1 March 2009
First Sunday of Lent
U.S. Army Chaplain (MAJ) Ken Harris
Fortress Chapel
Contingency Operation Site (C.O.S.) Sykes
Tall-afar, Iraq
BIG IDEA: We can trust God to be faithful to his promises.
REFERENCES: Isaiah 44:3 ESV For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground … Revelation 3:19-20 ESV Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me”; Romans 4:20-21 (ESV) No distrust made him (Abraham) waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised.; (The certainty of God’s promises) Hebrews 6:18 (ESV) so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, …; Genesis 6 (Noah and the Flood); Genesis 6:9 (ESV) These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God. Note: The Disciples of Jesus wanted to know the time of his coming. – Matthew 24:36 (ESV) But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. Matthew 24:37-39 (ESV) As were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man; Book: “In the Beginning” – compelling Evidence for Creation and the Flood by Walt Brown, Ph.D., pages 256-259; Day 2 of Creation Week - Genesis 1:2 (ESV) The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters; Genesis 1:6-7 (ESV) And God said, “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters. And God made the expanse and separated the waters that were under the expanse from the waters that were above the expanse. And it was so; Genesis 7:11-12 (ESV) In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the windows of the heavens were opened. And rain fell upon the earth forty days, and forty nights; Genesis 7:12-13 (ESV) And rain fell upon the earth forty days and forty nights. On the very same day Noah and his sons, Shem and Ham and Japheth, and Noah’s wife and the three wives of his sons with them entered the ark, …; Genesis 7:19-24 (Flood waters rose until the 150th day, when they covered all pre-flood mountains); Genesis 8:3-4 (ESV) and the waters receded from the earth continually. At the end of 150 days the waters had abated, and in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat:
I. ANNOUNCE THE PERICOPE: Genesis 9:8-17(ESV)
II. READ THE PERICOPE: Genesis 9:8-17(ESV)
III. READ THE TEXT: Genesis 9:15-16 (ESV) I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh. And the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.
IV. PURPOSE: To motivate the hearers to affirm to others that the Rainbow is our proof that we can trust God to be faithful to his promises.
V. SERMONIC THEME: “The Rainbow: Proof that God takes His promises seriously”
VI. INTRODUCTION: Good Morning COS Sykes’ Contemporary Worship attendees!
I feel compel to begin today’s message with a warning: You are currently in Tall-afar Iraq and historically this area is known as the “Flood Zone”.
One of the tallest mountains in the Middle East is just North of our current location called Mt. Ararat, in Eastern Turkey. Mount Ararat, is the most popular site for modern day Ark-hunters. It’s so mammoth, it has a permanent ice cap, which concealed the ark.
And even though we have been receiving our share of rain lately, there’s no need to worry about a possible Flood of the entire earth again;
because the earth will never again be destroyed by a “Flood” or water.
******* TAKE 5 BEATS *******
MOVE 1: As you may recall, in the Old Testament, water has two major spiritual associations.
a. The first is with “ritual washing”, or cleansing from defilement.
b. Clean and Unclean.
c. The Rabbis of the Old Testament …
d. … often viewed the Flood as a divine washing of the earth, designed to cleanse it from defilement.
******* TAKE 5 BEATS *******
MOVE 2: The second association of water is with blessings, …
a. … especially with the day of blessing that God’s Spirit will bring to Israel and the world.
b. As Isaiah 44:3 says, “I will pour water on the thirsty land, …
c. … and streams on the dry ground;
d. … I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants.
e. Likewise, my brothers and sisters, you might also recall that God’s supplying of water for the Israelites ….
f. … in the wilderness is an example of his constant supply of his people’s needs.
******* TAKE 5 BEATS *******
MOVE 3: Besides, we have a promise from God Himself …
a. … “The Rainbow that we all have witnessed through the years is Proof that God takes His promises seriously”.
b. For … it has been said that the word “PROMISE” is a theologically significant word.
c. Promise refers to the specific content or to the form of God’s utterances to human beings.
d. Who can ever forget Abraham of the Old Testament?
e. For don’t you remember … God came to Abraham with a statement of his intentions, and this amounted to a promise.
f. Abraham simply responded in faith.
g. The Bibles says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness “ (Rom.4:3).
******* TAKE 5 BEATS *******
MOVE 4: All of which, exemplifies the principle and nature of God’s promises;
a. human beings are to trust God …
b. This principle of faith-response to God’s announced intentions remains the pattern for every relationship with God.
c. A promise is received by Faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed”(Romans 4:16).
d. In other words, our relationship with God is one of grace, depending on promise and not on law.
e. People can respond to God’s word of promise in either faith or unbelief (Galatians 3:15-22).
f. Promise then confronts us with the nature of God’s Word and calls us to respond with faith to what he says to us.
******* TAKE 5 BEATS *******
MOVE 5: In the Book of Matthew, Chapter 24:36-39; we find the disciples asking Jesus about the time when he would return again,
a. Jesus clearly says that “no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.
b. Then He further emphasized the sudden and unexpected nature of His return by comparing it with the coming of the Flood in the days of Noah.
c. For Scriptures says, (in Matthew 24:37-39 ESV) As were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.
d. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking , marrying and giving in marriage, …
e. ...until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the the coming of the Son of Man.
******* TAKE 5 BEATS ******
MOVE 6: Jesus points out here that on the day Noah entered the ark people were completely engrossed with their own plans, with no time for God.
a. They thought that day was going to be the same as any other day, but it wasn’t. That day the Flood came.
b. So, it will be when Jesus comes again.
c. There will be no outward indication or sign that the day has arrived.
d. Suddenly, Jesus will appear.
e. Those who are absorbed in their own plans for this life will be caught off guard and unprepared.
f. Although Noah was a preacher of righteousness …
g. … the people paid no attention to him or to the warnings that God had given him of the coming disaster.
h. They did not know, understand, or comprehend what God was doing.
i. So they went about expecting to carry out their own big plans and were caught unaware when the Flood came and swept them all away.
j. Once the door was shut it was too late for them to enter the ark and avoid the judgment.
******* TAKE 5 BEATS *******
MOVE 7: In our Scripture today, finally after an entire year, God invited Noah – …
a. … Who’s now 601 years of age - to come out of the ark.
b. Immediately, the Book says Noah (Genesis 8:20) built an altar to the Lord …
c. For when you see the awesomeness of God … firsthand in your life … that along makes you want to Build and Altar and WORSHIP HIM with your family …
d. Then in our text, today, as he had done before – ..
e. God speaks once again to the men (the leaders and the heads of their families) –
f. Noah and his sons – and He says: I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh. And the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh.
g. When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.
h. Now, my brothers and sisters, the Book says in Hebrews 6:18 (ESV) …that by two unchangeable things, … it is impossible for God to lie … in other words, if God said it … it’s going to happen … or NOT happen. Because He doesn’t lie.
******* TAKE 5 BEATS ******
CELEBRATION:
God loves us and He desires that we are all worshippers of Him.
For the Scriptures tells us … that God says:
“Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock.
If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me” (Revelation 3:19-20 ESV).
1 Peter 3:20b says … God waited patiently in the days of Noah,
during the building of the ark, in which a few, that is , eight persons,
were saved through water… My brothers and sisters … The Rainbow is Proof that God takes His promises seriously.
