But God...Remembered Noah

(S1)

Have you eve felt abandoned by God? Forgotten? Surrounded by circumstances beyond your control? Wondered how you got there? Whether its whats going on in your life or the people you care for, or the world around you, at times, it can seem overwhelming.

When it feels like we may be alone, with everything crashing up against us, the words BUT God, bring the message of hope, healing, reconciliation, restoration and promise that God’s got us in the midst of it all.

SERIES—FAMILIAR STORY—CUTE LITTLE ARK/ANIMALS

“1 But God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and the livestock that were with him in the ark...

(S2)

This But God was certainly a turning point for Noah as the waters receded. Yet, to truly understand the power in the promise of God and what he delivers after the but...we have to look at what precedes it.

40 days turns into a 110, then 370—One year in a very large floating box (Ark), filled from end to end with every living thing and a few chosen by God. Imagine being tossed and turned about feeling the turmoil all around. Only darkness and the crashing waves.

How did Noah and his family get here? To be on the receiving end of God’s gracious intervention, escaping the judgment due the world.

Two sides sides to this story—Feeling forgotten—God’s gracious blessing of salvation. As God remembered Noah in his darkest hour, so he most certainly remembers you in yours.

Prayer—Bibles—Notes

Noah was a righteous man, living in an unrighteous times

A risk-taker who walked with and trusted God—resourceful—Leader—Family man—500 years old

Tasked by God with building a big boat

Gleason L. Archer (Bible Scholar), shows in detail that the ark was large enough to hold all the varieties of animals that exist today. If that is so, it certainly could have held all the varieties of life in Noah’s day. Gleason L. Archer, A Survey of Old Testament Introduction (Chicago: Moody Press, 1964), p. 199 ff.

Build a big boat? No rain—water only from the earth—For Noah to walk in such faithfulness, he had to trust in what he could not see: God’s vision for a humanity—A better future.

Jesus (God’s vision) often spoke of what the disciples could not—They saw only a few loaves and fishes—But Jesus saw it multiplied with an abundance left over. They saw empty nets, but Jesus filled them to overflowing

Seeing beyond what we know is difficult—because we see only what we know.

Seeing the world through God eyes—Where there is sickness, an Opportunity for healing—Emptiness/wholeness, room to be filled—Pain/compassion—Death/life

God’s vision was bigger than what Noah could see, yet his faith was bigger than what he could not. So he trusts God and builds the Ark. Why?

(S3)

“The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time. 6 The Lord regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled. 7 So the Lord said, “I will wipe from the face of the earth the human race I have created—and with them the animals, the birds and the creatures that move along the ground” Genesis 6:5–8

God is forgotten by his created…I bet Noah was pretty relieved that God saw him with eyes of grace.

I wonder if God ever gets fed up with whats happening in our world today? With me? The more we forget God, the more trouble we find ourselves in.

Only one remains faithfulI—But God’s sees Salvation—So, Noah trusts God and builds a floating vessel, cause things were going to get bad before they get better.

Vs. 17 thru 20

The waters increased, rose, increased (5X)

Those on the ark had gone through the same things that those outside the ark had experienced, except that they had been sheltered under the ark of God’s providing grace.” D. Stuart Briscoe and Lloyd J. Ogilvie, Genesis, vol. 1, The Preacher’s Commentary Series (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Inc, 1987), 95.

(S4) — More than a floating repository—A LIFE SAVING vessel

Three kinds of vessels—Hold water—Lifted up by water—Under water

When the rains come in your life, which vessel will you depend on? One made by God or by man?

“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.” Matthew 7:24–25

Noah’s vessel was one of faithfulness—sheltered not from the storm but lifted above it.

Still, we have to wonder, did Noah feel forgotten? Tossed in a smelly, crowded box for a year and no word from God?

Several years ago, I felt sure God had forgotten me. My marriage had ended, my heart was destroyed and my mind was in a perpetual state of panic. Overall, my life was a mess. I was drowning in a sea of difficult circumstances, confusion and pain. With each gasping breath, God seemed farther and farther away. I prayed, but God seemed silent, so my emotions began playing tricks on my mind, causing anxieties and fears to get the better of me. Instead of feeling God’s presence and the strength to trust Him, I felt alone and abandoned in every way. I knew it wasn’t the right way to feel as a Christian, but I felt forgotten by Him nonetheless. Tracie Miles Proverbs 31 Minsitries

Ever felt forgotten by God—single person seeking a relationship, a broken heart, buried in debt, stuck in an endless cycle of addiction, child in a parents divorce, final stages of life

ICU with Dad—the forgotten dying

The pandemic and the long-term affects of those who felt forgotten—Young to the elderly

“43% of young adults reported increases in loneliness since the outbreak of the pandemic. Suffering high rates of both loneliness and anxiety and depression

(S5)—BUT God Remembered...

He remembered Noah, and he remembers us in our faithfulness, even in our times of unfaithfulness—When we need him the least, and when we need him the most—God remembers you

Matthew 27:46 “Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” (“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”).”

Remember (Zakar)—to be at the forefront of God’s thoughts—Noah was always on God’s mind. How did Noah stay faithful in the worst time of his life?

Genesis 6:18 “But I will establish my covenant with you, and you will enter the ark—you and your sons and your wife and your sons’ wives with you.”

In his message on Genesis 8, James Montgomery Boice points out three ways in which the Lord remembered Noah during the flood.

8:1-5

(S6)

I. God Sent a WIND

Waters from depths and the heavens were plugged—Causing it to recede—Ark comes to rest—Mountains visible.

He commanded the wind and the wind blew. He said to the waters, “Settle down,” and they settled down. “Who is in control? God’s authority over all.

“Whose hands have gathered up the wind? Who has wrapped up the waters in a cloak? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is his name, and what is the name of his son? Surely you know!” Proverbs 30:4

The wind God sent made the water levels decrease.” Would’t he do the same through our difficulties?

Hope gives us reason to believe that a bad situation will end. it isn’t ours to know when—But to only to trust that God remembers us in them

Psalm 103:14 “14 for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust.”

God remembers, and gives Noah hope that it will soon be over.

Wind (ruah or spirit)—God’s work in creation through his spirit

1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit (breath) of God was hovering over the waters. Genesis 1:1–2

God was again recreating—the world through Noah’s faithfulness. In the same way God creates us anew through the Holy Spirit—the wind of God

17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! 2 Corinthians 5:17

When affliction comes, what if before we ask God to remove it, we were to ask, “God send me the wind of your spirit! Create something new in me in the midst of it?

Second way God remembered Noah...

READ 8:6-10

(S7)

II. God Sent a SIGN

Window—Raven—Dove—Noah’s patience

Noah seemed to be looking for a sign that God was still with him. That God would once again bring life into the world

Olive Trees were common in the Mediterranean world—sign of abundance—The beauty of God’s blessing: Fruit, oil. That life was sustainable again

Psalm 52:8 “I am like an olive tree flourishing in the house of God; I trust in God’s unfailing love for ever and ever.”

God’s promise is a life of abundance but that can be harder to see in the storms unless we are looking for the signs.

GOD SIGNS—Max Lucado, saved by a seagull

Jesus would be a sign to the world of God’s mercy, forgiveness and grace

Luke 11:30 “30 For as Jonah was a sign to the Ninevites, so also will the Son of Man be to this generation.”

God sent a sign of life to Noah—Jesus is God’s sign of life for all who will beleive

Third way God remembered Noah

8:13-17

(S8)

III. God SPOKE

“As far as we can tell, this is the first time God had spoken to Noah since he told him to enter the ark. The year in between had been a time of silence from heaven. The boat drifting aimlessly on the waters. Noah went about his duties, wondering when the Lord would again speak to him. Who could blame him if he felt forgotten?”

The same thing can happen to any of us—Unanswered prayers bouncing back at you. God feeling even more distant…what do we do?

REMAIN FAITHFUL and LISTEN for God to SPEAK

Malachi (OT)—400 years of God’s silence, but it was not the end of the story—God would send a sign and speak in a big way

Luke 1:31 “31 You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus.”

God did, He does, and He will speak when the storms are raging.

John 3:34 “For the one whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God gives the Spirit without limit.”

One endures in faith by being patient on the Lord

“Do not doubt in the darkness what God has shown you in the light.”

God spoke and world was formed—God spoke in the receding waters—God spoke and new life was born—Jesus is God speaking to us today

Faithfulness matters—It matters what vessel your on—It matters who you trust in—Do you see God’s vision for a better future?

(S9) — JESUS THE ONE WHO LIFTS US UP IN THE STORM

God remembered Noah—God remembers you! He came in the wind—He gave a sign—He spoke and his word came to us

Jesus the one who lifts us up in the storm!