Genesis 8

Good morning everyone…I hope you are all having a good morning so far. I hope you are enjoying our weekly family reunion. You know, this is one of my favorite times of the week becuase I get to come here and see everyone. I truly am blessed to be able to be part of what God is doing here at LRBC, and I hope you all know what an encouragement you are to me. So…welcome to our spiritual family reunion this week. Welcome those of you that are online that are joining us as part of our extended spiritual family this morning. Welcome to out kids who get to come and worship and then get to go back and join their teachers who have prepared a lesson that will make sense to you, and welcome those of you that are here in person that get the extra blessing of seeing each other and being a part of each others lives.

Hey, I know Ive shared this before, but I wanted to share about a time in my life again. You see, this was about 6 or maybe 7 years ago and I was in the middle of a pretty big project for the church I was serving at. I was overseeing a fairly large purchase and remodel of a facility for our church. We were under a bit of a time crunch as a church and needed to be out of our rented space, and we were excited to be able to own our own space for the first time ever. The church had been in rented facilities for 10 years since the beginning of the church. Well, I was working on the construction as well as the financing and the blueprints as well as physically working the project as well. As I was working this project I reached out to my Elder board and asked that they come together with me for support and to pray with me. However, I repeatedly got a, “You’re doing great Billy” and no one could be bothered to come and sit down with me to look at various aspects of this project. Even the lead pastor, when asked if he would check in at least weekly would show up in fancy shoes and walk the project for 5 minutes and leave. Now, of course there was a level of trust there that I appreciated, but the reality is that this entire project felt as if it was on my shoulders alone. I worked hard, but I was miserable…I was depressed…I was alone in the midst of everything. Now my wife was amazing, but I didn’t want to burden her so I kept to myself with much that was going on, which as you can imagine led to some arguments between us.

Now, Im sure none of you have ever experienced anything like that, but that is where I was. You see, there was alot of pressure on me to get this building and this project done right. Not becuase it was for me, but because it was for the Lord. I can remember crying out to the Lord so frequently and just begging the Lord to encourage me, to send me help, to pick me up. I cried out and begged the Lord daily asking for the energy to keep going. I did that while being responsible for a million dollar project. Imagine what Noah felt like being responsible for the future of civilization...

This morning we are in the middle of our series called Genesis, back to the beginning. We are spending these weeks looking at Genesis and we are planning to get through Genesis 11 as we go through this series right now, however, we will see what happens as we go. Well so far we have seen some pretty amazing things. We have sen God create everything, and we have seen that God has given us each jobs. We have seen that people compromised what they knew to be right in order to do what they desired. Then we saw last week that the desires of man led to the judgement of God. We also saw that through the righteousness of Noah, that his family was spared from the fullness of that judgement. We saw that Noah was a picture of Jesus whose righteousness would be available to all.

Now, its important to remember that Noah was a man. Even though Noah is a picture of Jesus…Noah is a man. Why do I point that out? Well, I want you to think about the weight that was on Noah as he led his family into the ark. I want you to think about the weight that was on Noah as no doubt those that would succumb to the flood were begging him to save them…but it was to late. I want you to think about the weight that was on Noah as he managed his family on that ark and as they tended to the animals as well as to his family. They all did their part, no doubt, but the weight was on Noah…Do you think that Noah felt that weight? Do think that there was ever a time that Noah felt hopeless…that he was crying out to God saying, isn’t it time yet.

There is something fascinating happening here that I just really want to key in on this morning becuase I think we can all use this encouragement from time to time. You see, Noah was going through the storm of all storms…Noah was watching the world be destroyed around him. I mean, we can say that we have seen some destruction, but we have never experienced what Noah was experiencing as that boat was floating through the water. We have never experienced the destruction of the earth all around us. Yeah, we may have experienced some hardships…we may be experiencing a hardship right now, but we have never experienced anything like Noah was experiencing. Now, while we have never experienced anything like Noah would have experienced. There are times that..

We all feel overwhelmed

It really is easy when you are in the middle of a storm to feel like you are overwhelmed. It’s easy to feel like maybe God is busy with everything around you and maybe just isn’t paying attention to you. I mean, you know the truth, right? I mean if you have ever experienced hardship in your life, as a Christian you know that God will be with you. You have read many of the Scripture, and you have heard people tell you that God will never leave you. We read that in last part of

Hebrews 13:5 (ESV)

...“I will never leave you nor forsake you.”

Now if God will never leave you nor forsake you that means that God will see you through whatever you are experiencing.

You see, feeling overwhelmed and feeling forsaken is actually a normal human emotion. Whether you admit it or not, I can pretty much guarantee that there has been a time in your life, or will be times in your life when you will feel this way. As a matter of fact, I was feeling this way earlier this week. You see, I am feeling led to do something, but its hard…Its a bit outside of my own comfort. Now, Im not going to tell you about it yet, but it is something that I do feel God is leading me to do. This is why remembering the truth is so important. However, we also know that simply remembering the words, isn’t really the same as “feeling it is it? I mean, Even David, who was considered a man after God’s own heart experienced this. We read about it throughout the Psalms, specifically look at

Psalm 10:1 (ESV)

Why, O Lord, do you stand far away? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?

You see, whether it is something that we feel led to do, like Noah building and entering an ark, or a hardship, a storm in life, like the literal storm that Noah was enduring on the ark, it is important for us to remember that the Lord is right there with us. There is a phrase that was said by Billy Graham that has been a great reminder for me from time to time.

"The will of God will never take us where His grace cannot sustain us." —Billy Graham.

Whether that is a command from the Lord, or a storm of life (like sickness or financial strain), God is right there. Now, we need to get into the passage for today becuase its really important. Turn over with me to

Genesis 8:1 (ESV)

But God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the livestock that were with him in the ark. And God made a wind blow over the earth, and the waters subsided.

This is where things start to get a bit interesting. You see previously

God made a promise to Noah

Remember that this is not the first encounter that God has had with Noah. Noah has been following God’s commands every step of the way, and way back in the beginning of this story of Noah God had made a promise to him. Look with me at

Genesis 6:18 (ESV)

But I will establish my covenant with you, and you shall come into the ark, you, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives with you.

So what we see here is that God commanded Noah to build an ark, and then God told Noah that he and his family would enter the ark while he destroyed the Earth. We read throughout the last couple of weeks that Noah did all that the Lord commanded. Noah built the ark....God brought judgement…

But God Remembered

Now this is a really important thing that is happening here, but its also a little confusing if we are honest. Maybe it’s just me, but when I read that phrase, I wonder what is going on…Like, God remembered....as in God had forgotten about Noah? Then I wonder if God forgot about Noah…the only family on the planet, then why would God care about me? Ive read that phrase in other places to. God remembered Abraham, God remembers Rachel, God remembers Israel. I mean these are important people in the Scripture and if God had to remember them then there is pretty much no hope for me as just a regular guy, right...

What if I told you that, God remembered doesn't mean what we think it means. In other words, this phrase in the original context means something completely different. This phrase, in the context that the original author would have written it and in the context that the original readers would have read it, means something that is filled with hope. You see this phrase is covenantal language, meaning that it applies to a covenant that was previously made. Remember the promise that God made to Noah…this phrase remember applies to that. To be more clear, the word remember means to fulfill a promise. In other words, let’s look at the context that is going on here and lets read this knowing what we know about the language being used.

Genesis 7:24 (ESV)

And the waters prevailed on the earth 150 days.

Genesis 8:1 (ESV)

But God remembered ( God fulfilled his promise to) Noah

Doesn’t that context give you so much more hope? Doesn’t that context tell you that when God makes a promise, even in the darkest of times, even in the hardest of jobs…that when God makes a promise…God fulfills his promise. That is so important to us today. Listen, I don’t know what everyone is going through…I don’t know what is making you feel overwhelmed, or alone. Here is what I do know though…God will never leave you or forsake you.

This idea of remembering doesn’t just speak of the past though, it also speaks of the future. You see, David wrote in

Psalm 115:12 (ESV)

The Lord has remembered us; he will bless us; he will bless the house of Israel; he will bless the house of Aaron;

The Lord has fulfilled his promises…he will bless us. Listen Christian…This applies to you. The promises of the Old Testament apply to you as a believer becuase we read in

Galatians 3:29 (ESV)

And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.

If you are a believer this morning, then every single promise that the Lord has made applies to you. If you are a believer this morning, then I want you to know that God remembers you...

I know that the last few weeks have seemed kind of dark. Especially last week we saw that God’s judgement is real, and that God’s judgement is universal, and there is no escape on our own. Sometimes when we feel the weight of God’s judgement we start to forget the reality of his promises. I am so grateful that God also knows that what he said was heavy and so after we read about his judgement we are immediately reminded about his mercy and faithfulness.

But here’s the thing, if you are here this morning or joining us online then I want you to know the reality of your condition. I want you to know the reality becuase I want you to know if the promises of God applies to you...First, you are a sinner…We read that we all have sinned and fall short of God’s glory. I want you to know that as good as you think you are, there is no one good.

Romans 3:10–12 (ESV)

as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”

That is the reality where we all stand. Every single one of us deserves to be off the boat and in the flood. However, there is hope. There is a promise that has been made, just like the promise that was made to Noah.

John 3:16 (ESV)

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

You see, there is a promise, but it is up to you to receive or reject that promise. We have not been tasked with building a boat, we are only tasked with belief. But that is not a mental belief…this belief is an action. This belief is a surrendering to the Lord of everything that you have and everything that you are. That means that you trust God wherever he leads you. You trust God, no matter how hard life gets at times. You see, this life that we receive is a life focused on the Lord, and not on ourselves… If you are here this morning, or joining us online then I want to make a special invitation to you. I want to ask you to please send me a message if you are struggling or even just thinking about this commitment to God. If you are here or online and you would say that you have never made this commitment to God and aren’t even really thinking about it, then please send me a message becuase I would love to just get to know you. Lastly, if you are here or online, please send me a message and let me know how I can pray for you.

Now, let me apply all of this to Leaf River Baptist Church specifically…God has called us to Leaf River. We were not planted here by accident. God placed us in Leaf River for a purpose…are we willing to do what God has called us to do in order to reach this community for Christ? I believe, 100% that God has a huge plan for this community that LRBC is pivotal in accomplishing…but we can only accomplish that plan, if we are willing to build the boat. So, LRBC, I know it can and does feel overwhelming when God has called us to do something big, especially when we don’t even have a clear picture of what that is…However, we have his promises to take us there and we know that God Remembers us...

Lets pray