends and your family in this world

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will find Jesus.

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But if you care more about retirement and relationship,

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and you care more about profit than people,

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then the lost and dying world will stay exactly like it is.

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Jesus said, he was teaching, and he talked about a lady

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that was a widow that came before God,

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and she was just wearing them out,

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like, "Give me justice, give me justice, give me justice."

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And Jesus said, "I'll answer a person like that."

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But then he said, "Nevertheless, when I return,

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"will I find faith on the earth?"

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I pray that Springhouse Church

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is not a church that cares more about retirement

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than relationship.

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We are on a rescue mission, people.

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And listen, if you're lost, get on the boat.

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His name is Jesus.

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This church is about building up this place for Jesus.

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Now, if you walk with God like Noah,

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you get some very specific instructions.

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When you read the account of Noah,

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he told him exactly how to build a boat, right?

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Noah didn't go off on a wing like, "You know what?

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"I think I'm gonna put this timber over here."

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And this was not artistic enough,

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so I'm gonna put a little flourish right here.

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No, Noah's like, "Wait, so let's get this straight, God.

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"So you're going to wipe out the entire world,

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"and these are the instructions for this ark.

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"Yeah, I'm gonna do exactly what's in this book."

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You know?

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Noah followed the instructions.

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Have you ever read the book?

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Do you know the instructions?

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Are you basing your life and your history

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on somebody else's interpretation of the instructions?

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Look, I mean, look,

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I put some stuff together with instructions,

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and I do not wanna rely on somebody else telling me

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what the instructions say.

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That will be crazy.

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Noah feared God, he reverently walked with God,

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and he obeyed God's Word like his life depended on it.

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Perhaps the most destructive movement in Christianity today

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is this tendency to think that personal Bible study

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is somewhat optional.

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Take yourself seriously, please.

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Noah knew that building the ark according to God's plan

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was critical for being able to rescue his family.

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Do we think that we're gonna be able to rescue our family

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and ignore the instructions?

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Some of us are just watching TV.

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You know, that's where all my happiness is gonna be found.

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The Word of God says that in the presence of God

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is the fullness of joy.

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Our worship team, I don't know where you are,

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but you better come get me off this stage.

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(congregation cheering)

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Did God really say?

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Did God really do?

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Will God really do this again?

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Where is your faith?

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How does your faith compare to Noah's faith?

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I'll tell you why I believe in the story of Noah,

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because Jesus did.

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I'll tell you why I believe in heaven and hell,

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because Jesus preached about it.

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I'll tell you why I believe in salvation based on grace,

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because I'm a vile sinner.

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And God have mercy on my soul.

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I'll tell you why the church of God

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is full of everyone who believes the same thing.

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You don't have judgment in the house of the Lord.

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You have a bunch of people like that.

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I'm glad I'm on a boat,

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and I want everybody else on the boat.

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The Bible says that if you are in Christ,

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that you have salvation.

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If Christ is in you, you will live in eternity with God.

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If you were on the boat, you were rescued.

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And if you're in Christ, you will be rescued.

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(gentle music)

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It only takes grace.

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You don't have to do anything but repent.

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Say, God, I need you.

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We're going to open this altar space.

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And if you've never wrestled with God,

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I want you to come down and wrestle with God and pray,

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and repent and ask God to give you faith.

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Some of us like me, we wrestle with God every day,

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and God's like, "Quit wrestling and start resting."

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You might need to come down and rest in God.

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If you're living life without a church family,

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and you don't have a boat that you're building,

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this is your church family.

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You're here for a reason.

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Come and get in the boat.

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We need another hammer.

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If your life has not been a rescue mission,

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and you have cared more about your prosperity than people,

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surrender, Elvin.

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Come down here and surrender to follow Christ,

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and to use every bit of your heart, mind, soul, and strength

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for the worship of God and the rescue of man.

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If you need healing or deliverance, freedom,

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come down here and receive me.

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If I could get the prayer team

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and the worshipers to come down, meet with God today.

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We live in a world that it's getting darker and darker

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and darker, and Jesus only has perfect light.

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If you have never experienced light,

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you can experience it at the cross.

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Don't leave today without getting on the boat.

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In Jesus' name, amen.

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[music fades out]

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[music fades out]

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