Sermon

It's Not Too Late — God Hasn't Given Up on You

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  1. Welcome to the Illuminate Church podcast.

  2. We hope today's message is encouraging to you.

  3. Everyone's favorite subject in the scriptures.

  4. Is the flood and what has happened so if you have.

  5. Your Bibles, we're going to be in Genesis chapter 6.

    Genesis 6 chapter mention

  6. If you need a Bible, just raise your hand and 1:00 will be

  7. brought to you. If you're watching online, we

  8. say good morning to you and welcome if you're brand new.

  9. Here today your first time then. Welcome to you.

  10. I want to say hi to my new friends Toby and Pam.

  11. Good to see you, Toby and Pam back there.

  12. Hello, I met them before service. 2 lovely ladies, great

  13. people, a mother and a daughter coming to church together.

  14. Amen. I'm.

  15. Going to say that again so you can respond even.

  16. Better a mother and a daughter coming to.

  17. Church together. Hallelujah.

  18. Well, I have. A question that kind of frames

  19. today that I want you to start considering as we enter into the

  20. story of Noah in our journey through Genesis.

  21. When is something too far gone to be considered useful anymore?

  22. Or. When is someone too far gone?

  23. To be considered useful anymore when?

  24. Is a dream too far gone? When is a relationship too far

  25. gone that it's not? Considered useful any longer?

  26. You know, in America, this is what we do.

  27. We toss. Out what other people?

  28. Repurpose other. People in other countries.

  29. They. Repurpose things that we toss

  30. out. They make them useful Again.

  31. I've been to many countries. Maybe you have to have been to

  32. Kenya. Uganda.

  33. I've been a bunch of countries, but I'm talking about the ones

  34. where I've seen what we throw out.

  35. Other people use Peru, Nicaragua, the Bahamas.

  36. And what you find in our trash dumps, you find in the building

  37. blocks of their homes, their churches, and their.

  38. Schools. And we just take it to the dump.

  39. We toss out the trash, other people repurpose it.

  40. I think today's. Message I could boil down to

  41. this God is not like the Americans.

  42. He is like the. Other people, for he does not

  43. give up one. Amen.

  44. Out of the entire room, God does not give up.

  45. He doesn't trash it when the dream looks shattered, He

  46. repurposes it when things look awry.

  47. God doesn't just move on and forget it.

  48. He sticks to the plan and he completes it.

  49. Anybody know Philippians 16 and he who is faithful, He who began

  50. a good? Work and you will see it to

  51. completion. This is good news.

  52. Perhaps you feel like God should have.

  53. Given up on you. Genesis teaches us otherwise.

  54. Perhaps you feel like God has. Given up on you.

  55. And I want you to know that Genesis teaches us otherwise.

  56. You will see that God and God alone has caused his great love,

  57. which is called has said it's a Hebrew word.

  58. You got to put the in the has said it's the covenant love of

  59. God. It's a it's a love that will not

  60. fail. It's a love that never sleeps,

  61. never slumbers, never off the job.

  62. This great love and his plan for humanity God will cause to

  63. persevere. So when the story should have

  64. ended, God says I'm not even close to being done if it was

  65. true. For them, as we will see today

  66. in the book of Genesis, then it is true for us today.

  67. He's not close to giving up. Neither should you.

  68. Let's pray, Lord, as we open your word, you speak Holy

  69. Spirit, You teach. Lead us into all truth and

  70. righteousness, for will you have.

  71. Brought us under the counsel of your word by.

  72. You Holy Spirit, bringing us to church today.

  73. We're not here out of obligation or.

  74. Because we got to be we're because we're here, because your

  75. Holy Spirit wooed us and say today you're going to.

  76. Church because I have. Something I need to deliver into

  77. your. Spirit so Lord.

  78. Open up our hearts so that we might receive from your good and

  79. mighty word in Jesus name, Amen. Well, let's catch up on the

  80. story of Genesis. The the book of Genesis, if you

  81. missed week 1, is where all the answers are found.

  82. If you got any question about anything under creation, its

  83. purpose or its origin, its design is all found in the book

  84. of Genesis. First facts, faith, all found in

  85. Genesis. At the beginning.

  86. God creates the perfect place and then he creates the people

  87. to dwell within this place in a loving relationship.

  88. This is the this is the intent of God from the beginning.

  89. I want to create a beautiful place.

  90. With these beautiful. People.

  91. And we're going. To be together forever.

  92. I'm going to abide with them and then with me it's going to be

  93. great. And he?

  94. Gave us the instructions and said take care of it.

  95. And then as you know, last week, Debbie Downer Sunday, Genesis

    Genesis 3 chapter mention

  96. chapter 3, humanity ignored the instructions and we suffered the

  97. consequences of our own hands. And the plan at this point

  98. appears to be ruined. God's dream.

  99. God wanted to be with us, but we thought we had a better plan

  100. than God's plan and therefore the chaos.

  101. Of sin and brokenness. Enters the world.

  102. The proof is in the pudding. It doesn't take long.

  103. Adam and Eve are born as adults. They're not children.

  104. So the very first two children that are born on the earth, this

  105. is how quickly that humanity goes to entropy.

  106. Entropy means just like going on into chaos.

  107. The very first two kids born on the earth, if you go reading

  108. Genesis, one of them, Cain, kills the other, Abel out of a

  109. fit of bitter jealousy. Like we're not that far from the

  110. garden and here we already. Are and on it goes, and it gets

  111. worse and it gets worse until we get to Genesis chapter 6. 1000

    Genesis 6 chapter mention

  112. years have passed and the descendants of Cain have been

  113. living lawlessly on the earth. The only laws that God had given

  114. man had already discarded in the garden.

  115. Like we out God, we're doing this on our own.

  116. So. How bad had it?

  117. Gotten look with me at Genesis 6.

  118. Are you ready to say yes, verse one?

  119. When human beings began. To increase the number on the

  120. earth, and daughters were born to them, the sons of.

  121. God. Saw that the daughters of humans

  122. were beautiful, and they married any of them.

  123. They chose what? Then the Lord said my spirit

  124. will not contend with humans forever, for they are mortal.

  125. Their days will be 120 years. Up to this point humans had

  126. lived for centuries and God says I'm putting the limit on the

  127. length of their life at 120 years.

  128. Verse 4 The Nephilim were. On the earth in those days,

  129. these are. Giant human beings.

  130. Giant, giant human beings. And also afterward, when the

  131. sons of God went to the daughters of humans and had

  132. children by them, they were the heroes of old men of renown.

  133. The people were supposed to be. Creating an increasing.

  134. God's image. On the Earth.

  135. In the garden, the Lord. God said to Adam and Eve, be

  136. fruitful and multiply. Create more image bearers.

  137. On the earth go. Populate the earth with people

  138. who have my character, my convictions, my calling, my

  139. community, my culture. Go put more and more of them on

  140. the earth. That's your job.

  141. And not only is that your job, but you're also to take care of

  142. this Very beautiful. Place that is my temple, the

  143. earth, and instead here we have the descendants of Cain not

  144. adhering to any loss, not adhering to any boundaries.

  145. And instead of propagating. The image of.

  146. God, they're propagating. Chaos and destruction and

  147. violence on the Earth, It's all gone downhill.

  148. Now these opening verses of chapter 6 that we just read, I

  149. guarantee you will be studied by scholars much wiser than all of

  150. us for the rest of all time trying to figure out exactly who

  151. are the sons of God and what did the Nephilim have to do with

  152. them. Even as I look at them like

  153. Lord, I'm not sure that have complete revelation on what this

  154. means except this that we can draw from it.

  155. These verses are here mainly to emphasize how terrible it has

  156. become on the earth. Women, humans are sleeping.

  157. With non humans. That's happening.

  158. And then you have these Nephilim.

  159. They are worshipped. They are the men of renown, not

  160. the Lord God. But now we're worshipping these

  161. giant humans on the earth. The people have completely lost

  162. the plot. It's all summed up in one

  163. condemning summarizing statement in verse 5.

  164. The Lord saw how. Great, the wickedness.

  165. Of the human race had become on the earth.

  166. And that. Watch this.

  167. Every. Inclination of the thoughts.

  168. Of the human heart was only evil all the time, only evil all the

  169. time, every inclination. This is a lot of absolutes.

  170. Nothing but evil 100%. Of the time.

  171. And it's at this point, a lesser God, a God who does.

  172. Not have the. Has said love the covenant.

  173. Love of our God would just throw it all the way.

  174. Completely walk away. I'm throwing the world and its

  175. inhabitants onto the trash heap. As your Mama might have said to

  176. you once I brought you into this world.

  177. I could take you out of this world.

  178. Sayonara, Idios, whatever you want to say.

  179. Just stay humans. You're going to stay in your

  180. world of violence and your world of destruction and your world of

  181. chaos. Good luck with that.

  182. I tried. I'm out.

  183. That could. Have been the word but.

  184. That's not how the. Story goes somebody believe with

  185. me this for the. Author of the story.

  186. Has made a promise. One day this will.

  187. All be made right. One day, the dream.

  188. Will be fulfilled. One day, God says, because I

  189. love them, I will dwell with my. People and my creation together

  190. we will be. That didn't sound like Jacob

  191. that time in a story of Noah that we look at today, we will

  192. see that God is making a new start.

  193. It's a reset button. God is not giving up because he

  194. loves us. He's giving humanity another

  195. chance. And listen to me because he

  196. loves you. He's giving you another chance.

  197. It's a day of a new. Start last week.

  198. We introduced the sin cycle. Everyone loved it So much fun.

  199. Doubt, deception, disobedience, disgust, destruction.

  200. No fun. Well, that.

  201. Sin cycle is actually the first part of another four part cycle

  202. that we have seen since the book of Genesis to our time in our

  203. life. You see it repeatedly in the Old

  204. Testament over and over again, where you have wickedness that's

  205. then followed by judgment. Nobody loves that, but it's a

  206. real thing. But then it's followed by Grace.

  207. And deliverance, wickedness. Judgment, grace, deliverance.

  208. Let's read them together. Wickedness.

  209. I said together that I left you all alone.

  210. We talked a lot about wickedness last week.

  211. It's the condition of the human heart to rebel against God,

  212. trying to become God. It's what?

  213. Satan. Did and he felt like lightning

  214. from heaven. It's what Satan got us to do by

  215. eating of the knowledge of the tree of good and evil.

  216. Reserved for God. We're not good gods.

  217. He is God. We have wickedness.

  218. And because of it. Judgment came, and I.

  219. Want you to know that God's judgment.

  220. Is a very real thing. There's an.

  221. Attempt on the earth today in the church to erase God's

  222. judgment and say it's just love, just love, just love, just love.

  223. Well, if you read the entirety of scripture, you realize that

  224. you have the opinion of man. And not the opinion of the word

  225. of God, because? Judgment is a real thing from

  226. Genesis all the way to Revelation, and it's a good

  227. thing that judgment exists. It's because it's judgment that

  228. will cast the Evil 1 into the lake forever.

  229. Hallelujah, Genesis. Chapter 6 verse 6 says the Lord

    Genesis 6:6

  230. regretted. That he made Tim Ingram and all

  231. the. Rest of us thank.

  232. You for not leaving me alone, that he made human beings on the

  233. earth and his heart. Was deeply troubled, so the Lord

  234. said I will wipe. From the.

  235. Face of the Earth, the human. Race I have created and with

  236. them the animals, the birds and the creatures that move along

  237. the ground for I. Regret that I have.

  238. Made them God regrets making humans, for humans have ruined

  239. the earthly temple. And not only that.

  240. More importantly, we've ruined the relationship with God.

  241. All evil all the time. God's regret here is not nose

  242. turned up disgust like I, how dare you.

  243. It's more grief. His heart is grieved.

  244. He's in pain because of what we've done.

  245. He is in pain because he loves humanity.

  246. Here we see God's heart is broken, but what we see next is

  247. that God's heart is steadfast. He's going to see the plan

  248. through. A new start is needed.

  249. Here is the beginning of a cycle that we.

  250. See in Noah a pattern of. Decree destruction in the.

  251. Wake of wickedness. We see it in the flood.

  252. We'll see it in the Old Testament.

  253. In the holy wars, we'll see it also.

  254. In the Old Testament. In the exile, though, God is

  255. patient. Judgment will come and it will

  256. be total of. Course, we see this culminating

  257. at the cross where the judgment of God is not withheld, but it

  258. is poured out on his own Son in a loving sacrifice, an

  259. incredible act of love. And just put a little note here.

  260. Anyone who believes in Jesus is spared from judgement because

  261. the judgement has been poured on Jesus.

  262. And so when we believe on Jesus, God removes from us the

  263. punishment, the judgement do us, and we find new life in him.

  264. This is the Gospel. So we begin with God's judgment,

  265. and it is real. But let's get to the good news.

  266. God gives grace to the righteous and the repentant.

  267. Everybody clap your hands. Yeah, Genesis chapter 6 says,

    Genesis 6 chapter mention

  268. but Noah verse 8. But Noah found favor in the eyes

  269. of the Lord. Why?

  270. How? What do you do verse 9?

  271. This is the account of Noah and his family.

  272. Noah. Was a righteous man.

  273. Blameless among the people. Of his time and he walked

  274. faithfully with God. Where's Noah in this room?

  275. Where is the man or the woman of distinction?

  276. Who looks so? Differently than the Earth.

  277. That it causes the favor. Of God to pour out on that

  278. person so. Different than culture, so

  279. different than what we see on our social media feed.

  280. So different than what we see driving around Orlando, FL, the

  281. land of a million options. You're already different by

  282. being here at church today. You could have been at any

  283. world. It's a beautiful day to go to

  284. the beach. But you chose here.

  285. That's different. I commend you.

  286. And here's Noah. I mean, how is he different than

  287. anyone else? It turns out Noah is different

  288. because of the heritage of his family, which should inform us

  289. because we're a family and we have a job to instill into the

  290. next generation that's coming behind us.

  291. For certainly this is what happened to Noah.

  292. Noah's. Grandfather.

  293. Is a man named. Methuselah.

  294. Everyone say Methuselah. God bless you.

  295. Methuselah is famous because of how old he lived to be.

  296. He's the oldest living human ever 969 years.

  297. This is before God limited our ages to. 120. 960. 9 Talk about

  298. wrinkles. That's Noah's grandfather.

  299. Noah's great. Grandfather Methuselah's father.

  300. Is a man named. Enoch.

  301. Everyone say Enoch. Enoch is a man.

  302. Who was driving his? Car one day with the sunroof

  303. open and guys said I. Love you so much.

  304. Whoop. He went right up to the sunroof,

  305. just went straight up with God, the Lord.

  306. In Genesis it says that Edoch walks so closely with God that

  307. God took him to himself. He never died.

  308. He just went shoot up and vanished.

  309. How about that I? Just want that I'm going to

  310. leave my sunroof. Open on the way.

  311. Home just in case. I don't even have a sunroof.

  312. I just realized I'm driving my daughter's car.

  313. I barely got an. Engine Hallelujah.

  314. And what I'm trying to say is that Noah's heritage raised him

  315. to be faithful to the Lord, which is a great thing because

  316. God gives grace to the entire human race, to the loyalty,

  317. obedience and faith of one man. Does that sound like another man

  318. you might know? Is that a type?

  319. It's what the? Scholars call a foreshadowing.

  320. Of another man that would come years later, who by one man his

  321. loyalty, faith and obedience saves the entire human race.

  322. Yeah, God could have extinguished humanity completely

  323. and we would not be here today. But God spared Noah because of

  324. the condition of his heart. God's patience therefore

  325. supersedes his judgement. God's grace supersedes His

  326. judgement. He is willing to relent in the

  327. hopes that someone, anyone. Would turn to Him.

  328. I just want to overwhelm you with biblical evidence of this

  329. truth. God is willing to relent from

  330. His judgement to anyone that would turn to Him.

  331. Ezekiel 18 But if a wicked person turns away from all the

  332. sins they have committed, and keeps all my decrees, and does

  333. what is just and right, that person will surely live.

  334. They will not die. None of the offenses they have

  335. committed. Will be remembered against them.

  336. Because of the righteous things they.

  337. Have done they will live verse 20.

  338. Three do I take? Pleasure in the death of the

  339. wicked it's a rhetorical question rather, am I not

  340. pleased when they turn from their ways and live God's heart

  341. is that humanity would turn to him even in the.

  342. Days of Noah God's heart was that humanity returned him

  343. Isaiah 55 seven let the wicked man forsake his way, and the

  344. unrighteous man his thoughts let him return to the Lord that he.

  345. May have compassion. And to our God, for He will

  346. freely. Pardon just a turning to the

  347. Lord and God freely pardons second chronicles 714 may be the

  348. most famous of. These verses if my people, who

  349. are called by my name, humble themselves and pray.

  350. And seek my face. And turn from their wicked ways.

  351. Then I will hear. From heaven forgive their.

  352. Sin and heal their land. Jeremiah 18 verses 7 and 8.

    Jeremiah 18:7

  353. At any time I might announce that a nation or Kingdom will be

  354. uprooted, torn down, and destroyed.

  355. Babylon gone. Rome gone.

  356. But if that nation I warned turns from its evil, then I will

  357. relent of the. Disaster I had.

  358. Planned to bring them. It moves the heart of God.

  359. To see a faithful. Person in a wicked generation.

  360. It also moves the heart of God to see a wicked person repentant

  361. and turning to him and Noah's case.

  362. God actually gave the people. Of Noah's time.

  363. Multiple chances to repent. And to turn to.

  364. Him to alter their. Course they were on.

  365. Before the judgement. Came.

  366. Let me just give you some examples.

  367. Methuselah, that guy, his name actually means when he died, it

  368. shall come. That's what the name Methuselah

  369. means. Methuselah dies at age 969,

  370. which is when Noah is 600 years old.

  371. And if you read Genesis, you'll find out that the flood came

  372. when Noah was 600 years old. In other words, the year that

  373. Methuselah died. And his name means when he dies

  374. it shall come is the year the flood came.

  375. His name was a prophetic warning that nobody heeded.

  376. And if that wasn't enough, like I didn't even know the guy

  377. Methuselah, so how was I? Supposed to know Lord?

  378. What about? This giant boat that was being

  379. built 170 yards long 20. 8 yards wide.

  380. You set the arc up on its end. It's a 50 story building.

  381. It looks like this. You can go to this.

  382. This is what I talked about in week 1.

  383. This is the Arc encounter in Kentucky because the Ark is in

  384. Kentucky. That's what we said.

  385. One door and one door. Only, which is very, very

  386. symbolic. There's only one way into

  387. salvation, one door. And by the way, if you read

  388. Genesis, you'll find out that Noah.

  389. Didn't shut the door. God shuts the door.

  390. Has all sorts of. Implications that God does the

  391. work. That there is a time when the

  392. door will be shut, and God. Will shut it and here we have

  393. the Ark. It's being built.

  394. You know how long it took Noah to build the Ark 4?

  395. Days. I'm kidding. 65 years, he was

  396. supernaturally, yeah. 65 years, I'm 52, I have. 13.

  397. More years to go, to live to the extent of time that I would have

  398. been building the ark my entire life, Noah builds it for. 65

  399. years, it is a. Signpost you think?

  400. Anybody living in that day, walk by and be like.

  401. Hey guys, y'all see this boat? This boat?

  402. What does it mean? Why is he building it?

  403. Maybe we should find out what's. Going on with Noah.

  404. God's. Giving them opportunity for 65

  405. years to watch this thing come up from the ground.

  406. And then at the appropriate time, the Lord God calls all the

  407. animals and they beat a path to Disney's new boat called the

  408. Disney Zoo. I don't know.

  409. And so all the animals are going, don't you think that

  410. people might notice? Like, where are they going?

  411. And then Noah and his family go in and in Genesis chapter 8,

    Genesis 8:17

  412. verse 17, we have this grace period.

  413. It's the first grace period you've ever.

  414. Seen, it says. For seven more.

  415. Days the Lord waited. With the door.

  416. Open for it to begin to rain. Is anyone else coming?

  417. Does anyone else want to get on the ark and be saved and no one

  418. else came? Eight people in all were saved.

  419. 8 Here's the point. From the beginning until

  420. judgement comes, and it will come, it's never too late, not

  421. with God. We see this again with Jesus.

  422. We talked about this at Easter. The criminal breathing his last

  423. breaths repents and God's grace relents and the criminal is

  424. safe. Surely today will be with me in

  425. paradise. The story of Genesis, which is

  426. the story of humanity, which means it's a story of us, is a

  427. story of patience and perseverance of God to deliver

  428. his people. First Peter chapter 3 verse 20,

    1 Peter 3:20

  429. Peter looks back at Noah. He says to those who were

  430. disobedient long ago when God waited patiently in the days of

  431. Noah. While the ark was being built,

  432. 65 years of days. Patiently waiting.

  433. Is anyone else going to repent? That they were.

  434. All evil, all the time. They were.

  435. Unsavable by their own choice. And then only a few people ate

  436. and all were saved through water, though it could have been

  437. thousands. It was a big boat and God is

  438. still patient today. Peter goes on in his next

  439. chapter, next letter, second Peter 3 verse 9.

    2 Peter 3:9

  440. Instead, he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish,

  441. but everyone to come to repentance.

  442. It turns out the only thing bigger than Noah's ark is God's

  443. patience. Judgement will come, but God is

  444. waiting patiently in the hopes that you might turn your heart

  445. to Him and repent and His grace. He relents.

  446. So the judgement is real. God's grace provides the

  447. opportunity. For a new start.

  448. And then finally, God patiently keeps the dream alive through

  449. deliverance. God delivers Noah and his

  450. family. They spend 370 or 371 depending

  451. on how you. Do the math.

  452. Days in the Ark Humanity begins again.

  453. On the Earth and will continue. To be preserved through the

  454. patient deliverance of God. Over and over, Noah and his

  455. family, it turns out, are the first remnant bearers, meaning

  456. there is the people on the earth who carry the promise and the

  457. dream of God's heart alive on the earth.

  458. If Noah had not been saved, the remnant is cut off, there's no

  459. more dream, and humanity does not exist.

  460. But God in his grace delivers Noah, and the remnant is kept

  461. alive. We.

  462. Will see this again with Abraham and Sarah.

  463. We'll see. It again with.

  464. Jacob, who becomes Israel, and Rachel.

  465. We'll see it again with Joseph before we get out of the series.

  466. We'll see all this, and then beyond Genesis, we see it in

  467. Moses, the remnant kept alive. So the Red Sea.

  468. We'll see it with David, who strikes down the Philistine army

  469. himself. We'll see it with Solomon.

  470. And it goes. All the way to the remnant

  471. keeper himself. Jesus the remnant always keeps

  472. the dream alive. God dwelling with His people in

  473. His creation to abide with you and you with Him.

  474. So what's the point? What's the Noah story about two

  475. things. Repent and be ready.

  476. Repent and be ready. Jesus himself talks about Noah,

  477. and he's basically saying nobody was ready then and I'm not sure

  478. anybody's ready now. Look at this.

  479. Verse 36. Matthew. 24 But about that day

  480. or hour, no one knows. Not even the angels.

  481. Of heaven or the Son, but only the.

  482. Father, as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the

  483. coming of the Son of Man. For in the days before the

  484. flood, people were at Chipotle and 7:11, they were getting

  485. married, giving in marriage up to the day Noah entered the ark,

  486. and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood

  487. came and took them all the way. They're going around.

  488. Life is normal, business as usual.

  489. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.

  490. Two men will be in the field, one will be taking the other

  491. left. One's a believer. 1's not a

  492. believer. Two women will be grinding with

  493. a hand mill. One will be.

  494. Taken and the other left. One's a believer, 1's not a

  495. believer. Business as usual.

  496. Normal day, suddenly the second coming.

  497. I want you to know that. With Noah and with.

  498. Jesus, it's both an unexpected hour and an unexpected method.

  499. 1st the flood is unexpected. Just as Jesus.

  500. 'S return. Will be unexpected.

  501. Most people had no idea and suddenly it.

  502. Begins to rain and. Suddenly, one day soon, a

  503. trumpet will blast, and the Lord Jesus will appear with bright

  504. and flashing light in the horizon.

  505. They didn't expect it then, and the people were unexpected in

  506. Jesus's day and his. Word which goes forth to all.

  507. Generations is saying in our day 2026, people are still not

  508. ready, not expecting the coming of the Lord.

  509. The flood messages people be ready.

  510. The ark and the cross themselves are unexpected, but no one, no

  511. one else is even thinking about building a boat like I didn't

  512. expect. We needed a boat, but Noah is

  513. saved through the ark, as it is with Jesus.

  514. They wanted for their savior, a warrior.

  515. King and instead they got a criminal's cross.

  516. That wasn't expected, but I find this interesting.

  517. Noah was saved by the instrument of wood and then given new

  518. purpose. In Genesis chapter 8 he says go

    Genesis 8 chapter mention

  519. and increase in number. Same instructions he gave to

  520. Adam and Eve, he's now giving to Noah.

  521. This is a new start. We're beginning again.

  522. I haven't given up. The dream still goes forward.

  523. Saved by an instrument of wood, given new purpose as it is.

  524. With Jesus. We are saved.

  525. By an instrument of wood, and then given new.

  526. Purpose Matthew. Chapter 28.

    Matthew 28 chapter mention

  527. The Great. Commission go therefore into all

  528. nations, baptizing them in the name of Father, Son and the Holy

  529. Spirit and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded

  530. him. I think that when we look at

  531. Genesis chapter 6, the Lord looks at the church and says,

    Genesis 6 chapter mention

  532. are you all really ready for what's about to happen?

  533. Because if you truly believe that at any moment the second

  534. coming could come will come, then our hearts disposition is

  535. man. There's a lot of people that

  536. need saving, a lot of people that need to jump on the Ark,

  537. and the door is still. Open the grace period.

  538. Is still in existence. So the Church, I say again to

  539. you, let us be repentant and let us be ready.

  540. How? Two ways.

  541. Number one, salvation. I just have a simple question

  542. for you. Don't overthink this.

  543. Are you in the ark? Are you still on the land?

  544. Are you in the boat with Noah? To be delivered by the.

  545. Lord, are you still? Outside looking, saying that's

  546. interesting. I don't know what it means.

  547. I don't think it's for me. Noah's crazy, going along as

  548. business as usual. I think God brought you here

  549. today to say the door to the boat is open for you.

  550. I have made a way. His name is Jesus.

  551. And when you put your faith in the Son of God, it's like

  552. stepping onto the ark to be delivered, to be saved from

  553. death, the judgement that's coming, but also to be saved to

  554. the Lord our God, to an eternity with him in paradise.

  555. He will create a new heaven and a new earth and we will dwell

  556. with God. For anyone who believes, anyone

  557. who steps onto the boat by faith, if you've not done that,

  558. then today's your day. Just a moment.

  559. Of decision. Yes, Lord, I want to be on the

  560. ark. Yes, Lord, I believe in your son

  561. Jesus. Yes, Lord, I want to be saved,

  562. Yes, from the coming deliverance, but more, I want to

  563. be saved to you and. To know you and to love you.

  564. So, Church, as we do faithfully here, would you bow your heads

  565. as we pray this? This is not the end of the

  566. service. There's one little part after.

  567. This so don't get shifty on me. I want you to pray in faith.

  568. If you've never. Believed in Jesus before.

  569. Today's your day. Step onto the boat.

  570. With a simple. Prayer like this saying Father,

  571. everyone repeat after me, father.

  572. In the name of Jesus I recognize.

  573. That I'm a Sinner in need of a. Savior.

  574. I want to get into the boat with Noah.

  575. I want to believe on your son Jesus, so I confess.

  576. And I believe that Jesus is Lord and Savior.

  577. I receive him into my. Heart, I receive his salvation

  578. and commit. To live my.

  579. Life for him. Hallelujah.

  580. If you prayed that prayer today, you are a new believer and I'm

  581. going to ask you to do one thing right here, right now.

  582. So important. If you pray to believe on Jesus

  583. today, jump into the boat, get on the ark.

  584. Today for the first. Time I'm going to count to 3 and

  585. that's you. I'm just going to have you raise

  586. your hand. And I don't be afraid by.

  587. This by the way. Every person in this room has

  588. received. Salvation has done something

  589. bold for Jesus. It's your time and really, I

  590. need to get you something too. That's why it's important you

  591. raise your hand so if you. Brand new believer today.

  592. First time in the count of three.

  593. Raise your hand 123. I don't want to believe it on

  594. Jesus today for the first time. Come on, our wishes are coming

  595. to you, right? Now, any others?

  596. Praise the Lord. Hey, I'm so glad that you raised

  597. your hand, ma'am. I'm so glad that you're saved

  598. and I'm so glad the guy said. It's not too late if we are to

  599. be repentant and be ready the. First thing is salvation.

  600. Get on the boat. The second thing is get off.

  601. The boat and do something. What did Noah do?

  602. Galatians chapter 8, the 1st. Thing Noah does after salvation

  603. being delivered is to worship. Then Noah built an.

  604. Altar to the Lord. And taking some of all the clean

  605. animals and clean birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings on

  606. it. Watch this the Lord.

  607. Smelled the pleasing aroma. And said in his heart.

  608. Never again will I. Curse the ground because of

  609. humans. Even though every inclination.

  610. The human heart is. Evil from childhood and never

  611. again will I destroy. All the living creatures as I

  612. have done. You ever thought about?

  613. This how costly this worship is for Noah.

  614. These are all the animals that are left.

  615. On the Earth. There's no more animals except

  616. for what is on the boat, and these are resources to what will

  617. be the new humanity. And Noah takes the very last,

  618. very little is left and he brings them out and the family's

  619. like we need those. I'm projecting maybe they didn't

  620. say anything and Noah says we must sacrifice these to the Lord

  621. as a thank offering and the you just, you just heard it.

  622. The Lord smells the offering and it pleases his heart.

  623. Do you think he's up to like smells like?

  624. Chicken tonight, No. He's like I smell the heart of a

  625. grateful man, I smell the heart of a repentant man, a ready man.

  626. And the very next thing that happens.

  627. After his worship is God makes a covenant with Noah.

  628. It's called the Noah Covenant. That I'll never destroy humanity

  629. again like this. I'll never destroy the earth

  630. again like this because I love them, even though they'll turn

  631. against me. Time and time and.

  632. Time again, this will not happen again.

  633. Worship is the outflow of a repentant heart.

  634. Worship is the outflow of a ready heart.

  635. Everyone else has got their eyes down on the earth.

  636. But the one who is Worshipful has their eyes set on their

  637. heavenly Father, as if to say, I'm living distinctly for you

  638. because you are worthy. Thanks for joining us today.

  639. We hope God is speaking to your heart through this message.

  640. If you'd like to connect with us, you can text connect to

  641. 407-588-0115 or visit Illuminate dot church.

  642. Have a great week.