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Are You Becoming Like Noah?

Last post 11-21-2009, 9:32 AM by hoplon. 3 replies.


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10-29-2009, 8:34 AM 67087

BcauseHeLives
Joined on 04-20-2008
Posts 1,908

Are You Becoming Like Noah?

Fresh Manna 2009© by Pastor Tim Burt

Our daughter and son-in-law, who are now Pastors of their own church, took off to a conference this week. So, Renee and I have our two granddaughters Madeline and Macy. With them spending the week with us, it’s amazing how quickly I feel like a dad again. I loved being a dad – and never more than when my kids were small. This week I get to relive having devotions in the morning with my girls. I pulled out one of my daughter’s Bible story books – the story of Noah, and red it to them

In the story, God had told Noah that a great flood was coming that would destroy mankind – with the exception of Noah and his family. What was mankind like at that time that it was so bad that God would bring this kind of judgment? It’s important to know because Jesus said that when He would return for us, it would be like that again. In Matthew 24:37-39 Jesus said, "When the Son of Man returns, it will be like it was in Noah's day. In those days before the Flood, the people were enjoying banquets and parties and weddings right up to the time Noah entered his boat. People didn't realize what was going to happen until the Flood came and swept them all away. That is the way it will be when the Son of Man comes.”

On the surface it doesn’t seem like the world is that bad. All its saying is that “people were enjoying banquets and parties and weddings right up to the time Noah entered his boat.” But, what it’s really implying is that they had no time for God or for His ways. The culture of that day didn’t worry about living morally upright and ethical. As we dig deeper into the days of Noah in Genesis, we get greater insight into what the people were like then and are like before Jesus comes back. Genesis 6:5 reveals, “The Lord saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time.” Other verses indicate there were champions of evil that people saw as heroes. In other words, in the culture of the day, evil became good and good became evil. We are entering into that culture again. Older people are frustrated because they know how much more moral life used to be and they see that the younger are blind to it thinking the older people are just out of touch.

God was patient and warned the people of tht day. While Noah was building the ark, He was also “a preacher of righteousness.” (2 Peter 2:5) He preached God’s warning for 120 years before the flood came showing God’s patience for their repentance and change. Noah had many relatives as man was living up to 700 years plus at that time. None of them were saved in the ark.

Noah was saved – resulting in His family being saved because “he had found grace in the eyes of the Lord.” Genesis 6:9 tells us, “Noah was a righteous man, the only blameless man living on earth at the time. He consistently followed God's will and enjoyed a close relationship with Him.”

If you are living for the Lord today because of your love for Him, the world’s ways of life will try to make you look odd, outdated, out of touch with the times, even delusional because of your faith in God. The world will also hate the interference of fun and free will that they perceive sincere Christians represent. They will hate you for calling their lifestyle sinful or evil. That day is already here.

You may feel like a Noah in some ways but, I encourage you, keep close to God and don’t get sucked into moral depravity. Don’t let a “What’s the use?” attitude draw you away from God. Be the lover of God and the “Preacher of Righteousness” of in your sphere of influence. It doesn’t mean you’ll look like a fanatic condemning everyone. It means you share the love of Jesus while remaining moral and ethical as guided by God’s Word. You along with Noah, have found “grace in His eyes.”

Romans 5:21 “Just as sin ruled over all people and brought them to death, now God's wonderful kindness rules instead, giving us right standing with God through His grace and resulting in eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

In His love,
Pastor Tim

Published by Pastor Tim Burt
Copyright© 2009 Tim Burt, All rights reserved.

Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground...

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11-15-2009, 6:32 PM 67616 in reply to 67087

hoplon
Joined on 11-01-2009
Posts 31

Re: Are You Becoming Like Noah?

exactly how did Noah preach righteousness?

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11-17-2009, 2:46 PM 67680 in reply to 67616

BcauseHeLives
Joined on 04-20-2008
Posts 1,908

Re: Are You Becoming Like Noah?

By living a life that was pleasing to God even when just about everyone around him was not.

He warned the people of God's anger in their evil ways. He let them know that they needed to turn away from their evil ways & live lives that were pleasing to God or face God's wrath.

Not only did he preach obedience (righteousness) to God but he also lived it.

2 Peter 2:5 - "if he did not spare the ancient world when he brought the flood on it's ungodly people, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others,"

Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground...

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11-21-2009, 9:32 AM 67786 in reply to 67680

hoplon
Joined on 11-01-2009
Posts 31

Re: Are You Becoming Like Noah?

You did answer well when you said that Noah preached righteousness by living a life pleasing to God, specifically by acting in faith and acting on what God instructed him to do. His lifestyle, his actions where a demonstration of righteousness. Many preach righteousness, but very few live it. We are to become living epistles, living walking billboards of the Lord Jesus Christ. God wants His Word to Become flesh within us.

My observations regarding the scriptures in 1 and 2Pet regarding Noah are these. Noah believed and acted on God's word. By believing and acting upon God's Word Noah showed himself to be righteous, and as a result brought the flood upon the earth. In other words his obedience to God's Word put God's Word in action and brought the flood. This begs the question, if Noah did not believe and act upon God's Word, and thus did not show himself to be righteous in God's sight, would the flood have come? I strongly suspect not. If Noah did not act in obedience, and thus did not show himself righteous in God's sight, If God sent the flood all flesh would have perished, and God's own prophecy in Genesis 3 would not be fulfilled, then God would appear to be a false prophet. But we know and are fully assured that God's word is yea and amen, it does not return void but fullfills all that it was sent to accomplish.

God Bless you my Brother, and may He who is The Lord Of Glory, the Firstborn from among the dead, He who was dead but is alive forevermore and in whom is light and life, cover keep and preserve you and yours.

Hoplon

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