Leave the Boat

because today I'm kicking off a new series called New Beginnings. Everyone say New Beginnings.

And this new series is going to be looking at Noah's faith.

Book of Genesis chapter 8. We're going to be, for the next few weeks, looking at Noah's

Genesis 8 · chapter mention

life mostly after the flood. Look a little bit prior to the flood today, but mostly after

the flood and what it tells us about new seasons and new life and new beginnings in Christ.

Amen. How many of you know that God's a God of new beginnings? Amen. God's a God of new

beginnings. No matter where you're at in your faith, in your life, no matter where you are,

it's never too late to start over. It's never too late for a new beginning. And it's never too

late to receive what God wants to do in your life. Genesis chapter 8 and verse 13, I'll

Genesis 8 · chapter mention

be reading from the new living translation. It says Noah was now 100, excuse me, 601 years

old. Makes a big difference, right? On the first day of the new year, 10 and a half months

later, after the flood began, the floodwaters had almost dried up from the earth. Noah lifted

back the covering of the boat and saw that the surface of the ground was dry. Two more

months went by and at last the earth was dry. Then God said to Noah, leave the boat. Everyone

say, leave the boat. All of you, you and your wife and your sons and their wives with the

help of the Holy Ghost. I'm going to speak today on this thought. Leave the boat. Leave

the boat. You may be seated in the presence of God. There's been an age old question in

my mind for years now. I'm going to bring you into my personal struggle. Here it is.

The question is this, to cruise or not to cruise? That is the question. Amen. I've been

stuck on this question for years, much to the confusion of some of my friends who, who

maybe you have some friends like this who swear that I am missing out on the adventure of

a lifetime. They rave about the endless buffet, the dazzling entertainment, the breathtaking

views and I've remained very steadfast in my refusal to go on a cruise. And you might ask,

why? Why is that? I may got some, some cruise believers here today. But why pastor, you're

missing out? Well, let me tell you why. The thought of being trapped, excuse my cynicism

here on a floating city with thousands of strangers in the middle of an ocean sleeping

in a cell block doesn't sound like paradise. It sounds like punishment. It sounds like

punishment. It doesn't sound like a dream. It's, it sounds, no, no, I'm just giving

my perspective. It sounds more like, like a nightmare. And people tell me, they say,

Jacob, think of the food. And I go, and I respond to them. Well, you know, did you know

there's good food on land as well? They say, but the views are amazing. You're going to

love the views. And I say, yeah, I think the, the views right here from the shore are

also pretty good. I like the view. How many of you like the view from the shore? Huh?

The views from right here are pretty good. I like where I'm standing. But you know,

to each his own, and if you're a crew, a cruise person, God bless you. Amen. Bon voyage.

Amen. Hallelujah. Happy sailing, Captain Cook. You know, you go and sail the ocean blue

if you'd like to, but can I just tell you, I know myself and I know that no matter how

lavish the boat is, how great and how wonderful it is, the moment that I step foot on that

boat, I'm going to be counting down the days until I can get off. That's just me though.

And I think that there are many that might feel the same way. Now, I know, I know you're

safe, but you don't have any problem getting on an airplane. And I don't, but I'm not staying

on an airplane for seven days and seven nights. I'm focused on my destination and that's it.

But there's something about being out there floating in the vast expanse of the ocean

that doesn't cause me peace, but anxiety. And upon weeks and months in the Ark, Noah

may have also been counting down the days. You see, after his boat served its main purpose

of saving his family, his faith would have been tested in a whole different way.

See, we always talk about the faith that Noah had before he entered the Ark, building the

Ark and all of that. And that's, that's great. But, but how about the faith that Noah had

to have in the days and the months after he entered the Ark? How about the faith that he

had to have after the fact that this Ark served its initial purpose and he continued to sort

of float around in the vast expanse of the ocean. I think that in those moments after

the storm tested him in ways that possibly he never imagined as his faith was tested,

waiting for the storm to end. You see, you not only need faith to enter the Ark, but

also to exit the Ark, to step out into new things. And some Christians, I hate to tell

you today, spend their whole lives in the Ark, spend all of their time in the Ark.

And it's wonderful. Thank God for the Ark and I'm going to preach about that Ark today,

but forgetting that the Ark is not the finish line. The Ark is the starting point.

Amen. The Ark is not the end of the story. It's somewhere in the middle, but there's

still more chapters to be written in this story of faith. And so for the sake of context,

we'll go back a little bit to when Noah entered the Ark, the world that we read about in

Genesis chapter six was in utter chaos. It was filled with corruption, violence, and

sexual immorality, self-indulgence, and wickedness. And the earth was so evil. It was so bad,

the condition of man, the state of the world that the Bible says in Genesis six, six, that

the Lord only two times in scripture, we read these types of words that he was sorry.

The Lord was sorry that he made man from the earth and he was grieved in his heart.

Only twice in all of scripture did God ever regret or was sorry that he did something.

One was this occasion and the other is when he made Saul, king of Israel, he regretted

that he did that. And so this ought to tell you the state of God's heart when he looked

upon the condition of his creation and God's summation of man not only shows us how

depraved the world was in Noah's day, but I want you to understand that it also mirrors

the madness of the present day that we live in right now.

From the physical wars that are breaking out as I speak in the Middle East and the

spiritual wars and the moral wars that are raging here in the West, the signs of the

time are all around us. Can I get an amen on that? The world is going from bad to worse.

If you thought that it couldn't get any worse, well, you better buckle your seat belt

because until Jesus comes, it's not going to get any better. It's going to get worse.

And we can look up these signs and they're unfolding. They've been unfolding now.

You got to understand that even from Jesus' day, the first century church believed that

they were the rapture generation. They talked as if though the coming of Christ was imminent

and that Jesus could come at any moment and at any time. They believed they were living

in the last days. And it's important for you to understand that from the time of the

early church until now, we have been living in the last days. Amen.

So the last days didn't just start over the last couple of weeks. The last days have been

going on for the past 2000 years. But one could argue that we are living at the end of the last

days or the last of the last days as we see the signs of the times all around us and the

earth is groaning and there are wars and rumors of wars. Amen.

Somebody and there are perilous times that we are living in now, nation rising against

nation and signs in the earth and signs in the heavens and signs with regard to the financial

condition of our world, the moral condition of our world. These are perilous times. Amen.

Somebody, we are living in the last days and Jesus is coming soon. Somebody give God some

praise this afternoon. Amen. I said he's coming soon. He's coming soon.

But sometimes I have noticed that while we are looking on the other side of the world, we are

looking in signs and space and signs and medicine and signs and all the things that are happening

around us. We are missing the most blatant and obvious signs that Jesus is coming soon.

And it's not the troubles that are happening on the other side of the world. It's the troubles

that are happening in our own lives. I'm asking you today to open up your eyes to the signs

and the times and things that God, because it's one thing for signs to be breaking out on the

other side of the world, but I wonder what kinds of things God is allowing in your life to

awaken you to the fact that he wants to do something new in you. That God wants to do

something new within your life. More importantly, there may be signs in your own life that it

is time, high time to get serious with God and to take your spiritual journey more seriously.

There may be signs right now in your life that God is wanting to shift things around and draw you

closer to him and do a new work in your life and in your ministry and in your home.

I'm not trying to downplay the signs that are happening in the earth, but sometimes we can get

our heads stuck in the clouds and looking and reading all the news reports that are happening.

And I'm asking you, have you looked at the news report in your own life to say what kinds of

things that God been trying to tell me about what I need to do to get saved?

And before I can tell you today about leaving the boat, before I can preach to you about

exiting the boat into greater things, I need to first tell somebody you better make sure

you don't miss the boat. Somebody say don't miss the boat.

Hallelujah. Come on, can I preach like I want to today?

He goes without saying that you cannot exit the boat if you never fully enter the boat to begin with.

The Bible teaches that no one preach for righteousness for a total of 120 years.

And unfortunately, he did not produce not one convert. Think about that.

Besides his own family, so we'll give him credit for that.

But outside of his family, he did not produce what I bet you know was not getting invited to

any of the church growth conferences. Because in 120 years, brother David, he didn't produce one convert.

But he didn't stop preaching the message. He kept preaching it because whether people accepted

or not doesn't change if it's true. And he kept preaching it.

And he kept preaching it. Oh, he kept warning the people.

He kept telling them that the rain is coming to a group of people who had never seen rain in all their life.

And that's how the message of the gospel sounds to the nonbeliever, sounds to the cynic, sounds to those who are

even in church sometimes when you're telling that Jesus, oh, you've been telling me all of my life that Jesus is coming soon.

And he hasn't come. Thank God, because he's still giving you a chance to turn your life around and get right with him.

But Jesus is still coming soon.

People say, oh, you've been saying that for a, for a, for a, I've been hearing that Jesus is coming back and, and he's still this.

Someone say he still is. Amen. We're not going to change the message. Jesus is still returning.

But it's an unpopular message. It is people dismiss Noah for his warnings.

They thought he was some kind of religious fanatic. They thought he was a spiritual nutcase for, for telling people this, this message.

They labeled him with his unpopular message about a worldwide flood.

What's this guy talking about a worldwide flood? And everyone had the same opportunity, however, to get right with God.

They were all given a chance to respond to the message and punch their ticket onto the, onto the boat.

And, and you know, I have this theory now. It's only a theory. So don't go, you know, telling people that I'm a pre-deaf old doctor here or anything like that.

It's only a theory. You look at the size of boats. I mean, how could the whole world fit?

You know, if, if Noah started getting converts and people started listening to his message, you know what I think he would have done?

He would have just kept adding more rooms to that arc.

He would have made that arc even bigger. So it's not that the arc was only so small and only so many people can, can get in.

If people were coming, he would say, keep, hold on the construction. Let's keep adding another room. Amen.

Let's expand. Someone say, let's expand this thing. Huh? Let's expand.

But no one would take him serious, but he kept preaching it and they were too busy living their lives.

They were too busy going to parties and weddings and getting drunk and doing all kinds and just doing whatever they want.

Going about their merry lives and going to work and coming home and nobody was taking his warning seriously.

And such is the case today. People are just not taking it serious.

Even with the events that have been happening as of very recently, people still are not heeding to the warnings.

But God is sending someone here today a signal both in your, in the world and in your personal life.

Come on, somebody help me today. That is time to enter the arc of salvation.

Can I preach to somebody today that it's time to get in? It's time to get in. Someone say, get in.

It's time to get in the arc. It's time to stop playing games with the arc.

Stop playing games with God. Stop playing games with your face. Stop playing games with eternity.

Stop playing games with sin. The arc is still open, but that thing is about to close real soon.

And so you've got to get my God. I feel like telling somebody today. It's time for you to get in the arc.

It's time for you to say, yes, Lord, whatever it is that you want to do in my life, God, I want to serve you.

I want to get in the arc. I don't want to miss out on what God's going to do.

How many of you are thankful that you're in the arc today? How many of you are thankful that your name's been written in the Lamb's Book of Life?

Come on. I said, how many of you are thankful that your name's been written?

Come on, give God about 30 seconds of glory in this house. Thank you, God, for your grace and your mercy today.

I'm thankful, but here's what I see is that Noah found grace in the eyes of God.

And this tells me that no matter how bad it is, no matter how horrible, how sinful, how evil, wicked this world is,

as long as the church is here, there's still an opportunity. Amen.

As long as there is a restraining force in the earth and it's called the church, there is still grace.

If you're sitting here today and I'm still preaching, I can tell you the rapture has not happened or else I wouldn't be here today.

That's kind of proud. Yes, that is. I'm that confident that if the rapture happened, how many of you believe me?

How many of you are with me on that? I'd be out of here.

Brother Mario, but I'm still here. And you're still here. And grace is still here.

And I'm going to tell you that no matter what condition you're in, the grace of God is greater than your sin.

Oh, I'm going to preach myself happy today. I said the grace of God is greater than your sin.

The grace of God, because we're sin abounded, grace did much more abound.

And if you would simply call on that name of Jesus, he will wash away your sin.

I've come to tell somebody it's time to get baptized in the water.

It's time to get in the ark. It's time to be filled with the baptism of the Holy Ghost and be saved down to the uttermost.

Yes, I know this world is bad, but the grace of God is still available for somebody today.

Oh, my Lord. So Moa is living proof that no matter how bad the world is, God's grace is greater than that.

And he also proves that no matter how bad the world is, it is possible to live for God.

I said living for God is possible.

When you're determined to follow him, Noah did not follow the crowds. Imagine if he did.

He did not follow his feelings. Imagine if he did. Instead, he built that ark according to God's blueprint, and then he entered in before he was too late.

Can I tell you what my job is as a pastor? My job as a pastor is not to make you feel good.

You know how to say nothing if you don't want to. My job is to help you get to heaven.

That's my job. Amen. What's the pastor's job description? You want to read it? Help you get to heaven. That's my job description.

And so every message I preach and everything that we do, it's all in an effort to help you get to heaven.

I'm not interested in helping you make this life more comfortable for you here on earth.

I'm interested in you stepping into those pearly gates. I'm interested in you making heaven your everlasting home.

And so the fight that we are in today, the fight, the spiritual battle that I feel that I've been wrestling with and I've been interceding for,

it's not just my brother. I would love for you to give you a new job. I would love for God to give you a new house and a new car and all that.

Hey, take me for a spin. You know what I'm saying? But my main job is that God, that you would make heaven your home.

Because if you gain the whole world and you lose your soul, what profit a man? Amen. Is this okay today?

Today is the day of salvation. Give your life to Jesus. Be baptized in the name of Jesus for the remission of your sins.

Can't talk about going to the next level. You haven't even started at the first level. People want to go higher. You haven't even maximized where you're at.

Amen. Pray for new levels. Someone say that when new levels come, new devils. You can't even defeat the devil you've got right now.

You want bigger ones? Oh my God. You want bigger devils? Come on. You got to learn how to fight in your weight class.

You got to knock that booger out now. You got to get that situation, that flesh under control now. I want God to do more.

Why should God give you more if you haven't even done too much as given, much as required? I want to go to new levels.

All right. Here we go. Now Noah was in the ark. Now let's fast forward a little bit. The Bible says that it began to rain.

It started raining. So seven days are in the ark and after seven days it started raining and it did not stop for the next 40 days.

It's just down pouring on them, raining on them day and night, night and day until the whole earth was covered with water.

You know the story. Some people assume that the flood ended right after the 40th day. Keep reading your Bible. It did not end.

The rain ended but the flood didn't end. They were still in a flood. People assume that the flood ended and that the boat just ran aground after it stopped raining.

But Noah and his family lived in the ark. Listen for well over a year, 370 days in the ark.

And you think you get cabin fever being with your family for three days. Oh God, I'm just kidding. Oh God. I want my own bathroom.

I'm tired of sharing. I don't like sharing. Come on now. They all had to share the same bathroom. You know, who took the hot water?

Come on now somebody. Someone took the hot water at cab. That's what happened to me. Let me tell you. You all don't know my testimony.

Let me show you my testimony. I got closer to Jesus. I can't. The cold water will make you get closer to Jesus.

You know, it's okay. Amen. Well imagine being in the boat now for 300, that's well over a year. There they are.

I don't know but I think that after a few days, a few months, Noah's family start looking around.

You know, I don't know if they had watches in there. Probably not but they started, you know, when's this thing supposed to end?

I get the rain. You know, we get all that. But we need to have a family meeting, dad, because it's been a couple of months now and we're still here.

And I think that this is when Noah had to look his children in the eyes knowing that he had a word from God and that God had told him to do this thing

and that God was going to be with them. And I don't know but I think he may have told them this.

What I'm about to tell you now is that floods may last a long time but they do not last forever.

I said floods do not last forever. They last longer than what you think but they will not last forever.

370 days is a long time to be on lockdown, huh? To be in transition, to be waiting for your situation to change,

to be waiting for things to get better. You know, the Bible says that Noah found favor.

I think favor found good. It felt good for the first 40 days but I'm not sure how good favor felt, you know, month 3 and month 4 and month 5 and month 6.

I'm sure there were plenty of positive vibes in the first 40 days, in the first couple of months.

But you know how when you get that car and everything looks good and smells good, but you know after about six months the new car smell goes away.

I hate when that happens, right? It's like there's like this point in which man it doesn't smell new anymore.

Now it's just like every other car and it's just like I'm sure that the new arc smell wore off after a few months.

And now it's like man it was good at the beginning but we're still here.

And now it's been 11 months, now it's 12 months. When is this thing going to end?

After a year, oh for sure, cabin fever has settled in and people want their space back and you know, he's got sons that want to get on with their lives.

Everything you got to understand if I can paint this picture for you today was put on hold.

We read the story. Oh, it just sounds like a cute little Bible story. No, understand these are real lives, real families.

There were couples that none of them could start their families. They couldn't start having children. Everything was put on hold.

Life was put on hold. The future was put on hold. They were stuck in this boat together and I'm sure they wanted to get on with life.

And if I were Noah, I might be asking questions after a while like Lord, is this what you saved me for?

We put these spiritual characters, we put these biblical characters on such high pedestals. You got to understand that they were men.

They were human. They were not, you know, they were not divine beings. They were like you and I. And so they had basic questions too.

Like God, is this what you saved me for so I can just float around here in the ocean and be a zookeeper the rest of my life?

Is this how the story ends? You see, the Lord only told, this is why I think Noah may have asked these questions,

because God only told Noah how long it was going to rain. He gave him just a little bit of information.

It's going to rain 40 days, but he never told him, brother, how long the flood was going to last. Read in your Bible.

He didn't tell him how long the flood. He said it's going to rain for this amount of days, but he didn't say how long he was going to have to be in that flood state.

He never told them how long it would take for the waters to recede and for them to get on with their lives.

The flood and the rain were two separate timelines. There were two separate parallel timelines in Moses, excuse me, in Noah's life.

One was the rain and the other was the flood. 40 days after the rain, maybe everyone thinks, all right, cool.

We're going to go back to life as usual, or we're going to start over again and get on with what we need to do.

But as the days went by and as the months went by and as now a year has gone by, I wonder if they were wondering now, what is happening?

What are this? What is this flood? And when is it going to end? And there may be somebody here today that's asking the same question.

When is this flood going to end in my life? When am I going to get out of this situation that I've been in?

Let me tell you what floods are. Floods are challenges that remain after a storm.

Can I tell you that there are trials after our trials? There is a trial after the trial. The flood is the trial after the trial.

It's the space between victories. It's the time and the space between destinations, between miracles, between mounts and tops.

When we think possibly that our problems will be over when the storm passes and the rain stops. But that is often when that real work begins.

The trial is not over when the trial is over. Oh, I might help somebody out right now.

Storms are short term, but floods are long term. Storms, they come and they come hard. They rage. They turn your life upside down.

They come in, they come strong, but usually they pass. But floods, floods don't pass the way that storms do.

Because floods are what remains after the storm is over. Floods are what remains after the storm has passed.

It only took 40 days to submerge the earth, but a whole year for it to dry.

I can tell you from experience today, church, that many people don't give up in the storm. They give up in the flood.

My Lord, they give up in the flood. You see, the storm is the wound, but the flood is the recovery.

The storm is the failure, but the flood is the restoration. Amen.

The storm is the betrayal. And you could even forgive somebody, but the flood is the rebuilding of the trust.

The storm is the argument, but the flood is still having to work with them.

The storm is the loss, but the flood is life after the loss.

But whatever you do today, don't give up in the flood.

The devil is hoping, he's banking that if the storm doesn't take you out, that the flood will.

Because where the storm may be a test of your faith or a test of your belief in what God can do now,

the flood is a test in what God can do tomorrow.

Where the flood is a test of what God has yet to do. The storm might test your faith, but the flood will test your patience.

People don't often give up in the storms. They give up in the floods.

They give up after some time has gone by and they go, why am I still in this condition?

Why am I still facing this problem? Why am I still having this situation?

You see, and those are the situation. Those are the moments in our life.

I'm here to tell you that the storm doesn't necessarily make you or break you.

It just reveals what you're already made of, but the flood has the potential to make or break you.

The flood, someone say the flood. The flood has the potential to make or break you.

Storms don't build your character, they just reveal it, but floods build character.

Oh, I'm going to help somebody out right now.

Storms don't reveal whether you could pray. Storms reveal whether you've been praying.

But floods will teach you how to pray at another level.

And there are some people today that are dealing with the flood, not the storm.

Not all hell is breaking loose in your life, but you still got this flood waters in your life.

And you're wondering, I understood the purpose of the rain.

I get, I had to get in the ark, but why am I still floating around here?

Why am I still trying to find my purpose? Why am I still trying to figure out what God is doing?

Why am I still trying to make sense of why it happened?

Why am I still trying to pick up the pieces? Why am I still in this kind of state of fluidity

where things aren't exactly where I want them to be in my faith?

And I'm here to tell you that God is using the flood to take you to that place that you've been praying

and asking God to take you. Because here's the thing about a flood.

When Noah finally reached the end of his flood and his boat came to its landing place,

do you want to know where it landed? It didn't land at the beach, my friend.

It didn't land in the valley. Where does the Bible says that his boat landed on the mountaintop?

Oh, I'm going to help somebody out right now. I'm going to help somebody out right now.

There is more than one way to reach the top. There's more than one way to reach the summit.

There's more than one way to go to higher levels in God and in your life.

You can climb your way there, but sometimes God will allow a flood to elevate you to a place

that climbing would have never got you there.

Oh, I need some help here today. Hallelujah. Because here's the thing about a flood.

Floods are elevators. Oh, my God.

What the flood did for Noah is what the flood might do for somebody.

I'm almost done. What the flood might do for somebody today.

Your flood is not drowning you. It's elevating you to a place you never thought you would go in God.

Elevating you to a place in the spirit that only trouble could get you there.

Come on, somebody give God some praise here today. Hallelujah.

This is why I thank God for the flood. This is why I thank God for the flood.

Because all the flood is doing is lifting this boat to a level that it never would have got on its own.

So I got bad news for the devil today. You thought the flood was going to kill me,

but the flood doesn't kill the righteous. It only makes him stronger.

My God, the flood doesn't kill the faithful. It only elevates him to a greater place.

God sent me here to remind somebody that the flood in your life was not designed to kill you.

I need some help on the piano right now. The flood in your life was not designed to destroy you.

The flood in your life was designed to elevate you to another level in God.

So I've got news for the devil today. I'm going to lift up my head.

I'm going to open up my mouth. I'm going to lift up my voice.

And I'm going to thank God for the flood in my life.

The one thing the devil doesn't want you to do is praise him in your flood.

It's thank him in your flood. It's bless him in your flood.

But I got news for the devil. I don't just know how to praise him on dry ground.

I know how to praise him in the flood. I know how to thank him in the flood.

The Bible says with the enemy it comes against us like a flood.

The Lord will lift up a standard against him. I got news for the devil.

God's got a standard, my Lord. God's got a way. God's got a plan. God's got a purpose.

God's got an anointing. Somebody ought to give the Lord some praise right now.

Somebody ought to thank him. If I'm preaching to somebody today, you're asking God,

why are you allowing this in my life? Why am I in trouble?

Why I got problems and haters and enemies? And why is there confusion?

Why are there things thinking not strange when things happen to you, my brother?

But that trial is producing endurance and perseverance.

It's teaching you how to go to another level. Somebody give God some praise here today.

Hey, hallelujah. Somebody magnify the Lord. Somebody bless his name.

That's why I say I gotta bless the Lord at all times.

And his praise shall continually be in my mouth.

Oh, you say, pastor, why do I gotta wait till the end of the flood?

Because if you wait till the end of the flood, there's a fresh anointing that God's about to release

in your life. The Bible says that Noah sent out a raven, and the raven never came back.

But then he sent out a dove, and the dove went, and he flew.

He came back with nothing. So he sent him out again to see if there was any dry land.

Oh, the dove is a symbol of the Holy Ghost. It's the Holy Ghost that tells me dry land is on the other side.

Dry land is in my future. Dry land is in my tomorrow.

Don't you judge me by the flood today. Don't you judge me by my flood.

Because I got dry land in my future. I got dry land in my own...

I feel the anointing. I feel the anointing. I'm a priest myself into a fidget.

I feel something on me. And above all your sheikah, above all your...

He sent out the dove, and then when the dove came back, he had an olive branch in his mouth.

That olive branch represents the anointing of the Holy Spirit.

Can I tell somebody the reason why you're going through that flood?

It's because on the other side is a fresh anointing for a fresh beginning that God wants to do in your life.

Somebody give up something.