Who Needs An Ark? | Bro. Alex Mason

Through the book of Hebrews Chapter 11 and verse 7.

Hebrews 11 · chapter mention

Hebrews Chapter 11, verse 7. If you're there to say Amen, if

Hebrews 11:7

you're cheating, say Amen. There we go.

Honesty's in the room. Honesty's in the room Hebrews 11

and seven. It says by faith Noah, being

warned of God, of things not seen as yet moved with fear,

prepared an ark to the saving of his house by the which he

condemned the world, and can't became heir of the righteousness

which is by faith. This afternoon I'd like to speak

to you on a subject of who needs an ark?

Who needs an ark? I wonder if you'd set your

Bibles down. Help me pray tonight, Father, I

ask you just to move in this place today, Lord.

Direct and order steps, Lord. Anoint these lips of clay that I

would speak what needs to be spoken tonight, Lord, just to

touch your people. Move and minister.

Eliminate distractions, Lord of the mind, Lord.

Prepare hearts and minds as a planting ground for your word.

Let it fall, Lord, on good soil, Lord.

It would be something that we could walk away, Lord, and let

it impact us. Let it change us, Lord.

And we're going to give you all the praise, glory and honor.

And everybody said in Jesus name, Amen, Jesus name, you may

be seated who needs an ark? Not who needs an ark like I'm

selling. Who needs an ark?

Who needs an ark? That's the question.

Possibly that Noah's neighbors probably asked and they saw him

out there, hammering away, cutting wood, preparing for

something that no one had seen, no one even thought of.

Imagine their confusion. Imagine the laughter as they

they sat and they mocked. I can only think of just people

sitting by and and coming by it with their their proverbial lawn

chairs, whatever the lawn chair equivalent is back in the Bible

and sitting and just watching and commentating just for the

fun of it and just thinking, well, look at Noah.

He's out here again today. But how you doing?

How's the ark coming, Noah? You're doing great, buddy.

You're doing great. We just love to watch.

And, and, and I'm sure Noah was thinking, do these guys even

work? Like, what are they doing?

But why build an ark? It seemed unnecessary.

It seemed so unnecessary. What on earth are you doing,

Noah? I do not.

There's not a cloud in the sky. It's all blue.

Who needs an ark? In Genesis chapter 6 and seven,

Genesis 6 · chapter mention

Noah, he is described as building the ark while the rest

of the world continued in wickedness and ignoring God's

warning of the flood. And we have to reflect on how

long it had had it rained in Noah's day, because according to

Scripture, in Genesis 2 and five, it says in every plant

that the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the

field before it grew. For the Lord God had not caused

it to rain upon the earth. And there was not a man to till

the ground, but there went up a mist from the earth and watered

the whole face of the ground. So the earth did not experience

rainfall like what what we today, even today watching

rainfall, seeing in this scripture setting in Genesis 2

before the flood, there, there was this mist from the earth

and, and it watered the face of the ground.

So imagine God directing you, directing Moses to build a

massive boat for a flood of rain when no one had seen anything

like that. A flood.

It's a mist. God, you're so confused.

You're so confused. God, it's a mist.

It's not, it's not a big flood. No, the earth was, was being

watered by the mist and streams from the ground and and not from

the sky. For for 120 years, Noah's

working on this ark. He stayed faithful to God's

word. All the while the people begin

to live, they continue to live as though nothing was going to

change. The length of time Noah spent

building the ark, paired with the fact that the rain would

result in a flood was a foreign concept to everyone around him

and definitely would have made his task seem utterly ridiculous

to the fact that seems as though Noah's just clowning around.

Noah's just clowning around. What are you doing, Noah?

What's wrong with you? Yeah.

You heard from the Lord. He's going to send a big flood.

Wu, build an ark. Really big matching building.

Something for as long as he had with no visible signs that it

was needed. But Noah didn't build based on

what he could see. He built because of what God had

said. Who needs an ark?

No one had something that they didn't.

He had a word from God. He knew that it was coming, even

if no one else could see it. He was obedient, not to the

expectations of the world around him, but it was to the God who

had called him. And today the same question is

being asked as Apostolic. When we begin to build our

lives, we build our convictions. We follow after the call of God

when we live out our faith in ways that others don't

understand. People will say, why are you

doing all that? Who needs that kind of

preparation? Who needs those sort of

convictions? Who needs to live like that?

Who needs an ark? Every single one of us needs our

own ark. We need to be building,

preparing, and living according to God's plan, purpose, and

word. Even if the world does not

understand. Noah's obedience was in a

mocking world. And look around you.

Here we are once again Hebrews 11 and seven.

It said again he which he condemned the world.

This this isn't the things that not seen in the earlier in the

scripture. It says God was warning him of

things not seen and Noah was moved with fear and he prepared

the ark, the saving of his house, himself and his house.

Noah led his faith led him to action.

He didn't wait for the rain to fall before he began to build.

It would have been too late. He acted on God's Word even when

there wasn't a drop of rain to be seen.

That's faith in the unseen. Unseen, that's faith.

Imagine what it was like day in and day out to be working on

that. And everyone thought it was

ridiculous, mocking left and right.

And why waste your time, Noah? It's never going to rain like

that, Noah. Yet Noah kept building.

He's like, I know, I know it may seem crazy guys, but I'm going

to keep building in. And he even gets his family

involved and he's like, I'm going to keep building.

My family's going to build because we need an ark.

You may not understand it, but we need an ark.

So today you might feel the same way.

Maybe God has called you to live by certain convictions or

prepare something that others do not understand.

Maybe you're questioning your faith or even mocking the

decisions that others around you are making in order to honor

God. But just like Noah, God might be

asking you to build an ark in your life.

He might be asking you. It may not be sign of rain, yet

He's trying to prepare you before the rain.

The question is, are you willing to build in obedience even when

others don't see the need? Throughout the Bible, we, we see

examples of people who like Noah, they faced impossible

situations and criticism and yes, they pressed in faith and

they build building on what God had called them to do, even when

it didn't make sense. One that we don't think of that

as often because it's it's very, very short extent.

But let's look at Moses. Moses goes through all of this

and he he, he goes through all of this with God and the plagues

and, and getting the people out of Egypt.

He led them out of Egypt. They found themselves stuck

between the Red Sea and Pharaoh's army.

The people immediately, he immediately began to criticize,

saying this in Exodus 14 and 11. And they said unto Moses,

Because there were no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us away

to die in the wilderness? Wherefore hast thou dealt this

with us to carry us forth out of Egypt?

They couldn't see a way out. They saw an obstacle, They saw a

sea that was impossible to cross and an enemy pursuing them

behind. It seemed hopeless, it seemed,

it seemed unaccomplishable. But Moses didn't let fear.

He didn't let doubt, He didn't let criticism shake him.

He stood firm in his faith, trusting that God had not

brought him this far to just abandoned them to where they

were. It had not been something that

they brought. Gone through all the trouble of

the plagues, gone through all the trouble of traveling to the

Red Sea for God to be like, well, that's as far as I got.

That's it. If you, if you beat the

Pharaoh's army, sure, but go for it.

I don't think you're going to get far.

God's like this is where I end. No, no, that's a ridiculous

notion. Ridiculous notion.

There will be times when God will ask you to move forward

without any assurances and yet all you see is obstacle.

We can find ourselves in Red Sea moments feeling trapped between

seemingly impossible situations. It's impossible.

Voices of doubt fill our minds and and all around us, whether

without or within. It's always a mind game, and

when you're following after God's calling or building

something for His purpose, whether it's your personal

convictions or your spiritual walk or ministry, there will be

times when you are surrounded by doubt, but you have to keep

taking the next step and taking it by faith.

I see the obstacles, but I'm not going to entertain the

obstacles. I'm not going to entertain the

thought that the obstacles going to be a problem for God.

And here's the thing, Moses didn't know how God would

deliver. He trusted that God would make a

way. Moses didn't have the itinerary.

You know, when, whenever the burning Bush experience happened

and, and God sends out, sends out a paper from the burning

Bush and be like, now there's, there's your itinerary.

That's when I'm going to do this plague.

That's when I'm going to do this plague.

And where do you get to the Red Sea?

You're going to take a little rod and go and then Red Sea

part. Just so you know.

No, no, that's not that's not how it happened.

That's not how it happens. That's not something that

happens where God is just like here is your itinerary, O great

St. of God, follow it or don't, but I prefer that you follow it.

No, Moses didn't have the itinerary.

He was, he didn't know how God was going to bring them out of

Egypt, but he knew what God had called him to do and he kept

moving forward in obedience. Who needs an ark?

Who needs an ark? Who needs to obey?

Another instance in the Bible where people continued on

seemingly silly and people mocking would be David Goliath,

obviously very common. He stepped onto the battlefield

there in First Samuel 17 and 28. It says that David's brother Eli

have accused him of pride and and told him to go back to

tending his sheep back. Little boy, it's into your

sheep. Prideful.

But David knew something that they did not.

He knew that the battle belongs to the Lord.

And despite doubts, despite accusations, David stepped onto

the battlefield anyway. He didn't need his brother's

approval. He didn't need Saul's armor.

He didn't need the crowd's support.

All he needed was his faith in God's power to deliver him, and

that's all he really needed. There was no power in the Sling

and the Stones. There was no power.

It was in the faith and and what we we know what happened is

David defeated Goliath with just the sling in the stone and

people may try to discourage you when you when you step out in

faith and it seems silly and you're facing giants in your

life. But if God has called you, you

don't need other people's approval.

You do not need the world's approval.

Just build the ark. I talked this morning and I was,

I was talking to the students and I was just talking about all

the things that are coming up and I just said just be here for

church, Just be here. I wonder sometimes what

mentality we could actually adopt and what would actually

happen sometimes if we were just adopt the mentality of just be

here. There's stuff going on,

absolutely. And I hope that's appealing to

you. But instead of just focusing on

what's appealing or who's actually who's preaching or

anything like that, or what if they're going to sing our

favorite songs or anything like just be here like David, we

face, we face those moments and, and, and no one knew what that

was like. No one knew what that was like.

Who needs an ark, Noah? Who needs an ark?

Noah, you're crazy, Noah. But David and Moses and Noah,

they showed us that when you trust in God's plan and God's

timing, the the victory is his to bring.

It is not ours, it is his to bring.

And how however that happens when we don't trust in God's

timing, what happens when we try to take matters into our own

hands, thinking that we can control the outcome?

We are all guilty of it. And some point in our lives, our

flesh is guilty of not trusting in God's timing from time to

time. And that's exactly what happened

in the accounts of Abraham and Sarah.

Abraham and Sarah, they were promised the son by God.

They grew impatient as we do as we do, and instead of waiting on

God's timing, they decided take matters into their own hands.

Sarah suggested Abraham to have a child with Hagar.

They're her servant and and LED to the birth of Ishmael.

Genesis 16 and 12 This is and he will be a Wildman.

Speaking of Ishmael, his hand will be against every man, and

every man's hand against him, and he shall dwell in the

presence of all his brethren. Abraham and Sarah's decision had

lasting consequences. Their disobedience causes

conflict that echoes throughout history, even affecting tensions

between descendants even to this day.

Don't tell me that that there are small, small decisions

because even the one that seemingly is small can echo

throughout history. They may have thought, well,

we're just helping God out. Yeah, OK, sure.

But when we take matters into our own hands, we often make

things worse. When we step outside of God's

plan and we try to build our own solutions, we harm what God is

trying to create in our lives. We harm it.

And and don't rush God. Trust his timing.

If if he has promised something to you, He will bring it to pass

in His own time. You see, Noah could have easily

said, well, maybe, maybe I'll build something smaller.

That seems a little, it seems a little rambunctious.

That seems a little crazy. Yeah, it's over the top.

Maybe this is just too much. God.

God doesn't really expect me to keep going do this whole big

thing. I mean, if you've, if you've

seen it in person, you see what the specifications that they

built down in Kentucky of the arc, It is massive and you know,

doesn't need that big. It's fine.

I can modify the plan to fit what I think is best.

I can modify doctrines of what I think's best.

I don't worry Lord it'll, it'll still be a boat.

It'll it, but it will be done at my convenience.

And it will probably won't be exactly what you said, but that

doesn't matter, right? It's still a boat.

Those specifications were just suggestions.

Obviously I love, I love what brother Nate Whitley said at WYC

this year. He was, he was speaking and he

talked about how I am a theologian and, and he said when

you start picking and choosing what you like in the Bible, you

don't have good doctrine, you have unhealthy doctrine.

The Lord said if ye you love me, you will keep my commandments.

So if you don't keep his commandments, you really don't

love him. Abraham and Sarah account

because because commandments I think also comes down to

obedience beyond just the keep the 10 commandments and the

commandments is it It's his word.

It's his, the command of his word.

Abraham and Sarah's account reminds us of the dangers, the

dangers of modifying God's plan and rushing ahead of time when

we take things into our own hands and we end up building

something outside of God's design, just as they did with

Ishmael. And the consequences impact not

only you, it'll affect your children.

It'll affect their children, their children thereafter, and

generations to come. We have to be careful about

trying to rush God's plans and do it for ourselves.

And there's no there is no God prime delivery.

There is no God prime delivery and get your blessing in one to

two days. But Noah took a different

approach. He didn't take that approach.

He didn't modify God's plan. He didn't take the shortcuts.

He he didn't build the ark his way.

He did it the way God specified. Matthew 24 and 37, it says.

But as in the days of note were, so shall also becoming a Son of

Man be. For as in the days that were

before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying

and giving in marriage, until the day that no entered into the

ark, they knew not the flood came and took them all away.

Not until the flood came and took them all away, so shall

also the coming of the Son of Man be.

In Noah's day, people went about their lives as usual.

They ignored the warning signs. They ignored seeing Noah doing

all that well, they, they didn't ignore, they ignored the purpose

of it. They, they watched and, and

entertainment, but they ignored the purpose of what he was

doing. And they laughed at Noah.

And as he built the ark and he's out there and he's hammering

away and he is doing all of his work and his family's beside

him. But then the rain came.

When everything was finished the rain came, and when the door of

the ark was shut, it was too late.

The same will be said for the second coming of Jesus and there

will be people that think they can wait till the day of the

rain to make it all right. You are responsible for your ark

when you are building convictions in your lives.

Others may may, they may say that's not necessary.

That's that. This is my favorite.

That's not a heaven or hell issue.

That is my absolute favorite. But you know what?

You're responsible for what God is calling you to build in your

life. You're responsible for keeping

the commandments and keeping His word.

You're responsible. So shame on us if the man of God

also comes forth as pastor. It comes to the pulpit.

It comes to us with a conviction that he's felt impressed on by

God for the benefit of the church or us personally.

And we act like the people in Noah's day.

Who needs an ark pastor? Who needs an ark pastor?

That's not a requirement. No, I can tell you this much.

As far as I'm concerned, when the man of God presents a

conviction and he's going to take account for me as a Saint

of God, when he brings me a conviction, heaven or hell issue

or not, my pastor brings it. It becomes a submission issue if

I don't follow it, and as a byproduct that not submitting to

my pastor is a sin, which then makes it a heaven or hell issue.

With the urgency of the last days upon us, we cannot afford

to respond like the people in Noah's day.

We cannot afford to respond well.

Pastor, who needs an art that's not required?

Mocking, questioning with every source whether it's necessary or

important. If others want to build their if

others want to build their ark with subpar materials, let them.

If they are not going to listen, let them.

If they choose false doctrine, compromise standards, or shallow

faith, that's their choice. But just like those who ignored

War, Noah's warnings, the rains going to be coming, the rain's

going to be coming. Those with compromised standards

in the way, we'll stand before God and they will say, here's my

boat. It's not an ARC, but here's my

boat. It may not be all the

specifications, but God, I did it based off of what I deemed

what I deemed was right. Don't wait for the rain.

Don't wait for the rain to start before you begin building your

ark. The time to prepare is now.

Just like Noah, we must build before the rain comes.

We must be faithful in preparing our eyes and our hearts before

the rain comes. Noah's obedience led to

salvation. It led to the saving of his

family. His obedience offered the

opportunity for God to show him that through all of that, God

was God was true and God was faithful.

In Genesis 7 and 16, it says and they went in, went in, male and

female, all flesh. And as God had commanded him,

the Lord shut him in. I don't think if Noah had

prepared everything just right that God would have shut him in,

probably just would have let it happen and God would just be

like, I'll start everything from scratch completely.

Who needs, who needs Noah? But no, the Lord shut him in.

It wasn't Noah who closed the door of the ark.

It was God because Noah. Noah was obedient to the NTH

degree. He didn't force the timeline, he

didn't cut the corners. He did what God had asked.

When the time came, God sealed him and his family in the ark

for protection. When we obey God, when we obey

God, he provides. He protects.

Just as the ark was Noah's deliverance, Christ is our

deliverance. But we must build our lives on

the foundation of His truth, His commandments, His Word.

Notice Noah's salvation didn't come from just believing that

God, that it came from God. It took action upon that belief.

God. God could have brought that to

Noah and told him that you need to build this.

And then Noah's like, I believe it and it did nothing.

It doesn't does no good for you to believe what God has for you

and you have no action. Believe what God has and you

have no no action towards it. Noah built his deliverance to

the specifications that God gave.

It came from work. When there was questioning,

there was mocking. It came from obedience, blood,

sweat, and tears. So what is your arc?

What is God calling you to build in your life today?

Maybe it's stronger prayer life. Maybe.

Maybe it's a deeper relationship going deeper beyond just coming

to Him when we need something. Maybe it's commitment to live

out your convictions no matter what the world may say.

Maybe it's stepping out in faith and and walking the call that

He's placed on your life when you do not know the next certain

step. Just like Noah's ark didn't make

any sense to those around him, your obedience may not always

make sense to the people around you.

And that's OK. Your responsibility is not to

them, it's to God and, and, and, and with that responsibility,

understand it is it is more than OK.

If you want to be weird, today's the day to do it.

Choose choose today to be weird and, and, and decide, decide

today you're going to be weird and you're going to be

unapologetically weird, unapologetically weird for God.

Let's do it. As far as I'm concerned, now is

the best time to do it. So just do it because if you,

that's what I've, that's what I've told our young people

before. When I I don't want to stand

out. I want to stand out.

You don't want to stand out following the convictions that

that God has in the Word and that the pastor has preached

upon us. You don't want to stand out.

You tell me what's wrong with holiness.

I can find a lot that's wrong on the other side.

You, you can't convince me that there's something wrong with

holiness. You can't.

You can't convince me that there's something wrong with the

oneness of God. You can't convince me that

there's something wrong with this Apostolic doctrine.

So be weird, build your art. Who cares?

Let them not let them watch. Maybe they'll get convicted

while they watch. Maybe they'll get convicted

while they watch. I hope and pray so.

But no one else can build your art for you.

You can't borrow someone else's faith or walk with God.

It is on you. Others may not see the urgency.

They might even question why you're spending time building

something that they can't see, that they can't understand.

But it's not about them really. And really, it's not about you.

It's about Him. It's about salvation.

It's about spending eternity with the one true God, it's

about Jesus. You may not see the rain yet.

Time for preparation is now. You are building something that

will sustain you when the storms come.

Just like Noah's Ark provided safety from the flood, your

spiritual life built on prayer, faith, obedience, fasting,

supplication in the Word will be your source of strength and

protection when challenges arise.

When rain comes and it's too late to start building, it is

you procrastinators in the building you need to take.

You need to like Bishop Holmes did this this weekend.

You take yourself by the nape of the neck and and get off, Get

get going self, get going. When it comes, you need to do it

before the rain comes. Don't procrastinate on your

salvation. We, we wait all I'll wait till

the as as, as students, you know, many students, while I'll

wait till I'm, you know, I'll wait till I'm 18 or I'm out of

the house and then I'll then I'll start praying like no,

start it now. Don't no matter how far you've

gone, no matter no matter where you've been, start now, restart

now, whatever it is, start now. Wherever you left the ark, go

back to the ark start building, continue building.

If you left your your tools out and everything like that,

continue building. Get your prayer back in line,

get your word of God back in line, get your doctrine back in

line, get your holiness back in line and build your ark.

No one was warned of things not seen.

And today I want to challenge you to start continuing to build

your ark even though it may not seem like you're seeing

anything. We can stand.

Music can come build your ark, whether it's growing your faith,

developing your convictions, preparing you for a calling you

don't fully understand yet. The time to build is now.

It may not be seen, but that doesn't matter.

If you should, you should continue to build.

You should start to build. It doesn't mean that you

shouldn't build just because you can't see.

Don't wait till it's too late. Build today in faith, trusting

that God has a plan for you. Maybe God has a calling for you

to to a season of greater prayer, greater devotion.

Maybe he's stirring your heart and to step out in faith in a

ways that feel uncomfortable. Maybe He's asking you to set

yourself apart and live by convictions that others around

you may not understand or even support.

I wonder today if we could come to this altar and try and decide

we're going to build an ark. I'm not doing it for anybody

else but myself. I'm building an ark.

I am giving you glory, God, by building this ark.

I'm doing it by obedience because I do not want it to be

said at the end of the day that I did it with subpar materials.

I did it and not to the specifications that you gave me.

Trust that God has a plan, a plan to deliver, a plan to

protect, and a plan for a purpose in your life.

What are you building? Are you preparing?

What for God has called you? Are you living out your

convictions no matter what the world says?

Are you trusting God, His plan even when it doesn't make sense?

Who needs an ark? I'll tell you who I need an ark.

I need an ark. I need to build it every single

day. I need it in my life.

I need to trust the direction that He gives me even if I don't

see the rain on the horizon. I need to trust that He's

faithful. I need to trust that the

specifications that He's given me in His word, the

specifications that He's given me in the calling on my life,

they are true and they are trust and they are holy.

And I'm going to follow after that.

I'm not going to think about what others around me think.

I'm not going to think about how I could get away with something.

I'm going to trust in Him. I'm going to trust in Him that

He gave me the right specifications for the ark in my

life. And at the end of the day, I

will be able to be blessed with that word of good.

Well done, my good and faithful servant.

Well done. He will protect.

He will bring it forth to fruition.

I need an arm.