Before And After The Flood

During and After the Flood – Genesis 7:6-9:17

1. Aim: To lead the people to understand God’s covenant with Noah and the significance of the command, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.”

2. Explanation of the Aim: God created mankind to give Himself glory. As holy men and women of God multiply His kingdom and righteousness they give the Lord greater glory.

When the Lord assured Noah that He would never destroy the world again by a flood it provided mankind with special assurance of security from Him. In addition, the Lord wanted a righteous man, like Noah, to multiply godliness, righteousness, truthfulness, justice and love throughout the earth.

Illustration:When I think of perspective I am often reminded of a conversation between me and my son in the summer he turned four. That spring Mark had asked for a spot in the family garden to call his own. He turned the soil, broke the clumps, and planted his favorite vegetable--corn. Toward the middle of July, Mark was concerned that his corn was not growing fast enough. I tried to reassure him that the corn was doing just fine by quoting him the familiar benchmark used by farmers, "...knee high by the fourth of July."

My lesson came with his retort: "My knees or yours?" Keep God’s perspective on all things.

Nicholas Mokelke, Bits and Pieces, September 19, 1991, p. 2.

The Lord only blesses the multiplication of the righteous people who trust and obey Him. Let us help the people envision how their lives can be multiplied through evangelism, teaching and serving ministries throughout their own life times.

3. The Lord blessed Noah and his sons by assuring them of His gracious intention to love, multiply and use them for His greater purposes. It is a great privilege to know that the Lord is empowering us to accomplish His will.

All of God’s promises flow from a heart of love that seeks the best interest of every trusting heart. This is why we can be confident that God can work all things together for good as long as we are trusting and obeying His plans for our life. Our heavenly Father always knows what is best.

We should praise and thank God continually for all of His rich blessings, promises and enabling grace.

4. Jesus said, “He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit, he prunes, so that it will be even more fruitful.” (John 15:2)

Ask the people how the Lord used the flood to cleanse the earth of sin? How did the Lord plan to use Noah to bear much fruit throughout the earth? Why do you think that God is more interested in the quality of our righteousness than in the quantity of our good deeds?

The BIBLE focuses on how the Lord blessed Noah so that righteousness, truth and holy love could be multiplied throughout the whole earth.

We find that God blesses and uses those few people who are willing to refuse to conform to the world, but remain committed to God’s higher standards of righteousness, holiness and truth.

In the MEANING FOR OUR LIVES we try to help the people reflect on how they can follow the good example of Noah and his sons.

The Lord always promises to multiply the faithful few who are willing to be used to start new house fellowships of prayer and lead others to faith in Jesus Christ.

Read what Jesus had to say about the value of God’s pruning ministry in our lives from John 15:1,2.

Ask the people or explain to them what Jesus meant when He said, “God cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit, he prunes, so that it will be even more fruitful.” (John 15:2) Ask the people how the Lord used the flood to cleanse the earth of sin? How did the Lord plan to use Noah to bear much fruit throughout the earth? Why do you think that God is more interested in the quality of our righteousness than in the quantity of our good deeds? Why should we not get discouraged when we experience adversity? How can the Lord use tough times for His greater purposes in our lives?

The Bible Story

The Bible teaches us how the Lord blessed Noah so that righteousness, truth and holy love could be multiplied throughout the whole earth. We find that God blesses and uses those people who refuse to conform to the world, but remain committed to God’s higher standards of righteousness, holiness and truth. Only as we allow ourselves to be transformed by God’s word and the maturing power of the Holy Spirit will the Lord multiply His kingdom and righteousness through us. Then, we can confidently say we are being obedient to God’s command, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.” (Spiritually and physically) with more people who are Christ like.