Riding Out The Storm

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Let's just kind of stay in the spirit for just a moment.

I want to remind you of the reality of what you're just saying.

You said that sin had left a crimson stain, but he, Jesus, watched it white as snow.

What that means is if you're in this room and you've done something in your life that you struggle with, you think there's no way I could ever be forgiven for that.

That is not your issue, whether or not you can be forgiven.

Or you deserve to be forgiven.

None of us deserves to be forgiven for what we've done.

Do you understand that?

Do you understand that?

And so tonight, the issue is not do I deserve it?

The issue is, do you really believe the gospel?

Because when you say there's things I've done that I could never be forgiven for.

So I mean, I mean, that's good for everybody else, but it's not, it doesn't really apply to me.

Uh it's not about the issue is not about if you deserve forgiveness.

The issue is do you believe the gospel?

Do you really believe the sufficiency of the gospel that Jesus knows the deep stain upon your heart?

And he died to wash you white as snow.

That's why in the Old Testament, God says to his people, come let us reason together.

And then he says this, though your sins be a scarlet, that's a deep color of red, I'll wash you as white as wool.

And so it's not whether or not you deserve it, it's whether or not, hey, do I really believe the gospel?

There's none of you in this room that's done anything that God cannot forgive, won't forgive.

Do you understand that this morning?

Yes.

Okay, that's the good news.

Gospel means good news.

That's the good news of Christianity.

So you don't have to live in shame or fear or worry.

You can have this deep abiding certainty that, oh, that was horrible.

Oh, that's as bad as I thought it was.

But the gospel is better.

The Bible says it like this in Romans chapter 5.

Romans 5 · chapter mention

It says, where sin did abound, grace did abound all the more.

So God has a capacity that we do not have.

So stop running from grace today and just slow down, let it find you and unwind you.

Does that make sense?

Let's pray together.

God, thanks for the truth of the gospel that all of us put it in the ditch.

All of us have done things that we're just like, man, I hope nobody ever finds out about that.

We've all done things that we can't stop thinking about.

But all those things that we can't stop thinking about, you've already forgotten because the Bible says that you not only forgive us, but you throw our sins into the depth of the sea and you remember them no more.

And so because you don't remember them anymore, we can stop obsessing over them.

Because our identity is not found in our biggest mistake.

Our identity isn't found in the greatest accomplishment that's ever happened in the history of humanity, that Christ died for sinners once for all to bring us to God.

We believe in that, we believe in the sufficiency of that.

We want to grow in our understanding of it today.

And so, Holy Spirit, illuminate the scripture, we ask in Jesus' name.

And all God's people said, Amen.

Amen.

You can have a seat.

If you've got a Bible, I invite you to take it, open up to Genesis chapter 7.

Genesis 7 · chapter mention

I'm going to read three verses today from three different chapters in the Bible.

And I and I want the sermon today to be short.

So if you're up for a short sermon, say amen.

Now, if you heard a spirit of unbelief coming from this section over here, it's David Ryder over there rolling his eyes, going, That's Cat ain't never preached a short sermon in his life.

I want to talk to you today about writing out the storm.

Riding out the storm because you're going to find yourself.

We're in a series right now, if you're visiting, we're in a series called Return to Design.

Return to Design is basically the first 11 chapters of Genesis where we see the way God designed the world to be.

Okay?

It's easy to look around and think, man, the world is just and you want to escape the world.

And I'm going to tell you today, no, no, no.

We want to engage the world with the gospel because as Christians, we're salt and light.

We're to preserve and expose.

Expose, not to be some haughty religious, know it all.

It's kind of like when I have a certain friend and the way he treats his wife, like every time she walks in the room, he stands up.

And so I just start standing up when she walks in the room, and then I get home and I don't stand up anymore.

And I'm like, yeah, that's great.

But when I'm around him, I don't know why.

He exposes something in me.

So that's what I mean by exposure.

It's not a bad thing, it's not to shame or embarrass, it's really to invite.

And so uh uh so we are created by God.

If you look around, there's there's a way God designed the world to be.

The world is not the way God designed it to be because uh the the first people God made, Adam and Eve, disobeyed God.

Sin entered into the world, God expelled them out of the garden.

And so everyone born after Adam and Eve is born separated from God, apart from God.

No one can say I've been a Christian my whole life.

No, you haven't.

No, we're we are born alienated from God, and so you got to get back into God's presence.

And the only way to do that is through a relationship with Jesus Christ, not religion, relationship.

And so this happens, and then Adam and Eve had two sons, Cain and Abel.

One of them killed his brother, and God marked him and said, Hey, leave this cat alone.

And then last week we talked about the flood in Genesis 6, Noah and the Ark, the story.

Most people think, oh, well, the Ark, I got I got that.

You know, it rained 40 days and 40 nights.

Actually, a few fun facts about the ark.

Uh, it actually took Noah a hundred years to build.

Uh, and so it wasn't like, hey, he got it one day, it was like DIY, 30-minute TV show.

Boom, I got a new house.

Uh, it took 100 years to build, it rained 40 days and 40 nights, but not only did it rain from above, but the earth cracked open and the fountains of the deep, water came up out of the ground.

So it's coming down and it's rising up.

The flood, the effects of the flood lasted one year and 10 days.

And so they're in the ark for 375 days, shut in with all these animals, Noah, his wife, his three sons, his three daughters-in-law, and they are in this, it's a pretty tight, enclosed space, got some windows up top, uh, but for 375 days.

Just think about the last road trip you took with your entire family.

I drive nine hours to Pensacola, Florida, and I'm I'm about to lose my Jesus by the time I get there.

Because when my kids are little, it's easy.

We had a minivan with headphones and the flip-down DVD player, boom, two movies and we're a nap, and we're there.

Now they're 24 and 18, and they're like, How long are we gonna be at Grant Papa's?

And how long, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

And they want to stop and hey dad, there's a Bucky's in Baytown.

We ain't stopping in Texas, okay?

We got to get across the Louisiana line and make some progress.

I don't stop until Lafayette.

That's my rule.

I just don't.

That's a sign of progress.

We're stopping at Lafayette.

Hopefully, I buy way Baton Rouge.

Eight and a half hours.

And when I get there, y'all are all better men than me.

When I get there, I need a break from all these people I love.

Because they're about on my last nerve.

And my wife's like, I saw you go out in the in my dad's shop and just say, I need to just, whoosha, whoosha.

I read this 375 days, cooped up, locked in.

God shut the door.

They couldn't get out until God opened the door.

By the way, uh, the waters, uh, the flood waters were 22 feet above the mountaintops.

A cubit is 18 inches.

So if you do the math, the ark came to rest on Mount Ararat, which is 17,000 feet uh tall.

It's in modern-day Turkey in the Caucasus Mountain range, the Caucasus Mountains.

The people that came through there are called Caucasians.

If you're wonder where that comes from, that's where it comes from.

Fun fact, history facts from your preacher, okay?

Uh and so basically, I mean, the water, it takes a long time for that much water to subside.

It eventually subsides.

And basically, Noah is entombed in a place of darkness in order to be saved while God meets out divine judgment on the entire world.

Let me say that again.

Noah is entombed.

He is shut in in this place of darkness in there.

It wasn't very well lit in the ark.

He is entombed in that, uh, in a place of darkness, and he's saved from the destruction taking place outside because God is bringing judgment on the entire world.

Does that sound familiar to anybody?

One of the things you'll see in the Bible is God tells the same story over and over and over through different people in different ways.

Now, some people are very intellectual, and I love that.

And so they think and they ask questions.

So there's a couple of uh what I would call common objections to the whole story of the ark.

And so let me just speak to that uh before we dive into the text.

The first one is this the flood was limited.

Some people say the flood was limited to a certain area, it's like, hey, they lived in kind of a low, depressed area.

So it flooded there, but it didn't flood the entire earth.

Here's why I don't believe, and I don't believe the Bible teaches that, because the Bible says that God's bringing universal judgment upon the earth, and so the flood was universal and then it covered the whole earth.

If the flood wasn't universal, then why did God give the rainbow as a universal sign of the covenant?

And so if you're thinking, oh, I just think, you know, they they lived in a low place, and which some some people do.

Uh this is why I do not think if it's 22 uh feet above a mountain that's 17,000 feet tall, then then I believe it covers the whole earth.

Secondly, people ask, why would God punish all those innocent people?

That's a great question.

A lot of people are like, hey man, I just really uh well, here's the problem with that question.

There's no such thing as an innocent person.

After Adam and Eve, remember I said that God expelled them from the garden and he expelled them and he put an angel with a flaming sword at the entrance.

So this fallen people they would not stay in a place of eternity.

They they are put out so they can be reconciled and brought back in.

And so I understand it's easy to say, well, why'd God punish all those innocent people?

There's no such thing.

Chapter 6, verse 5, God said it says the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

Okay, that's that started back then.

It goes on down to you and I as well.

Here's the third objection: why wouldn't God give those people a chance?

Why wouldn't God give, I mean, God's a God of mercy.

Come on, God, break break them off a little something, something.

Uh, here's the reality it took Noah a hundred years to build the ark.

The Bible talks about how God is long-suffering, not willing that any should perish, but all should come to the day of salvation.

Noah is building the ark, and while he's building the ark, the Bible says he's a preacher of righteousness.

Now, when someone preaches righteousness, it establishes a standard by which all of humanity is found guilty.

Let me say that again.

This is why it's so rare nowadays to find a preacher that will preach righteousness.

In other words, how do you get right with God?

There's only one way.

Because when you preach righteousness, you establish a standard by which all the world falls short.

And so this is what Noah does.

Why would he give those people a chance?

They had a hundred years.

Noah's talking to them the whole time, and they're just like, Yeah, thanks, whatever, dude, until it begins to rain.

And when it begins to rain, it's too late.

That's why the Bible says early on in chapter six of Genesis, the Spirit of God will not always strive with the Spirit of Man.

So your concern today ought not to be that God says something that kind of stirs your heart in your head.

Your concern is the day when you no longer feel stirred.

Does that make sense to anybody?

Uh and so don't be afraid of God convicting you.

God convicting you, God saying something to you is mercy.

God leaving you alone is judgment.

I don't have time to go into that.

If you want to hear more about that, let's get coffee this week.

I'd love to explain it to you.

So, what do we see in the text about how God designed us to be?

Now, by the way, right, let me say this: riding out the storm is not just in, it's not just white knuckling the ark and just be like, ah, because we're all gonna be in circumstances.

They're kind of like the ark.

You just feel shut in, you can't get out of this.

We're having to go through this, endure this, experience this.

And so the task is not just to endure, the task, hear me, beloved, is to come out on the other side worshiping God.

Because here's what happens so often.

It's a kind of three-step process.

Uh, we have hardship, and and and people get on that what I call a spirit of rejection.

And here's what a spirit of rejection sounds like.

Oh, oh, oh, you're just gonna let this happen?

You're not gonna do anything about this?

You feel rejected by God, and so you just kind of get hard.

And so there's rejection, and then there's ruthless.

You just get ruthless.

I mean, it's just like you don't tell anybody I'm ruthless, but every transaction, you you gotta win, everything you gotta win, every verbal exchange, you gotta win.

And then here's the last thing is regret.

Because deep inside, you know you don't want to be this way, but you feel powerless to not be this way, because deep inside you believe this core lie that God has somehow rejected you, God forgot about you.

God, if God was really love, would this be happening?

And so rejection makes us ruthless.

And then when we're ruthless over time, we it's not working and we just have this regret.

But you people don't feel safe to approach you because you're not a safe person.

Well, why is that?

Because you're ruthless.

And so, what does the Bible see?

What does the Bible tell us?

This is what I mean.

If you will, I wanted to preach, uh, I wanted to plunge on some of this and get into the details, but as I kept reading it, chapter seven, chapter eight, and chapter nine all make these profound statements in the very first verse.

So I'm just gonna read the first verse of three chapters because these are the realities that sustained Noah while he rode out the storm that allowed him to come out of it worshiping God instead of being a ruthless, rejected man.

Uh, chapter seven, verse one says this.

Then the Lord said to Noah, Go into the ark, you and all your household, for I have seen that you are righteous before me in this generation.

Hard stop.

Go into the ark, you and your entire household.

Why?

For I have seen that you are righteous.

Here are these five words, before me in this generation.

And so, what what do we take away from this?

What does the Bible tell us the way God designed us to be?

First of all, that God designed us to be a Godward people, to be a godward people.

We live, it's quorum deo, before the face of God, before me, but in this generation, we are not the first people to be surrounded by people who don't believe and who are even hostile to the gospel.

Let me say that again.

We are not the first people because nowadays there's a lot of chicken littles coming around going, oh, the sky's falling.

Oh my gosh.

I get asked this question a lot.

What do you think about this current administration?

Do you think this current, I mean, what do you think?

They're making policies that are hostile to Christians.

And I say the same thing every time.

Good.

Maybe now we'll find out who the real Christians are.

And they all look like, what?

And I'm like, yes.

By the way, you you you you can't look to man to be nice to Christians to make you feel more comfortable about being a Christian.

We live before God in this generation, in the context, in this world.

And you say, What do you mean?

It's always been that way.

Not just to Noah.

He said, He said, You live before me in this generation.

In the New Testament, Jesus says this in John 17.

The context is he's getting ready to finish his earthly mission.

He's praying to his heavenly father.

And Jesus said, I do not ask that you take them out of the world, talking about his disciples, his followers.

I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one.

They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.

Sanctify them in the truth.

Your word is truth.

As you send me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.

And for their sake, I consecrate myself that they also may be sanctified in the truth.

Now, Jesus says, Do not take them out of the world.

Mom and dad, you cannot take your kids out of the world.

You should so equip your kids to be in the world, to that live before God in this generation, that this generation is changed by the way your kids live.

But instead, we've embraced this doctrine of escapism where we just move further and further and further away from all the bad, sinful people.

And I just want to say this we are a God, if you if you read John 17, we're a Godward people who are kept, sanctified, and sent into the world.

Are you saying it's hard?

Yeah, I'm gonna say it's easy, not at all.

It's difficult.

It's hard, but we are created a Godward people live before me in this generation.

Like I gave an example, I have a friend that years ago started the ministry.

Now listen carefully.

I am not condoning this, I'm not condemning this.

You want to get to the point in your life where you don't have to judge anything.

You want to just get to the point where you can just say, Yeah, I mean, tonight at the table, my wife will talk about, I don't concern myself, things too wonderful for me.

I have a friend.

He was eating at a pub, slash, bar, restaurant, eat pub food or whatever.

And he said, ma'am, this place was packed, it was teeming with life.

And he said to the manager, he said, Hey, what are these people?

He said, Oh, they come in here, they talk about everything from religion to politics, and it just fun and it's just crazy.

And my friend had the idea, he went to the guy and said, Hey, I want to start a Bible study in here called Bibles and Beer.

You know how some of you are, you get two shiners in you, and all of a sudden you're a theologian.

I'll tell you what, we're good.

Uh and the and the manager of the place, the guy that owned the place, said, That's a great idea.

I'll give you this room over here.

And so my friend, sinner, started a ministry called Bibles and Beer.

And he started meeting with people and he just teached the Bible, and he said, Hey guys, here's the thing: you can have two drinks, that's it.

That's a limit.

We're not here to get drunk, we're not here to abuse our freedom.

And so, and all of a sudden, it went from two guys to six to fourteen to 35.

And people started packing in there, and then they stopped coming to the bar.

They would come to Bibles and Beer, but they wouldn't come and frequent the place.

And the owner of this thing said to my friend, he said, Hey, uh, we need to read, we need to rediscuss or renegotiate this because I'm losing some of my consistent patrons.

And my buddy said, Why?

He said, Well, these people are understanding the the Bible and they're not coming here and drinking every night, they're going home to their wife and kids.

Before me in this generation.

Again, you're to be salt and light.

Salt preserves and light exposes.

And exposure is not, oh, you wicked sinners.

It's an invitation.

It's to live your life in such a way that people uh they're just like, oh man, I I didn't realize that.

And the last time I heard, it's now become a franchise.

It's in a bunch of different bars.

There's one out here in Katia that happens.

I ain't telling you, because some of you are like, Yeah, I know where I'm going next Sunday.

Yeah, but he just before God in the context of this generation.

It's not just there, it's also another place in the New Testament.

Uh Philippians chapter 2, verse 14 says this do all things without grumbling or disputing.

Philippians 2:14

Just stop right there.

Just stop right there.

Given this current context, do all things, do everything you do without grumbling or disputing.

Why?

That you may be blameless and innocent.

Children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation.

Among whom?

Not against, but among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain.

Here's my concern.

I'll just put it out here on the table.

Most Christians would rather get with other Christians and grumble and then live in the midst of a twisted generation and hold forth the word of life.

You would rather get together with other Christians.

Oh, I'll tell you what, you know, what do you think?

And instead of just, hey, I'm gonna be around people who are far from God, and I want them to understand how juicy and satisfying God really is.

Uh, and so here's a very popular form of grumbling right now.

It happens in every church in America, it happens in this church, doesn't bother me at all.

It's a because when I get together with my pastor buddies, we we don't grumble when we talk about you and share prayer requests, but we don't grumble uh because we're pastors.

But here's what it's very popular.

There's a podcast out right now called The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill.

And it's about true story, it is about a church in Seattle, and their pastor has got a Mark Driscoll who wasn't a great leader.

He made some terrible decisions.

But here's a question I interject every time somebody brings it up.

Do you think it's possible for you to sin against Mark Driscoll?

Because we all have a list of people.

Do you think they're non-human, and so anything you say against them doesn't matter.

Tanya Harding's on the list.

O.J.

Simpson's on the list.

The person you hate right now is on that list.

You just forget, hey, those are people.

But Mark Driscoll, we just, and by the way, the guy made some knucklehead decisions.

But here's what church members all over the country are doing.

And some of you are in this church, and by the way, I welcome it.

Somebody said to me, not at all.

I love scrutiny.

I got nothing to hide.

But here's what you do: you listen to that, and then you get together.

I told the guy the other day, he goes, Hey man, have you heard about this podcast?

And he got right there.

I said, Oh, the rising and fall of Mars Hill.

He goes, Yeah, I got people in my church.

I said, I got people in my church.

They're listening to it.

And then they're looking at me through the lens of Mark Driscoll, trying to figure out how are you?

In what ways are you like Mark Driscoll?

I said, I don't know, you tell me.

I don't sit around with other Christians and grumble.

I want to take the gospel to people who've never heard it.

Sitting around with other Christians and reinforcing your jaded cynicism is not transformational.

It doesn't sanctify you, it makes you a bitter person.

No one wants to be around.

Lost people don't find you interesting, and Christians only hang around you because they're as inconsequential as you are.

The next time you're in that environment, just ask this question Hey, when's the last time you shared the gospel?

I bet you the answer is zero.

Now it's so ingrained in church culture nowadays.

By the way, can you feel what it feels like in here?

Y'all are kind of like, uh uh uh it's a great podcast.

It's sad.

It's sad, it is a lesson.

And we should pray for that brother.

We shouldn't pile on him.

But I can tell what episode you've listened to by the questions you ask.

Someone asked me the other day Do you have people around you that can tell you no?

Oh, that's episode four.

Yeah.

But I didn't say that, I said Yeah, yeah.

We're not a pastor-led church.

We're an elder-led church.

I'm getting three new bosses.

Next week, we're going to ordain three elders in the 11 o'clock service.

So I have three bosses.

I'm fixing to get three more.

Would you like to go to work tomorrow and get three extra bosses?

And then you roll up on me and go, You got people in your life.

Why don't you make notes so you can remember how to ask the question?

You got people in your life?

And go, um, I can tell you no.

Uh, besides my wife, who's at the top of the list?

Yes.

I have six bosses.

How many do you have?

But see, this is how easy it is to turn Christianity into just a gripe session about whatever and whoever rubbed you the wrong way last.

It's not the gospel.

I'm not saying don't listen to the podcast.

I'm just saying this is a great example.

Do all things like grumbling or disputing.

Because when you grumble and dispute, look at me, you stop doing anything.

You don't do anything.

Because your complaining excuses you from your responsibility.

So we're Godward people before me in this generation.

Secondly, we're a remembered people.

Look at chapter 8, verse 1.

It says, But God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the livestock that were with him in the ark.

Stop right there.

The whole flow of the flood narrative, chapter 6, 7, 8, and 9 gets reversed right here.

The Hebrew, uh, in the Hebrew language, it's this chiastic structure where it's kind of like, oh, man, it's sin, and and and and and and every thought of his heart was evil continuously.

And God said, I'm gonna flood the earth.

And then Noah builds the ark, and it just gets worse and worse and worse, and every sentence gets longer and more negative and more destructive.

And Noah builds the ark and God floods the earth.

Oh, it's terrible.

And then in verse, in chapter 8, verse 1, but God remembered Noah, and things begin to flow the other way.

Like my wife cries at the most inopportune times.

And I don't mean like in our home.

I mean she's living the dream at home.

We're seeing the movie The Lone Ranger.

Johnny Depp, you know, it's fun, happy, go lucky.

Got our kids there.

Our kids like to go to movies with us.

And so we're we're seeing the movie, and the train's about to go off the track, and it's gonna plunge these people to their death.

And all of a sudden you hear dun dun dun dun, dun dun dun.

And there he comes, riding on his white horse.

I look over, and my first wife, Marcy, is bawling.

I'm like, eh?

I don't mean like a little tear, I mean like making noise.

Like by the way, if you're not married, let me just tell you this right now.

Look into my eyes.

There are gonna be moments your wife says and does stuff and you don't know what to say.

Don't fake it.

Just ask.

I'm like, hey, what's going on?

This is like the gospel.

Why are you so crazy?

I didn't say that though.

I was like, why?

I mean, it's terrible.

Jesus comes riding in and makes it all better.

I was just thinking that.

You know what I thought?

What I thought in that moment was, I'm the preacher.

I should be thinking those things.

Yes.

So when I study Genesis chapter 8, God remembered Noah.

Genesis 8 · chapter mention

Guess what I hear in my spirit?

Here comes Russell Crowe, riding the donkey.

Just because my wife is like, this is just like the gospel.

Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.

Hey girls, we're gonna have a family devotional when we get home.

Get ready.

My kids are like, Your mom is crying because you broke her heart.

To which my kids are like, shut up, dad.

God, hey, look at me.

Men, here, look at me.

One of the greatest things you can say to your wife and your children when it gets hard is just look them in the eye and say, hey, we are a remembered people.

Don't you take matters into your own hands because you get that spirit of rejection on you, you get ruthless, you get hard, everyone's out to get you, everything's a conspiracy.

That's not the gospel.

You are a remembered people.

God remembered Noah.

By the way, it's a natural thing, uh, a natural feeling to sometimes wonder if God's forgotten you.

And when you feel like God's forgotten you, it's a great reminder that you probably need to read some psalms.

The psalms are like the prayer book, it's the hymn book of God's people.

There's a section called the The Psalms of Ascent.

It's like a playlist for the road trip.

These people sang songs and they cried out to God because there's gonna be situations where you just feel like, you know, God, I just like in the 10th Psalm, he says this in verse 1.

Now, look at me before I read these two verses.

If you were making the Bible up, why would you put something like this in there?

If you're here and you're kind of like, I don't know about the Bible, I think people made that up.

Hear this.

If you wanted to make people believe in God, why would you say in the psalm, like in the 10th Psalm, verse 1, Why, O Lord, do you stand far away?

Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?

Three chapters later, the 13th Psalm begins, How long, O Lord, will you forget me forever?

How long will you hide your face from me?

How long must I take counsel in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all the day?

Now, when the Bible says, How long must I take counsel in my soul?

When he says, Take counsel in my soul, what he's saying, how long did I gotta talk to myself, try to convince myself that this is gonna be okay?

I made a connection this weekend talking to my wife.

You should talk to your wife more on the weekends, men.

When you you say, I feel sleep coming, you're asleep in 30 seconds.

I said, Yeah.

And I said, you know what, I didn't, it didn't dawn on me until the other day I was I was actually studying this.

And I grew up, there was a period where it was very difficult for me and my two brothers and my mom.

We lived in a dumpy little hotel, had one bed, a little kitchenette, and a bathroom.

So one of us was sleeping in bed with my mom, and the other two sleep on the floor.

Uh, and I don't want pity.

God's been so good to me, I don't tell you that for pity, I tell you that for perspective.

Uh but my mom, after we'd get in bed, my mom would go sit at the kitchen table and smoke cigarettes and talk to herself.

And I remember as a little kid thinking, hurry up and fall asleep, because that's very dysregulating to me.

I don't, I just don't feel like anybody's coming for us.

No one's no no mu dun dun dun dun.

There's no music.

And it was very vexing to me as a little kid.

And so I remember hurry and fall asleep, hurry and fall asleep, hurry and fall asleep.

So I said to my wife, I thought I'm just gonna I look over, my wife's crying.

I'm like, Why are you crying?

I just just a little boy, I just want to hold him.

You can hold me now.

I don't want to hold you.

Just saying, I'm available to be held.

Yeah.

But he said, How long, how long would I take counsel in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all the day?

If you were making this up, would you put anything so raw in there?

Of course you wouldn't.

The Bible's not afraid of the jagged nature of life.

By the way, when it says, God remember Noah, remember here, it doesn't mean you call uh something to mind that you've forgotten.

God cannot forget anything because he is all-knowing.

Instead, remember means this to fulfill a promise and act on behalf of somebody.

To fulfill a promise and act on behalf of somebody.

God says, Oh, by the way, I made a promise to Noah back in chapter 6.

I said, I'll make my covenant with you.

And God says, I'm gonna act on your behalf.

Ask yourself this question: are you a person that you think God would act on your behalf?

I hear Christians all the time pray prayers like this, oh Lord, in spite of me, use me.

How about because of you?

How about you stop being a knucklehead and live your life in such a way that God, not in spite of you, but because of you, you become this causal agent of change in every environment you find yourself in.

The last thing he just says in chapter 9, verse 1, I told you three verses.

Chapter 9, verse 1, and God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, Be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth.

We're a blessed people.

We're a godward people, we're a remembered people, and thirdly, we're a blessed people.

God blessed Noah and his sons.

See, the blessing of God is multi-generational.

You're not just living men right now, women, you're not just living right now for yourself.

If you are, then you're wasting your time.

God bless Noah and his sons.

The blessing of God is to be bestowed upon generations.

You should raise your children to think about the blessing of God being on their life.

Now, from verses one to 17, uh God blesses Noah and his family, then he tells them to do four things, and I'm done.

He says, number one, I want you to multiply.

Multiply life.

I want you to multiply, sustain, protect, and enjoy.

That's what he says.

You can you can look, multiply.

He says right there, verses one, multiply, be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth.

Does that sound familiar?

Same thing he said to Adam and Eve, but they didn't trust God.

Last week we plunged, it was deep.

So I just I don't want to be so deep this way.

I just want to say, hey, let's just hear these three truths right here.

This is what sustains Noah when he shut in on the ark.

And man, 375 days on a wooden box full of animals.

Whoo, what'd that smell like?

Smelled like your grandma's Buick in there.

It's terrible.

Ugh.

Gets done, and he says, Hey, be full, be fruitful, multiply.

Here's why.

The only thing central to God's plan for the world is God.

So all God needs is God, and God can start over.

He says, He's one man and his family.

I'll start over with these people.

Here we go.

The only thing central to God's plan for the world is God.

So he said, multiply, sustain.

Sustain.

Sustain.

This is, by the way, this is when enmity gets between and because he says, and then protect life.

Enmity gets between the animals and man.

Up to that time there was peace between them.

Animals now, as a result of this, are afraid of humanity.

A young man this morning showed me on his phone.

The dad said, Hey, I wasn't here last week and we were deer season.

I said, Glory to God.

By the way, when you go hunting deer, don't feel guilty.

There's enough guilt in the world.

If you take a weekend and go hunt deer, glory to God.

We're not taking roll.

I'm not sending you a letter.

Where are you, sinner?

If you've got a beach house, go to your beach house some weekend and enjoy it guilt-free.

You should lay out there in the sun, look at your wife, and go, We should be burning in hell right now, but we got a house in Sugarland and we got a beach house.

Bless up.

You got a Harley, you should write it.

Don't come and tell me, hey, I'm gonna go on a road trip with my buddies on my Harley next Sunday, so I won't be here.

Send me pictures from wherever you are and go, I don't wish you were here.

Why?

Why do I say all that?

Look at that last word.

What if this is really in the heart of God?

I want to I want you to multiply, sustain.

You're my co-regent, you're gonna be my representative in this world.

You're gonna multiply, sustain, protect, and enjoy.

One of the early creeds of the church says the chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy him forever.

What if this?

What if what's really happening right now in your life is not that you're you're enjoying bad things too much.

What if you're not enjoying the good things enough?

This is why Noah, chapter 8, verse 20, you don't have to turn there.

But Noah gets off the ark, and the first thing he does after a 375-day road trip, you're like, I'd be stung along off that ark, going, finally, breathe some fresh air.

No, no, no.

Look at me.

He's not fine, but he's foremost.

He's like, Oh, what's foremost in my mind right now?

He builds an altar and he worships God.

Why?

Because of what he went through.

The way he thinks about God, what he thinks about himself has been so altered when he gets off there.

He doesn't have a spirit of rejection on him.

He doesn't feel like God gave up on me.

I'm gonna be ruthless.

I'm gonna just go, I'm just gonna live this way the rest of my life.

I'm not gonna depend on anybody, I'm not gonna trust anybody, I'm not gonna ask anybody for anything.

I'll just figure it out.

I got a YouTube tutorial for everything.

That's why your life is so hard, man.

And God said, Hey, I just want you to enjoy.

I don't want you to act like you're the general manager of the universe.

That's my God, that's my job, God says.

And Noah gets off the ark, builds an altar, and makes a sacrifice because he's worshiping his God.

You and I were created to be those kinds of people.

Let's pray together.

If you're a guest, just relax.

We like to teach the Bible and give you some space to think about it.

And so I just, you are a God, we're created to be, you're designed by God to be this Godward people.

That in whatever, you're not here to escape the culture, you're here to engage the culture.

Because you are salt and light.

You're to preserve and expose, to live your life in such a way that people feel the insufficiency of the way they live theirs, and they want to better know how to live the life you live.

That's why you're God created you to be Godward in how you live.

Secondly, you're remembered, you're not forgotten.

God says later in the Old Testament to His people, if I was to forget you, I'd have to cut off my right hand.

Are you kidding me?

And then finally, you're blessed.

Don't let the prosperity gospel TV preachers ruin that word for you.

It doesn't mean you got everything you want, all the money you need, or whatever.

You're blessed because God's put his favor on you.

And he wants that to extend to your children and to your grandchildren.

He wants your grandchildren to get in your lap and say, Hey, big poppy.

Mommy said that God has blessed our family for a long time and it started with you.

Can you tell me that story?

God says, Enjoy.

Enjoy everything I provide.

Father, we want to be a worshiping people because Noah was a worshiper.

He didn't just endure, he celebrated.

So here is now as we celebrate the fact that you're sustaining us.

God, we're not just riding out the storm and endurance, we're enjoying all that you're doing in us because it's going to affect the way we think about ourselves and the way we think about you.

So here is now, as we like Noah, we join in in worship.

Yeah.

Sometimes when we hear the word, we need to come back and respond to the word in worship.

And so we'll do that more in the future.

Would you like that?

Would you enjoy that?

Uh sometimes I'll just get up and preach first.

And so if you come late, you miss half the sermon.

Have a seat for just a second.

Let me voice a prayer.

God, thank you that there's nothing better than you.

We're tired of uh holding trinkets and treating them like they're treasure.

We want to understand.

Noah had this advantage when you destroyed everything and started over.

It was a blank slate.

But grace gives us a blank slate as well.

And so, God, we are mindful today that we are a godward people.

We live before you, quorum deo, before the face of God in the midst of this generation.

So we're not trying to escape or avoid or get out of.

We want to get into circumstances and situations where it's dark so we can bring the light of God and gospel to bear on it.

Lord, we're remembered.

So if anybody in this room right now just feels like, man, I just feel forsaken and forgotten.

That's not true.

We just say, over that person's life and circumstance, you are remembered.

God cannot forget his people, he will not.

He's inscribed you upon his palms.

Finally, God, we're a blessed people.

That's why we get to be a blessing to organizations and missional partners like the Landing, is because the blessing is so big and so juicy, it just flows, it overflows out of us and onto other people.

We are that way because you're that kind of a God who says, Hey, I want you to enjoy everything I provide.

I freely provide it.

I don't need anything in you to motivate me to provide.

That's my name, Jehovah Jirah, the Lord our God who provides.

So I speak provision over all my people.

More than they could ever ask or imagine.

We speak that in Jesus' name.

And God's people said, Amen.

Amen.

If you're a guest, hopefully you've had a chance to pull those guest cards in the seatback pocket in your row.

But all we ask of you is if you just drop on the wooden boxes uh by the doors on your way out.

Also, today's the day you worship God uh when it comes to giving our obedience, as we call it, our generosity.

That's why you take care of that as well.

Just two things to remind you of by way of announcement.

So give your attention to the screens for a brief video announcement.

Thank you for joining us today.

Here's some things we want you to know.

The table is tonight.

All women are invited to come spend some time in worship and the word and to prepare their hearts before the holidays.

We will see you at 6 30 p.m.

tonight.

The Family Christmas Party is coming up on December 4th.

Join us for gingerbread, Christmas carols, train rides, and more.

It's a great time to invite your neighbors.

Register online at grandparkway.org/slash events.

If you're new or would like someone to pray with you, find one of our pastors at the front of the stage at the conclusion of our service.

Those of you that maybe today's the first day you heard about this thing called the table.

It's a it's a women's event put on by our women's ministry.

It's right here in this room tonight at 6 30.

Uh, there'll be some teaching time, then there'll be some experiential time, and Lindsay uh will be Lindsay Frayler will be leading you in worship.

So, ladies, it's a great opportunity to come and get your cup filled.

Men, let's contend for our wives to get away from us and be around other women and experience God, okay?

Right here in this room at 6 30.

All right, we'd like to conclude our service with a spoken blessing.

So if you would stand to your feet.

Hold your hands out.

Robert Earl Keene was right.

The road goes on forever and the party never ends.

That's just the way God intended it.

So you get out of here and get busy enjoying God.

In the name of the Father and the Son of the Holy Spirit.

Amen.