Noah’s Ark: God’s Promises Require Crazy Big Faith

You know what the scripture didn't say? Noah did what God told him after he asked 20 questions. Noah did exactly what God told him, but he had to argue a lot with him till he got to his point. Noah did what God told him, but he needed to see a little evidence first. Scripture didn't say that. What the scripture did say, Noah did exactly what God told him to do. [00:39:26] (28 seconds)  #NoahObeyed

Now, here's the promise that God gave us. It's this this beautiful rainbow. God gave us the rainbow to remind us of his promise. Now, unfortunately, the rainbow has been created to be a source of division in our culture now. But the rainbow represents a sign of peace from God. And it's a sign now that God will no longer destroy, but now send his son to fix what is broken. [00:49:58] (31 seconds)  #RainbowPromise

In fact, Jesus Jesus even said, in this world, you will have trouble, but take heart because I've overcome the world. And so it's a reminder to us that God's promise is for evil to be wiped out and exterminated, but it's through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And even though things don't seem right down here, they are all right up there. That's what Jesus came for. [00:34:20] (27 seconds)  #JesusOvercame

God didn't forget about it. And yes, he still does see it. But he chose at this point not to wipe it out like he did Noah and the ark. What God did was he created a bigger an answer. And it's where we go from instead of reading just one section of the old testament, you begin to look at the bible holistically. And see, God's God's answer to the problem of evil, and still is the answer, is that he sent Jesus. I mean, Jesus is the cornerstone of our church. It's what we wrestle with. But essentially, Jesus came to fix evil forever. [00:33:42] (37 seconds)  #JesusIsTheAnswer

So continuing the story of the promises of God, it's gonna take faith to follow Christ, and it's gonna take faith to continue your faith in Christ. No matter what. And in those moments of uncertainty, and in those moments of people chirping and talking, you hold on to what the scriptures say. You hold on to the promises of God and you believe that the one who started will be the one who finishes. [00:51:50] (31 seconds)  #HoldToPromises

And it's this reminder to us that we need to have crazy faith because of all the studying that I've done, one thing I love about the Bible is the Bible is new. It's living and active. It's God's word. And every year I read the Bible, I get something new out of it because it's not just a book. It's literally God's word and he'll highlight something new every year. [00:38:33] (23 seconds)  #LivingWord

Now what's interesting about Hebrew, the Old Testament is written in Hebrew, and the the the language of Hebrew is so deep. There's so much depth to it and understanding. And when they say it comes out of the ground, what most theologians believe is that there was tides from the ocean that came up. So imagine tsunamis coming on every side of every continent, sweeping water onto the land, and then having torrential downpour coming down. So it covers everything. [00:45:06] (29 seconds)  #HebrewDepth

Now, unfortunately, the rainbow has been created to be a source of division in our culture now. But the rainbow represents a sign of peace from God. And it's a sign now that God will no longer destroy, but now send his son to fix what is broken. [00:49:58] (23 seconds)  #RainbowNotDivision

God's promises require crazy faith. This is that moment, the crazy faith moment. Because I don't know about you, but I have so many questions now about this. Because our minds begin to think, how is this possible? How does this work? So the questions I have is, how do the pairs come together? Right? Does one one lion find another lion? Or, you know, a giraffe picks out this giraffe? How do they find each other? I know God calls them, but then they start walking. [00:37:09] (31 seconds)  #FaithOverQuestions

How did they survive for a year? Because they were in the ark for an entire year. So the bible does say that there's enough. You had to bring food for them. You had to bring extra animals for sacrifice and for eating of the family of Noah. Did the animals have babies for that year? Did God stop them from having babies? How do you feed all of them? How much food would you have to put in the ark? Is your mind running yet? [00:37:55] (29 seconds)  #ArkQuestions

So I'm reading this story. I've read this story hundreds of times. I've taught this story multiple times. And here's the new thing I got out of it. Within this, there is one phrase that's talked about over and over again. And the phrase was, Noah did exactly what God told him. It said that over and over again. Noah did exactly what God told him. [00:38:55] (31 seconds)  #ExactObedience

So here's the next reminder. God's promise has always come true. God talked about this and promised this. We know in the scriptures, the whole time he was building it, people were asking him, why are you doing this? This is crazy. Some say they hadn't experienced any substantial amount of water on the earth for them to understand what a big ship was gonna be for. So you can imagine how much crazier building a big ship would be for them. [00:42:21] (27 seconds)  #GodKeepsPromises

I had a moment when I gave my life to Christ and I started following Christ and going to church. People questioned why. People might say, oh, you recently committed your life to Christ. What are you doing? You know what those religious people are like. Maybe you chose sobriety, and all of a sudden, the friends that you used to drink with or use with, and they're like, why? You can't hang out with us now, or that's gonna be weird if you hang out. People won't understand. [00:43:27] (27 seconds)  #NewLifeChoice

It's a little reminder for you in your walk with God. And if you're thinking about making a decision for Christ, you're never gonna have all the answers. And there will be criticism Because we begin to walk with God, we go against the current of this culture. You have to trust and have crazy faith. And here's what happens when you trust and have crazy faith. It said, the water came down out of the clouds in torrents, and then the water also came out of the ground. [00:44:38] (28 seconds)  #WalkByFaithNotSight

That's what the rainbow is all about. That's what we gotta remember, that it's a promise of who Jesus is and what he has done. That he's brought about new life and he's brought about a pathway so that death and destruction doesn't have to meet you and I. And Noah experienced the very first covenant in the history of the world. And there's only been seven covenants in all of history. [00:50:29] (30 seconds)  #RainbowAndCovenant

What's the promise that God has for you this morning? What have you been holding on to? You've read something in the scriptures, you've heard something, you believe something for yourself. Ask God to make that come true. Something that's within his will that will help you grow closer to him. That's what this is all about. [00:53:46] (24 seconds)  #ClaimHisPromise