October 28, 2010 And The Rains Came 4

"I am going to bring flood waters on the earth to destroy all life under the heavens, every creature that has the breath of life in it. Everything on earth will perish."

Good Thursday Morning, my dear brothers and sisters. What a great morning to be alive and alive in Jesus. Come on, my brothers and sisters, rise and shine and walk the day with Jesus, forget those aches and pains for today, ask God to carry them, and just do your very best to hang on for the ride.

Today is the day we pray for our schools and our families and when praying please as you pray, pray for my family as I pray for yours. And be sure to pray for the "family of God." When praying for schools today, and when I say praying for schools I am not talking about the buildings, I am talking about the people who go through the doors, and please ask God to look real close at the inter-city schools and to touch those kids and send them good, real good God fearing teachers.

And The Rains Came 4: Genesis 6:17 - "I am going to bring flood waters on the earth to destroy all life under the heavens, every creature that has the breath of life in it. Everything on earth will perish. 18 But I will establish my covenant with you, and you will enter the ark --- you and your sons and your wife and your sons' wives with you. 19 You are to bring into the ark two of all living creatures, male and female, to keep them alive with you. 20 Two of every kind of bird, of every kind of animal and of every kind of creature that moves along the ground will come to you to to be kept alive. 21 You are to take every kind of food that is to be eaten and store it away as for you and for them." 22 Noah did everything just as God commanded him. (NIV)

Let's take a look at the scriptures of today and see how it looks to us. See what God might give me today. Again we see God talking to Noah, talking to Noah as He talked to Adam and Eve, and to Cain and Abel, and as He talks to us. My question once again is, do we listen, do we really listen for God to talk to us? Trust me when I say God does talk to each and every one of us, He does not pick and choose. He talks to all of us regardless of age, of sex, of race, of religion, He talks to those who cannot hear. When God speaks we all need to listen. And folks, listen with your heart and your mind and brain. Most often you will not hear Him with Your ears.

Now as he talks to Noah, He is laying out what I would call Noah's marching orders, what He wants Noah to do. Yesterday we looked at the size of the Ark that God commanded Noah to build, and that alone would have scared off most all people. Think about it, you are married, you have three sons and they all are married, and that's it for your help, well except for one helper, and that was? God of course! Brothers and Sisters, the older I get the smarter I am getting, for I have figured out that if I want to get ANYTHING done I need to get God in on it from the start. How about you, do you start projects, big or small, by asking God to work with you? If you don't, why not ask him early on, as in the start of each day to be with you in all things, and when you start something at work, pray about it first? Ok, lets move on...

God said: "I will establish my covenant with you, and you will enter the ark --- you and your sons and your wife and your sons' wives with you." Now we touched on the family, but I want you to look at one word here, "Covenant." In other words God made Noah a promise, a very big promise and I ask you today, do you know what that promise is and the reminder that God is using to this day to remind Him of the promise to Noah and his family?

Then God told Noah who to bring on board and I want you to notice that God commanded Noah to bring on two of each kind, ONE MALE AND ONE FEMALE. Folks, here it is again, God did not order couples of two males or two females, not in the people (Noah and his family and his son) nor in the animals. Couples were then and still should be now, one male and one female. The only time in the Bible where you will find a male married to a male is when we get to heaven and we are all married to Christ. As Neil Enloe wrote in a song... "Next time I get married, I'm going to be the bride." Ok, moving on...

Now listen to this from Genesis 6:20 - Two of every kind of bird, of every kind of animal and of every kind of creature that moves along the ground will come to you to to be kept alive. (NIV) Please note that the birds, animals and creatures are all going to come to Noah. Noah does not need to go and trap them, or hunt them down and bring them in, they just lined up when the Ark was done. Now folks, some will not believe that, but I do, and why... BECAUSE IT IS IN MY BIBLE!!

Can you just picture your neighbors if you built a really big boat, an Ark in your yard and then the animals would come and line up? The neighbors drive by your hunk of ground and see this, and yes, they see a Lion and his mate, and two big old bears. Now I would be doing it, my neighbors might just say, well old Dan is at it again and this time he crossed the line. But I have neighbors who know the Lord and would be just well might have been called on by God to do this project if it were to have happened today instead of back then. I could see it, "Art, I want you to build an Ark and bring Elaine with you." While we know an Ark will never be needed again, I am just pointing out this... Are you like Noah and Mrs. Noah and my dear, dear neighbors like Art and Elaine who I am sure would answer the call for God. In fact, it was just about three years ago when they did answer the call, put things aside and went to the "Check Republic" (I am sure I messed that spelling up) on a mission trip. That is answering the call... HAVE YOU BEEN CALLED BY GOD? DID YOU ANSWER THE CALL? Ok, enough for today, tomorrow we get in the Ark, bring on the animals, and close the door, and then, and then and The Rains Came...

Dear Father in Heaven, please help us to answer the call from You, and to do the work the best we can to please You. Be in our schools, Lord, and in our families, and I ask this in Jesus' name... Amen.

Now go forth sharing those blessings and answering the call from Jesus when He commands you to work for Him... Love ya, Pastor Dan.