WEBVTT 00:00:00.479 --> 00:00:07.360 So I want to talk to you before I go into the message, I want to talk to you a little bit about uh buildings. 00:00:07.519 --> 00:00:10.560 Um right now we meet at Walker, we've been at Walker for two years. 00:00:10.720 --> 00:00:12.400 We are ecstatic to be here. 00:00:12.560 --> 00:00:14.960 I mean, the way that we even got here is pretty amazing. 00:00:15.119 --> 00:00:16.879 They've been amazing to us. 00:00:17.039 --> 00:00:20.079 Uh what's clear is we won't always be here. 00:00:20.320 --> 00:00:24.000 Um at some point someday uh we'll move on. 00:00:24.079 --> 00:00:33.679 Uh the the last couple months uh a building sort of popped up into our uh peripheral vision, and then we started to look at it and research it a little bit. 00:00:33.920 --> 00:00:40.159 And um the last couple months we've been looking at it and talking with these people, and it's a it's a facility. 00:00:40.240 --> 00:00:47.439 Um, it's McLaren Mill offices, which was uh, I guess it was Marietta Knitting Company, I don't know, maybe 80 years ago. 00:00:47.520 --> 00:00:49.039 They made socks, by the way. 00:00:49.280 --> 00:00:52.880 Um, and now it's it's uh it's offices and stuff like that. 00:00:52.960 --> 00:00:57.840 It's 18,000 square feet and it's right behind the hospital off Rose Lane. 00:00:57.920 --> 00:01:03.520 Um I'm mentioning all this really because we want you to join us in praying. 00:01:03.679 --> 00:01:10.159 Um as we've been researching it, we hit a spot where it was a dead end unless we made an offer. 00:01:10.239 --> 00:01:14.079 We could not continue to investigate and learn about the building. 00:01:14.319 --> 00:01:27.760 And so the last couple weeks we've been making offers back and forth, and this week we came to an agreement on an offer and we went under contract, which sounds perhaps more serious than it is, although it is serious, and meaning this. 00:01:27.920 --> 00:01:33.920 Um we have 75 days to research this building, of which for us it's a shell. 00:01:34.079 --> 00:01:35.680 I mean, it's a gut job. 00:01:35.840 --> 00:01:40.640 Um we'd have to go in and build a church inside of this big shell. 00:01:40.799 --> 00:01:44.719 So, timeline-wise, we're still here for a good season. 00:01:44.879 --> 00:01:46.560 Um, but we have 75 days. 00:01:46.640 --> 00:02:16.479 We have 75 days starting yesterday to um without losing money for us as a church to um investigate the building, get people in there to check out the systems of the building, get architect and builder to come through and give us cost estimates of what does it mean to gut this thing and put it back together, um, and for us to investigate permitting and get that, and for us to bring some other pastors through and get them to look at it and get a feel for guys who have done this repeatedly. 00:02:16.639 --> 00:02:20.400 Um, and so we really ask for prayer for this. 00:02:20.479 --> 00:02:28.479 Um, we want to be as clear as we can with you guys as we go, um at the same time letting you know we're not tunneled vision with this. 00:02:28.639 --> 00:02:35.919 So the thing we keep saying is we we want to move forward without fear and we want to move forward without haste. 00:02:36.000 --> 00:02:39.759 Um, but we want to move forward with wisdom, we want to move forward with vision for the future. 00:02:39.919 --> 00:02:41.599 Um so difficult. 00:02:42.000 --> 00:02:59.520 Really, we need we need all of us to be praying that the Lord would open the door and close the door as we as we go, as we investigate, as we research, um, and really that it would be confirming, or um for us, it would be a situation where we would just know we need to walk away. 00:02:59.599 --> 00:03:01.840 Um and so that's the next 75 days. 00:03:01.919 --> 00:03:20.719 So please join us um in praying for that facility, pray for the elders as as we sort of head up, figuring all of that out and coming to a conclusion at the end of 75 days, whether we say not for us or um or if it's in fact going to be somewhere that's gonna be our home in the future. 00:03:20.800 --> 00:03:21.919 Um so that's that. 00:03:22.000 --> 00:03:25.199 If you have any questions about that, I would love to answer them. 00:03:25.280 --> 00:03:30.719 As we move forward, uh all details will become more concrete if we move forward with it. 00:03:30.960 --> 00:03:32.479 Okay, so into the message. 00:03:32.560 --> 00:03:35.199 Uh we've been jumping through Genesis. 00:03:35.360 --> 00:03:39.360 Uh, we're not stopping at every story, but a handful of stories as we go this morning. 00:03:39.520 --> 00:03:41.840 The story is a story of Noah. 00:03:42.240 --> 00:03:43.680 Maybe you know this story, right? 00:03:43.840 --> 00:03:53.599 Maybe you were in Sunday school and you marched the little animals into the boat and you did that, and you never thought about how crowded and horrible it must have been inside the boat, but you just did it and it was fun. 00:03:53.840 --> 00:03:58.879 Maybe you've just heard of the story of Noah because you saw some cheesy artwork, right? 00:03:58.960 --> 00:04:02.560 Or maybe you owned some cheesy artwork, or maybe you own some legitimately good artwork. 00:04:02.800 --> 00:04:06.159 People love the artwork of Noah and the flood. 00:04:06.319 --> 00:04:09.599 And at first we think this story is just about a flood, right? 00:04:09.759 --> 00:04:11.599 On the surface, we think this is a story about a flood. 00:04:11.759 --> 00:04:17.680 And what we've been seeing with these stories in Genesis is we've been seeing that these stories have layer after layer after layer of truth. 00:04:17.759 --> 00:04:31.839 And so at first we think, well, this is a story about a flood, and then you go, nah, this is a story about God's justice and man's sin, and it is, and you go, well, no, this is about really man's helplessness, and it is, and then you go, well, maybe this is about new beginnings. 00:04:32.000 --> 00:04:33.759 Maybe that's what this is about. 00:04:34.079 --> 00:04:36.959 When I was in fifth grade, my teacher's name was Miss Blissett. 00:04:37.040 --> 00:04:39.199 I was a teacher's pet, made good grades. 00:04:39.279 --> 00:04:52.879 You know, I went when I went to school, I sort of switched from at home, you know, I like to push the edge, and then I went to school and you know, I behaved and I made good grades, and my mom worked at the school, and my sister had had Miss Blissett a couple years before, and so I'm Miss Blissett's teacher's pet. 00:04:53.040 --> 00:04:54.879 And this was chalkboard days, right? 00:04:54.959 --> 00:05:00.959 Not dry erase board days, not overhead projector, not anything fancy with a computer. 00:05:01.120 --> 00:05:03.120 I don't think there's a computer in the classroom. 00:05:03.279 --> 00:05:05.759 So chalkboard, green chalkboard, right? 00:05:05.920 --> 00:05:12.000 A bunch of chalk in the tray, and then the erasers that were just nasty, filled with the chalk dust. 00:05:12.160 --> 00:05:13.759 And you remember this, right? 00:05:13.839 --> 00:05:15.920 Like you loved when you got picked. 00:05:16.079 --> 00:05:18.720 Well, I did, you might not have, a teacher's pet. 00:05:18.959 --> 00:05:22.399 So I loved when I got picked to go erase the board, right? 00:05:22.480 --> 00:05:24.319 I mean, anything to be in front of a crowd, obviously. 00:05:24.399 --> 00:05:25.199 I'm still doing it. 00:05:25.360 --> 00:05:32.079 So so just to go up and you erase the board, but surely it was just like a smudging of the chalk across the board. 00:05:32.240 --> 00:05:34.160 And then maybe you got picked at the end of the day. 00:05:34.319 --> 00:05:36.399 Remember at the end of the day, what you got to do? 00:05:38.399 --> 00:05:40.079 Go hit the erasers outside? 00:05:40.240 --> 00:05:41.199 Yeah, you love that. 00:05:41.279 --> 00:05:44.879 That was like, but you got to go outside and you're on your own, you felt so empowered. 00:05:45.040 --> 00:05:47.920 And then on Friday, do you remember what happened on Friday? 00:05:49.839 --> 00:05:51.040 You washed them, that's right. 00:05:51.120 --> 00:05:57.439 And so if you got picked on Friday, you got to go get a wet towel, and you came back, and I love this. 00:05:57.519 --> 00:06:00.000 The OCD and me, even in fifth grade, love this. 00:06:00.079 --> 00:06:11.040 And you would start, you get to pull a chair up, and you started the top corner, that wet rag, and all week that chalk had been just you know, just smudged all around, all those marks and stuff just nasty. 00:06:11.120 --> 00:06:18.480 And you start there, and you just you just wipe across and you just get this clean slate as you go, and all the marks, right? 00:06:18.639 --> 00:06:22.480 Like all the marks were just going away as you went. 00:06:22.639 --> 00:06:24.879 It was it was a new beginning, is what you felt. 00:06:24.959 --> 00:06:26.639 It felt so rewarding, right? 00:06:26.720 --> 00:06:34.560 And you just worked your way down, and it was all kind of coming down the chalk tray, and then you worked your way down the chalk tray, then you pushed it into the trash can. 00:06:34.720 --> 00:06:40.160 Well, I tell you this because even me telling you this, you know this feeling. 00:06:40.480 --> 00:06:42.319 You know this feeling. 00:06:42.560 --> 00:06:47.759 Haven't you ever just wanted all the marks to go away? 00:06:49.759 --> 00:06:53.199 Just to have a clean start. 00:06:55.360 --> 00:06:56.800 To start over somewhere. 00:06:57.439 --> 00:06:59.279 To have a new set of friends. 00:06:59.680 --> 00:07:02.399 We won't do if you want a new family, we won't do that. 00:07:02.720 --> 00:07:04.480 Your family's probably next to you. 00:07:05.040 --> 00:07:05.360 Right? 00:07:05.839 --> 00:07:12.480 Just to like find an island somewhere, and you can go there, and it will be a new beginning. 00:07:12.560 --> 00:07:14.720 It will be a clean slate. 00:07:16.560 --> 00:07:18.079 Well, that's what this story's about. 00:07:18.160 --> 00:07:29.439 And at first, we think this is about how God is doing this for himself, and then as we get into it deeper and deeper, we see how God is actually doing this for us. 00:07:29.600 --> 00:07:31.920 Now that sounds kind of vague, so let's look at the story. 00:07:32.000 --> 00:07:35.920 So, since Cain and Abel, which we talked about last week, since then people have filled the earth. 00:07:36.079 --> 00:07:48.959 Now, side note here, um, if you're reading the Bible in Genesis 6 and 7, 8, and 9, and you're reading the Bible and you you haven't read the Bible before, you're gonna get freaked out because there's some ages of people. 00:07:49.120 --> 00:07:50.720 You're like, he lived to what? 00:07:50.879 --> 00:07:52.959 500 and what is that? 00:07:53.120 --> 00:08:11.120 So apparently, and you can talk to Bill Full, I love later, who's like Old Testament scholar about this, but apparently, in some way, somehow, um God was allowing humanity to live longer periods of time pre-flood, and something in the environment or something changed, I don't know. 00:08:11.199 --> 00:08:12.319 There's lots of different theories. 00:08:12.399 --> 00:08:15.519 You can go Google and who knows where you're gonna end up, but you can read about it. 00:08:15.680 --> 00:08:25.120 Um, and something changed in creation post-flood, and the ages of humanity start to get to what we consider normal. 00:08:25.279 --> 00:08:28.800 And I mentioned that because that'll freak you out if you're reading the Bible and you go, what is this? 00:08:28.879 --> 00:08:30.240 This is all crazy. 00:08:30.720 --> 00:08:32.639 All right, so the world is populated. 00:08:32.879 --> 00:08:35.279 The thing is, is everybody's sort of forgotten about God. 00:08:35.440 --> 00:08:36.559 Once again, this is what we do. 00:08:36.639 --> 00:08:38.799 It's the same rhythm we have, sort of on a daily basis. 00:08:38.879 --> 00:08:46.720 This is what's going on, the same thing back then, and they're living their own way, and it's getting worse and worse and worse, and they're abusing each other. 00:08:47.039 --> 00:08:51.039 I mean, they're just horrible abuse to each other, horrible abuse to creation. 00:08:51.200 --> 00:08:56.799 And so God's creation is so absolutely far from anything good and anything pure. 00:08:57.360 --> 00:09:06.000 Everywhere was disease and destruction, all the things that God hates, and God makes a decision, one that I think we probably have a very hard time understanding. 00:09:06.480 --> 00:09:11.600 But God decides to rid his earth of all the destruction. 00:09:11.759 --> 00:09:17.360 He decides to take a wet rag at the top of the board and just begin his way down. 00:09:18.320 --> 00:09:20.240 So let's look at the text. 00:09:20.639 --> 00:09:22.720 Genesis 6, 6 through 9. 00:09:22.879 --> 00:09:24.320 Uh I'll be reading a whole bunch of. 00:09:24.639 --> 00:09:26.559 I hope it's okay if I read some Bible this morning. 00:09:26.639 --> 00:09:27.679 I don't think you're going to complain now. 00:09:28.000 --> 00:09:30.720 I don't think you're going to complain that the guy read too much Bible. 00:09:30.960 --> 00:09:38.320 But um, just hang with me in the reading as we go, and maybe uh some of it might not even be in your bulletin. 00:09:38.399 --> 00:09:46.960 Uh the Lord regret, so Genesis 6, 6 through 9, the Lord regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and then his heart was deeply troubled. 00:09:47.440 --> 00:09:58.480 So the Lord said, I will wipe from the face of the earth the human race I've created, and with them the animals and the birds and the creatures that move along the ground, for I regret that I have made them. 00:09:58.799 --> 00:10:01.519 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord. 00:10:01.679 --> 00:10:03.279 This is the account of Noah and his family. 00:10:03.440 --> 00:10:09.279 Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked faithfully with God. 00:10:09.679 --> 00:10:12.000 So now, how do we get from verse 7? 00:10:12.240 --> 00:10:16.960 I will wipe from the face of the earth the human race I've created, for I regret I've made them. 00:10:17.120 --> 00:10:20.960 To verse 9, Noah was a righteous man. 00:10:22.960 --> 00:10:25.200 Well, you get there literally through verse 8. 00:10:25.519 --> 00:10:28.480 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord. 00:10:28.720 --> 00:10:33.759 Now, what I've heard so often is if you want a new beginning, be more faithful. 00:10:34.000 --> 00:10:35.120 Like that's what you should do. 00:10:35.200 --> 00:10:36.159 And we should be, right? 00:10:36.240 --> 00:10:37.919 Like we should be more faithful. 00:10:38.159 --> 00:10:39.279 Be more faithful. 00:10:39.440 --> 00:10:41.200 Like Adam was a sinner. 00:10:41.519 --> 00:10:43.759 Eve was horrible and a sinner. 00:10:44.080 --> 00:10:47.360 Cain was really horrible and a sinner. 00:10:47.679 --> 00:10:49.120 Ah, but Noah. 00:10:49.519 --> 00:10:50.960 Man, this Noah. 00:10:51.759 --> 00:10:55.600 This guy was a righteous, upstanding man. 00:10:56.639 --> 00:10:59.120 What's interesting is I started to look at verse 8. 00:10:59.200 --> 00:11:02.879 I started to read some other translations of the Bible, and that word favor. 00:11:03.840 --> 00:11:10.799 I think almost as Americans, we read the word favor, and we just think, well, favor, that means I worked for favor. 00:11:10.879 --> 00:11:13.600 That's the only way you get favor is by working for it. 00:11:13.679 --> 00:11:21.840 So you kind of read verse 8 and you go, well, he must have been really righteous on his own to get favor, but that word can also be translated as grace. 00:11:22.080 --> 00:11:30.559 But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord or acceptance, but Noah found acceptance in the eyes of the Lord. 00:11:30.960 --> 00:11:33.519 All of a sudden that verse starts to change a little bit. 00:11:33.840 --> 00:11:40.639 You go, oh, so it wasn't like Noah was like on his own, like this, you know, righteous, perfect human being. 00:11:41.200 --> 00:11:46.240 Everybody was horrible sinners, and Noah, Noah was the hero of faith. 00:11:47.519 --> 00:11:58.080 No, it's that he was faithful, he was blameless, he walked faithfully, but it was by the fact that God, in his grace, was doing something in Noah. 00:11:58.240 --> 00:12:00.559 And God tells Noah, God says, I've had enough. 00:12:00.639 --> 00:12:02.799 I'm gonna bring flood waters, everything will perish. 00:12:02.879 --> 00:12:07.120 I will wash away the abuse, I'm gonna wash away the hate, I'm gonna wash away the sadness. 00:12:07.279 --> 00:12:16.480 And so Noah starts building this big boat, 450 feet long, 45 feet tall, three levels, there's a door in the middle. 00:12:16.799 --> 00:12:22.559 He starts to bring two of every kind of living creature into it, and they all pack in. 00:12:22.720 --> 00:12:26.559 And I don't know if I don't know if Noah's brimming with confidence. 00:12:26.799 --> 00:12:30.320 You know, I mean can you imagine you've been building this, your neighbors think you're insane? 00:12:30.399 --> 00:12:35.039 I mean, the amount of time and resources, and then you're all packed in. 00:12:35.440 --> 00:12:40.960 You're like, how long till it started to rain, and what that feels like in between when you're in. 00:12:41.200 --> 00:12:42.559 You're packed in. 00:12:42.720 --> 00:12:44.799 I mean, this isn't Disney Dream Boat. 00:12:44.879 --> 00:12:50.080 This is not the massive crew, this is 40, 450 feet long. 00:12:50.320 --> 00:12:51.919 Now it's longer than Tiger's boat. 00:12:52.080 --> 00:12:56.000 Tiger and Lindsay, they just picked up, by the way, their yacht in Vancouver last month. 00:12:56.080 --> 00:12:59.679 There's 155 feet, but see, it's just two of them on that boat, okay? 00:12:59.840 --> 00:13:00.879 There's just two. 00:13:01.200 --> 00:13:05.519 And uh Noah is between a rhino and a camel, right? 00:13:05.679 --> 00:13:06.960 Let's think about this. 00:13:07.200 --> 00:13:13.039 I mean, literally, he's on a boat slammed full of nasty animals. 00:13:13.840 --> 00:13:14.159 Right? 00:13:14.320 --> 00:13:17.519 I mean, at some point, brimming with confidence would be very difficult. 00:13:17.600 --> 00:13:18.879 And Noah's just on the boat. 00:13:19.360 --> 00:13:24.159 He is holding on to one thing, and that's that God has covenanted with him. 00:13:24.320 --> 00:13:26.879 That God promised, I will covenant with you. 00:13:27.600 --> 00:13:28.879 I promise you. 00:13:29.360 --> 00:13:31.759 That's the only thing that Noah can hold on to. 00:13:32.000 --> 00:13:34.960 And so, and then it begins, it begins to rain. 00:13:35.679 --> 00:13:44.080 And it rains, and the waves are huge, and that big 400, 450-foot boat, it feels really small. 00:13:45.440 --> 00:14:00.720 They're there for a month, they're there for another month, they're there for another month, and another month, and another month, and another month, and another month, and another month, and another month, and another month, and another month, and everybody has a birthday. 00:14:02.480 --> 00:14:19.600 About 370 days later, it stops raining, and Noah sends out a dove, and that dove brings back an olive leaf, and so he knows that the waters have receded, that a new beginning has occurred. 00:14:21.039 --> 00:14:24.879 So in this story, we get we see two points. 00:14:25.120 --> 00:14:29.759 Uh we get two points we can come away with, and that's in chapter 9, which Sam read. 00:14:29.919 --> 00:14:35.759 The first is we get the implicit calling, and then second is we get the explicit covenant. 00:14:35.840 --> 00:14:43.519 So the first is the implicit calling, and that's this God cares for all of his creation, and so should we. 00:14:44.080 --> 00:14:48.320 And when I mean creation, when I mean all is creation, I mean both nature and man. 00:14:48.960 --> 00:14:49.279 Right? 00:14:49.600 --> 00:14:51.279 I mean, for years I've sort of missed this. 00:14:51.360 --> 00:14:54.159 I think for years, I'm I'm an I'm a nature I love nature. 00:14:54.240 --> 00:14:55.440 I'm a nature guy, right? 00:14:55.519 --> 00:14:56.639 I'll hug a tree. 00:14:56.720 --> 00:15:03.759 Like, I love it, but I think almost I've loved it or thought that you should care for it out of self-preservation. 00:15:04.399 --> 00:15:12.799 But but really we should care for nature because there are reasons in the heart of God that God actually cares for creation. 00:15:12.879 --> 00:15:19.440 And I was just listening to sermons this week and studying this and seeing this in the text, verses uh in chapter 9, verses 9 and 10. 00:15:19.519 --> 00:15:28.240 Um God's saying, I now establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you, and with every living creature that was with you. 00:15:28.399 --> 00:15:36.720 The birds, the livestock, and all the wild animals, all those that came out of the ark with you, every living creature on earth. 00:15:36.879 --> 00:15:40.320 The same thing is is mentioned in verse 12, and then we can read it again in verse 13. 00:15:40.559 --> 00:15:46.240 I've set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. 00:15:47.440 --> 00:15:49.840 The same thing is again in verse 16. 00:15:51.279 --> 00:15:51.519 Right? 00:15:51.679 --> 00:15:54.000 I mean, this isn't pantheistic. 00:15:54.639 --> 00:15:56.080 This isn't liberal. 00:15:56.320 --> 00:15:56.559 Right? 00:15:56.639 --> 00:15:58.720 I mean, it's so easy to liberal thought. 00:15:58.799 --> 00:16:00.639 These are people who live in San Francisco, this type of thing. 00:16:00.720 --> 00:16:01.360 This isn't us. 00:16:01.519 --> 00:16:03.200 No, this is Bible. 00:16:03.679 --> 00:16:10.320 God deeply cares for his creation enough to include it in on the covenant. 00:16:11.679 --> 00:16:14.799 One of the best hikes I've been on is in a poly coastline of Kauai. 00:16:15.120 --> 00:16:17.200 Pretty sure a piece of heaven is going on there. 00:16:17.360 --> 00:16:25.360 And on our honeymoon, that we we got to go on this hike, and I guess I drug Christy on honeymoon on a muddy hike up and down mountain ridges. 00:16:25.519 --> 00:16:31.919 But this beautiful on the north shore of Kauai, and it's just mountains dropping into the ocean. 00:16:32.159 --> 00:16:38.320 And it would rain for two minutes, and then it'd be sunshine for 40 minutes, and it would rain for two minutes, and sunshine for 40 minutes. 00:16:38.559 --> 00:16:52.159 I mean, it was it you would hike up and down these ridges, and the mountains are dropping off, and this you know, beautiful blue sky out into the ocean, and you could hear the ocean below you, and you look to the left, and you could see waterfalls up in the valleys. 00:16:52.240 --> 00:16:54.320 You hike down and you walk through a beach. 00:16:54.480 --> 00:16:55.919 I mean, it's just unbelievable. 00:16:56.000 --> 00:17:04.079 You look out along the ridges, and you you could see rainbows just arcing from the mountains out and and dropping into the ocean. 00:17:07.599 --> 00:17:08.960 Maybe you've never been there, right? 00:17:09.039 --> 00:17:21.920 Like maybe you've never been to that place, maybe you've been to North Georgia, or maybe maybe you've just been in your backyard and you've looked up and and you've felt the truth of Psalm 19. 00:17:22.160 --> 00:17:27.279 The heavens declare the glory of God, the skies proclaim the work of his hands. 00:17:27.440 --> 00:17:32.960 Day after day they pour forth speech, night after night they reveal knowledge, right? 00:17:33.119 --> 00:17:37.599 I mean, this isn't just poetry, though it is, this is happening. 00:17:37.759 --> 00:17:41.519 Nature is actually speaking God's glory. 00:17:41.759 --> 00:17:43.680 Have you ever been to the ocean? 00:17:44.240 --> 00:17:51.599 And uh and you close your eyes and it's just peace washes over you. 00:17:52.720 --> 00:17:56.960 Now, why is the hum of the ocean different than the hum of traffic? 00:18:01.680 --> 00:18:03.759 Because creation is speaking. 00:18:05.599 --> 00:18:09.920 What is clear is God is saying I'm committed to my creation. 00:18:10.240 --> 00:18:11.680 I absolutely love it. 00:18:11.920 --> 00:18:20.319 He's saying, I love my deer, I love my oceans, I love my trees, I love my butterflies, I love my whales. 00:18:20.799 --> 00:18:22.000 I love it. 00:18:22.160 --> 00:18:25.200 I love my kangaroos, they're quirky, but I love them. 00:18:26.720 --> 00:18:31.359 Okay, so maybe you're here, and everything I just said, you're like, been waiting for that. 00:18:31.599 --> 00:18:32.160 Love it. 00:18:32.400 --> 00:18:33.440 Like, amen. 00:18:33.839 --> 00:18:35.440 I hug trees also. 00:18:35.839 --> 00:18:42.640 Maybe you're here, and when you hear somebody protecting butterflies or whales, you think it's a waste of time and a waste of money. 00:18:42.799 --> 00:18:45.200 Now, I I don't think we have to all go get a Prius. 00:18:45.359 --> 00:18:49.759 I mean, maybe maybe you should you do, I'll take a Tesla, that's fine, I'll I'll go for that. 00:18:49.920 --> 00:18:52.240 Um, but can we just raise the question? 00:18:52.559 --> 00:18:54.400 Can we just raise the question? 00:18:54.799 --> 00:19:02.799 If God cares enough about his creation to include it in on his covenant with us, what is our role with God's creation? 00:19:04.960 --> 00:19:09.200 I'm not gonna push an agenda, but can we just can we ask that? 00:19:10.880 --> 00:19:12.960 That's an implicit calling. 00:19:13.519 --> 00:19:16.640 The second part of this calling is one that's implicit in this passage. 00:19:16.799 --> 00:19:18.960 It's so clear everywhere else, especially through the New Testament. 00:19:19.039 --> 00:19:20.319 That's a love people. 00:19:21.279 --> 00:19:23.200 In Genesis 9, 5, and 6. 00:19:23.359 --> 00:19:26.400 And for your lifeblood, I will surely demand an accounting. 00:19:26.559 --> 00:19:28.640 I will demand an accounting for every animal. 00:19:30.720 --> 00:19:36.240 And for from each human being, too, I will demand an accounting for the life of another human being. 00:19:36.400 --> 00:19:44.880 Whoever sheds human blood by humans shall their blood be shed, for in the image of God has God made mankind. 00:19:45.119 --> 00:19:48.799 God's saying this: don't abuse anybody. 00:19:51.039 --> 00:20:06.160 Human life, all life, regardless of ethnicity or where you're from and cultural background and how you do things or how you dress or how you talk, regardless of socio-economic level or your beliefs have value. 00:20:06.400 --> 00:20:08.000 Not because you're like me. 00:20:08.160 --> 00:20:11.839 You don't have value because you're like me, and somebody else has value because they're like you. 00:20:12.480 --> 00:20:18.559 A human being has value as they're created in the image of their creator of God who also made you. 00:20:19.599 --> 00:20:23.440 And so we love and we accept people, not because they're like us. 00:20:23.599 --> 00:20:28.079 We love and accept them because they were made in the image of God. 00:20:28.319 --> 00:20:36.400 Now the story goes on at the end of chapter 9, and this is where we get this uh this idea of a hero, Noah, collapses. 00:20:37.359 --> 00:20:40.480 Because Noah is one night, he's having a good time. 00:20:40.880 --> 00:20:44.799 And he hits that point where you know you you need to stop. 00:20:44.960 --> 00:20:46.240 You've been having a good time. 00:20:46.400 --> 00:20:59.039 It's time to stop having a good time and get realistic, and he keeps going, and he ends up drunk and naked, or as we say, naked on the floor of his tent. 00:21:00.960 --> 00:21:01.839 Shameful. 00:21:04.319 --> 00:21:06.559 So a new beginning for God's creation, right? 00:21:06.640 --> 00:21:13.359 Like well, in terms of human behavior, looks like this thing sort of fell apart pretty quickly. 00:21:14.319 --> 00:21:16.960 So maybe something else is going on here. 00:21:17.279 --> 00:21:19.119 So what did it accomplish? 00:21:20.240 --> 00:21:31.359 Well, we begin to see, and what we see over and over and over again throughout the gospel narrative, throughout the Bible, is that acceptance as to be God's forever beloved is not tied to human behavior. 00:21:31.680 --> 00:21:33.839 Noah shows us that. 00:21:34.400 --> 00:21:38.559 So this is an amen for any of us who have screwed up. 00:21:39.519 --> 00:21:42.079 This is really good news for us. 00:21:43.039 --> 00:21:46.400 I mean, this is an incredible amen for us. 00:21:46.880 --> 00:21:54.160 Any of us that maybe your lives look squeaky clean, but underneath it, you're you're plagued with pride or fear or anxiety. 00:21:54.799 --> 00:21:59.599 You you say you praise God, but you have no actual trust in Him, or you're plagued by love. 00:22:00.319 --> 00:22:01.599 Or plagued by envy. 00:22:01.680 --> 00:22:06.799 I mean, if any of that goes on in your heart and your mind, this is incredible news. 00:22:08.319 --> 00:22:11.039 See, the calling was never enough for Noah. 00:22:11.200 --> 00:22:15.599 To build a great ark, to be a great man, that was never enough. 00:22:18.160 --> 00:22:20.480 God knew that a calling would not be enough. 00:22:20.799 --> 00:22:23.119 So God had to give Noah a covenant. 00:22:23.200 --> 00:22:23.839 And that's what we see. 00:22:23.920 --> 00:22:26.720 This is the second point, this explicit covenant. 00:22:26.799 --> 00:22:27.759 This is so clear. 00:22:27.920 --> 00:22:33.440 And the explicit covenant says God will save us rather than destroy us. 00:22:34.799 --> 00:22:36.960 He'll love us instead of condemn us. 00:22:37.839 --> 00:22:39.680 Genesis 9, 12 and 13. 00:22:39.759 --> 00:22:47.920 And God said, This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come. 00:22:48.079 --> 00:22:49.519 So that's us. 00:22:49.759 --> 00:22:55.839 I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. 00:22:56.160 --> 00:23:03.359 This is God saying, Never again will the waters become a flood and destroy life. 00:23:05.200 --> 00:23:07.599 God says, I'll care for you. 00:23:12.400 --> 00:23:14.880 It's so fuzzy and warm and beautiful. 00:23:15.200 --> 00:23:21.359 You get into that, and it's so rich because the literal word for rainbow is warbo. 00:23:23.200 --> 00:23:27.839 He laid down his warbo. 00:23:29.519 --> 00:23:36.160 Meaning success or failure, build an ark, or you get drunk and shameful in your tent. 00:23:36.480 --> 00:23:41.440 He laid down his warbow. 00:23:42.079 --> 00:23:44.160 He's not taking aim at you. 00:23:45.279 --> 00:23:50.240 He's not pulling that string back to launch another arrow at you. 00:23:50.400 --> 00:23:53.039 In fact, he pulls that string back. 00:23:53.200 --> 00:23:55.599 He launches an arrow into himself. 00:23:56.559 --> 00:23:58.640 That's what the rainbow teaches us. 00:23:58.720 --> 00:24:09.920 It teaches us about new beginnings, not because human behavior will forever be better, but because God will aim his wrath at himself and extend his grace to us. 00:24:10.319 --> 00:24:12.720 And the cross of Jesus is that arrow. 00:24:12.880 --> 00:24:19.039 It is justice for all of the sin, all of the abuse, all of the mess, and it is grace to us. 00:24:19.119 --> 00:24:20.079 It's a new beginning. 00:24:20.160 --> 00:24:21.599 It's a clean slate. 00:24:22.079 --> 00:24:28.559 For all who have placed faith in God's provision and Jesus is a clean slate. 00:24:29.119 --> 00:24:31.200 See, so often we live in half the story, right? 00:24:31.279 --> 00:24:33.519 We can live in the hero part of the story. 00:24:33.759 --> 00:24:34.079 Right? 00:24:34.160 --> 00:24:36.160 The hero trap, like build an ark. 00:24:36.319 --> 00:24:43.279 Your way to salvation, your way to value, your way to being a great man, a great woman is build an ark. 00:24:44.000 --> 00:24:50.240 And you finish that one, build another one, build another one, build another one, build another one, show everybody, let everybody see him. 00:24:52.319 --> 00:24:53.839 You're exhausted. 00:24:55.119 --> 00:24:57.359 But at the end of it, you're still you. 00:24:57.759 --> 00:24:58.079 Right? 00:24:58.160 --> 00:24:59.359 Like Noah built the ark. 00:24:59.519 --> 00:25:01.519 At the end of it, Noah's still Noah. 00:25:02.799 --> 00:25:08.240 He still needs acceptance and love outside of his own behavior. 00:25:08.960 --> 00:25:10.240 So that's the hero trap. 00:25:10.319 --> 00:25:13.680 At the same side, you can flip the other way and you can live in the shame trap. 00:25:13.920 --> 00:25:18.559 And shame's not I do bad things. 00:25:18.799 --> 00:25:21.440 Shame is I am a bad person. 00:25:24.720 --> 00:25:32.240 So shame's not Noah going, I once got drunk and I'm ashamed of it. 00:25:32.559 --> 00:25:37.440 The shame trap is I am forever a drunk. 00:25:38.319 --> 00:25:39.759 I'm worthless. 00:25:40.079 --> 00:25:41.920 That's the shame trap. 00:25:43.519 --> 00:25:45.440 Living in the full story. 00:25:45.680 --> 00:25:49.519 See, you can live in half the story, you can live in the hero, or you can live in the shame. 00:25:49.680 --> 00:25:51.279 Living in the full story says, you know what? 00:25:51.519 --> 00:25:52.960 I do both of these. 00:25:53.279 --> 00:25:56.160 Like I'm really fragile inside. 00:25:56.640 --> 00:26:04.400 Like there are times I head down the hero path and I'm trying to be a hero, and then all of a sudden I'm a head down the shame trap and I'm heading doing the shame thing. 00:26:04.559 --> 00:26:06.480 I'm really fragile. 00:26:06.880 --> 00:26:12.799 And living in the full story, what it does is it creates brokenness that we have to call upon the Lord. 00:26:12.960 --> 00:26:19.759 What it does is it says, you know what, I get the calling and I want to do the calling, but I need the covenant in order to do the calling. 00:26:20.960 --> 00:26:22.799 And we say, I'm helpless without you. 00:26:22.960 --> 00:26:26.240 I want to live out your calling, but I need your covenant. 00:26:26.400 --> 00:26:27.599 I need your love for me. 00:26:27.759 --> 00:26:30.079 I need your sufficiency for me. 00:26:30.960 --> 00:26:35.279 See, now, now you see the rainbow. 00:26:35.680 --> 00:26:37.759 It's then that you see the rainbow. 00:26:38.000 --> 00:26:42.480 It's then that you see that he laid down his warbo. 00:26:42.720 --> 00:26:43.839 Let's pray together. 00:26:44.160 --> 00:26:51.759 God, thank you that you do not pull that string back and you do not launch arrows of condemnation into us. 00:26:53.200 --> 00:26:54.960 But you have aimed it upward. 00:26:55.119 --> 00:26:56.799 You have aimed it at yourself. 00:26:57.039 --> 00:27:02.480 What a beautiful picture for us to grab hold of this morning in our hearts and our minds. 00:27:04.640 --> 00:27:12.480 That our behavior is not a cause for your love for us, but a reaction to your love for us. 00:27:14.400 --> 00:27:19.200 Would you create in us a desire to want to know you more? 00:27:20.799 --> 00:27:22.640 To grow in depth. 00:27:23.200 --> 00:27:25.359 That you would increase our faith. 00:27:26.319 --> 00:27:33.680 And for those of us that are trapped in the hero mode or trapped in the shame mode, would you would you rescue us? 00:27:33.839 --> 00:27:34.880 Would you break us? 00:27:35.039 --> 00:27:37.839 Would you help us to see the rainbow? 00:27:38.000 --> 00:27:48.079 Would you help us to see your covenant and to trust in it and to accept your word of value for us more than the words that we give ourselves? 00:27:48.319 --> 00:27:49.920 We pray this in Jesus' name. 00:27:50.079 --> 00:27:50.559 Amen.