Fathers, Father Noah, And Other Honorable Men Of Faith

Father’s day is a special day for all men. It is a day to celebrate the uniqueness and blessing of manhood and masculinity.

At the Wisconsin Dells near Chicago, there is celebration of men and what guys do like no one else; they do belly flops. Interesting enough, the Water Park at the Wisconsin Dells is called: “The Noah’s Ark Water Park.”

Evidently, the staff at the Noah’s Ark Water Park noticed a group of guys who held their own little “belly flop contest” one day and thought: “This would be a great Father’s day contest” and the rest is history.

It is believed that men have the biggest bellies and that men are the most gifted when it comes to belly flops and they even say that the red mark on their bellies is “a badge of honor” for the belly floppers.

They promise on their marketing fliers that the event is not “a flop” and that for the last several years it had not gone “belly up” because the men love winning things like Coleman coolers and light up outdoor umbrellas, and other things like a year’s supply of Cheetos.

The event starts at 1 o’clock up there so if you want to make a mad dash to the airport and fly up to Chicago, you should be able to participate because the event is not over until 5 p.m. and there an hours difference in your favor.

Explanation:

I was Googling this week the question: “What are Dad’s best known for?” In case you are wondering, the #1 is not belly flops.

Here’s the top 5:

#5- Be crazy about their lawn

#4- Saying: “Ask your Mom.”

#3- Sneezing really loud

#2- (Older men) Knowing all the local gas prices

#1- Having thick wallets

Yet today, we’re going to meet a Dad known for something more meaningful; he was a Dad, known for His faith.

It’s significant when God; who is known as a Father, highlights a father and puts Him in the Bible; specifically in Hebrews 11-- God’s trophy case of faith.

This Dad’s name is Noah. Noah is mentioned not only in the Old Testament but also in the New Testament. As a matter of fact, Jesus himself talked about Noah and affirmed the fact that Noah not only lived but that the world-wide flood occurred. (Matthew 24 and Luke 17)

In this mentioning, God honors Noah, as he also calls everyone to honor Fathers who live by faith. These Dads are a treasure and should also be honored by their wives, children, and others. Furthermore, they are to be respected, followed, as they are called to lead like Jesus.

Transitional Sentence: What makes a Godly man someone God wants to honor?

I. Your Simple Obedience Makes God Want To Honor You

vs. 7- “By faith Noah being warned by God about the things not seen...”

Explanation:

What is notable about Noah?

1. He as the Great, Great, Great, Great, Great, Great Grandson of Adam. It was the ninth

generation from Adam. (People multiplied quickly and so did sin.)

2. Noah was the family leader of 8 people. (Noah, his wife, three sons, and the son’s wives.)

3. Noah was God’s catalyst that through speaking to Noah, His family was saved.

4. Noah did this by building an ark resulting the salvation of his family.

Those are some pretty monumental things about a man. But most notable by God was the impact He made on his family. Think about it: Through God’s relationship salvation came to Noah’s household.

This is not the only place where we find men of God bringing salvation to His household. How did Noah do this? He just simply obeyed God. BTW- this flood happened only after 1,656 years after Adam was created per the timeline of scripture. (It didn’t take long for man’s sin to increase to it a level of judgment.)

There were many reasons why Noah could have taken another route. For one, he was warned about a flood in a world where it had never rained. Not to mention, according to theologians he was 11,000 km from the closest ocean. That’s 6,835 miles away!!!

In verse 6 we read: “By faith Noah, being warned by God about things no yet seen...” Can you imagine that conversation? God said: “Noah, it’s going to rain.” To which Noah got out his dictionary and looked up the word rain and nothing was there.

Noah didn’t have a clue of what rain was. Yet, it didn’t really matter. What mattered was that Noah believed God and went to work building an ark and it saved his household.

Here’s the fact: Noah did not let his questions hold him back. He did not waste His time demanding to understand the details of rain; if he did they would have all perished.