This week we are starting a new series of messages taken from Hebrews 11. Its a series of messages looking at heroes of faith - people who did extraordinary things for God - Big things - but what we often miss is that they were people, just like us...
NBC has a television show called “Heroes.” It chronicles the lives of people with special gifts. The show is all about them discovering their powers - One girl can heal. She can fall off a building or be in a car crash and self heal. Others have powers to read minds, or become invisible...
In Hebrews 11 we have a list of people who lived by faith - and because they trusted God with everything they had they became extraordinary! It wasn’t that they were special...it was that their faith was special. What I love about looking at their stories is that they do more than just inspire - they remind me that if I am willing to trust God with everything I have that I can be like them...
This morning I want to look at verse 7 and a man named Noah. (Read Hebrews 11:7)
Noah’s story is pretty simple. Its one we all know. Its found in Genesis 6,7,8 and 9. The basic story is told there in Hebrews. God had grown unhappy with how Adams descendants’ were living - he decided he wanted to start all over from scratch and he chose Noah as his seed couple. Noah was the only person who was living righteously. God tells Noah about the flood that he is sending and the destruction that will come and tells him to build a boat - a boat large enough for two of every animal. And sure enough, just as Noah finishes the ark, the rains begin and a flood covers the earth...
I’ve been thinking a lot about Noah - and I asked myself this question: If Noah were here today, what would he tell us? What message would he share with us?
This is just my guess of course - but I think he’d probably start with...
God sees what no one else sees.
God saw corruption, where no one else saw a problem. God saw injustice and greed and all kinds of horrors - Everyone else saw nothing... God also saw one man and his family that were still true to himself. To everyone else, Noah was probably invisible - but to God, Noah was the most important person on the planet.
I think we are all tempted to think that God isn’t watching. How could God be watching with all the injustice that is in our world today? We look around and we see so much darkness - I think we are tempted to think that our lives don’t matter - that our faith is insignificant - that we can’t make a difference because we are just too small...
But - God sees. God’s not asleep. God is watching and he cares and he’s paying attention.
There’s a verse I memorized in high school in 2 Chronicles 16:9 “The eyes of the Lord search the whole earth in order to strengthen those hearts that are fully committed to Him.”
Another scripture that came to mind this week was the story that Jesus told to the servants in Matthew 25 - “He says to them, Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let’s celebrate together!”
Its tempting to think that God doesn’t see us or that he isn’t watching - but he is... God sees what no one else sees!
I think Noah might also share with us that Faith doesn’t always make sense.
Can you imagine getting a message from God to build a big boat because he was about to send a flood? To make matters worse, he was told that his boat would house two of every animal on the planet... Can you imagine trying to explain that to your wife?
Faith doesn’t always make sense - but you trust what God gives you...
I hope that you have some examples of this in your own life - most of us though play safe - we don’t want to rock the boat, we don’t want to stand out, and we don’t want to do anything unexpected... But its those moments where we hear God’s voice and it doesn’t make sense and we go for it - that God really shows us how big he is!
In my life, I could share some pretty odd stories - not quite the level of building a huge boat strange - but odd given the circumstances - and come to think of it, the really big things in my life all come from those little moments where I trusted God even though it didn’t make sense...
My calling into the ministry was that way - I thought for sure that I was going to be an architect. But I heard God say do something different... I’d spent much of my life to do one thing and doing something else didn’t make much sense...
My calling to this church was a little like that too. When I left Bastrop, I really felt as if God wanted me to plant a church. Several months later I was interviewing here and it just didn’t make much sense - why would God want me here? There was a moment when I backed out by the way... I got a call from a church in California that was planting a church and needed someone - I was going out to California for seminary, so I added a couple days onto the trip to go and talk with the committee... While I was there, I clearly heard God say, “No.” I spent the rest of my trip asking God, then what, and he showed me he wanted me here. ...but it didn’t make sense at the time.
When you hear from God, you have to obey - even when it doesn’t make sense...
The final thing I think Noah would remind us with is that God always proves himself true. God always keeps his promises...
Now listen to me... I don’t know what God is asking you to do. Maybe its a job change or a lifestyle change or a mission trip or maybe he’s asking you to finally get serious about your faith...
Maybe he’s asking you to step across the line of faith for the first time... I don’t know.
I do know this. You can trust him.
The rain will eventually fall. What he says will come true.
