Building Arks!!!

INTRODUCTION

In your groups, go through the first nine chapters of Genesis together making a list of all the instances where you have seen God’s love and mercy.  Feel free to go through your devotionals too.  There are extra handouts at the back. 

You have 15 minutes to come up with a list.  Include verses if possible!

Examples: 

·        Genesis 3:9 – after Adam and Eve sinned, they hid from the Lord but God called to them.  God made the first move! 

·        Genesis 3:15  - before God punishes Adam and Eve for their sin, He prophecies of the coming Messiah who will save them and crush the enemy

·        Genesis 3:21 – God made garments of skin for them, He cared about their nakedness and shame

·        Genesis 4:7 – His willingness to have Cain repent of his offering and return to Him

·        Genesis 4:15 – the mark that God put on Cain to keep him safe

·        Genesis 5:25-27 – Methuselah “his death shall bring” was the oldest man to every live at 969 years

·        Genesis 6-8 – the flood was God protecting the world from evil, the ark was God saving the world

TEACHING

I hope that as you did the devotionals you were filled with God’s love for you, that you saw his tenderness, mercy and love.  He is full of patience and desires for people to repent and follow His ways. 

But let’s not forget the rest of the story…

·        Genesis 3 – when Adam and Eve sinned they were kicked out of the Garden of Eden and received other consequences for their sin.

·        Genesis 4 – When Cain killed Abel God punished him

·        Genesis 6 – The flood actually came, every living thing that was not on the ark perished.

·        We are living in times similar to Noah. 

o   Sex scandals

o   We live in a world filled with terror and violence – Newton School Shooting

o   Mothers killing their own children – Dartmouth foster mom starves child

o   Abortion

o   Genocide

o   Hate and war in many regions of the world

o   Suicide bombers

o   Euthanasia is about to be legalized in Canada…

·        When I first started teaching school, I heard this comment:

o   In 1940 teachers identified the biggest problems in school as talking out of turn; chewing gum; making noise; running in halls; cutting in line; dress code infractions; and littering. When teachers were asked the same question in 1990, they responded with drug abuse; alcohol abuse; suicide; rape; pregnancy; robbery; and assault.”

o   Today, we can add school shootings to the list! 

·        Since 2006 there have been 17 school shootings in North America and Europe!  17!  Look it up on Wikipedia yourself when you go home.

·        What is going on here?  Like I said, we are living in times similar to Noah. 

What does Jesus say about this?

·        Matthew 24:37 For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man…

·        Jesus goes on to say that people were just going about their own business, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, living the dream, having fun, experiencing life…and then the flood

·        The people did not heed the warnings of Noah, they did not prepare, they did not repent, and they ALL died. 

·        We are in the midst of a spiritual battle

·        The enemy is suiting up to wage war and the problem is that many Christians are doing the same thing as the people in the days of Noah… just going about their own business, eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, living the dream, having fun, experiencing life…and then the flood

·        Many of today’s Christians are not seeing the times that we are living in and therefore they are not preparing for the coming “flood”

·        Noah did not wait until it was raining to start building the ark!!!!

·        God showed Noah ahead of time, God gave plenty of warning so that when the rain came Noah and his family would be safe

·        As Christians it is important to prepare now for the persecution that is to come

·        Yes, I said the word persecution…the church in North America is heading towards persecution

·        It’s closer than you may think…and I mean it…

·        The end times are closer than you may think

·        We have preached entire message series on this so I won’t go into details today

·        BUT, many Christians ignore the end times, often due to fear

·        They don’t want to talk about it or they cling to false doctrines that alleviate their anxiety

·        I believe we need to prepare for the worst case scenario and pray for the best case scenario

Jesus gives us a stern warning in Matthew:

·        Matt. 24:10  At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other

·        This verse is talking about believers, it tells us that there will be those who will fall away from the faith in the end times

·        I’m not here to debate the doctrine of “once saved, always saved”, if you are interested in our theological paper on this issue then feel free to download it online

·        The bible clearly testifies that people can lose their salvation (go online and get the document)

·        Whether or not you spend eternity with Jesus is based on how you finish your life, not based on a prayer that you prayed long ago in the past

·        You may think that you are immune to this and that you will love Jesus to the end and live with Him for all eternity – but has your faith really been tested?   (sounds like Peter, doesn’t it)

·        The tribulation and the end times will serve as the final test.  Many will fall away but those who endure to the end will be saved.

  KEY: You will not end well if you are not walking with God and growing into maturity now.

·        When the pressure is on our real character is exposed, it doesn’t magically grow

·        This is the thing – we can talk all big thinking that we’re OK in the “Christian” game, but we won’t really know until the “big” test comes…and it is coming…are you ready?

·        I am not trying to scare you here…I am trying to be real because I care about you and I don’t want any of you to fall away, I want to spend eternity with you! 

·        God has given us a limited amount of time right NOW, to build our arks

·        We can’t fool around playing games in our walk with God

·        This requires taking a hard look at our walk with God – are we growing or just going through the motions?

·        This does not mean that we all need to attain perfection, what it means is that we need to be moving forward and growing in our walk with God

·        You may be able to say that you are reading your Bible, you are volunteering at church, you are coming to cell…doing all sorts of good stuff…but at the end of the day – do you love God more than you did a year ago?  Are you more passionate about Him then you were a year ago?  Is your heart more aligned to His will and plans?

·        Are you sure?  How do you know? 

·        It’s not about the OUTSIDE stuff, it’s about the INSIDE stuff

·        Some of you have been trying to fake it in your walk with God (some, not all of you)

·        You are not fooling anybody except maybe yourself. 

·        If some cases your table leader sees right through your façade and so do I. 

·        That is one thing about the prophetic gifting, you can’t hide and wears masks when as leaders we listen in prayer and God shows us where you are at spiritually

·        God doesn’t show us these things to embarrass you but rather because He loves you, He desires for you to grow and as your leaders He wants to shepherd you well

·        Some of you need to come clean today about areas of sin in your life

·        If you are unwilling to do whatever is necessary NOW to grow in your walk with God then I can’t promise that you won’t fall away when persecution comes

·        And times will get tough, they are already getting tough

·        NOW is the time to build your ark,

·        How do you do that?

·        REALLY GET TO KNOW HIM

·        If you aren’t absolutely in LOVE with Jesus you will not stand in the End Times

·        We must LOVE HIM, really LOVE Him, we must REALLY know Him deeply and make Him EVERYTHING in our lives

·        This is the only way that we will stand

·        Your LOVE for God has the potential to build an ark and save your spouse, your children and your grandchildren (just like Noah), if they see REAL LOVE FOR GOD in you and choose the same path

·        Forge this path for your family…lead by example

·        Learn to Love the Lord with all your HEART, SOUL, MIND and STRENGTH