Intro:
1. Have you ever looked at your old high school Yearbook? People sign their names over thier pictures and usually write what they want to accomplish in life.
Things like, "I hope to make my first million by the age of thirty."
"I plan to rob a bank and escape to a paradise island."
"I will be the next heavy weight champion of the world."
"I will be the next Billy Graham!"
2. The painful truth is - few of our dreams and schemes succeed!
3. When God shuts you in to seeming failure.
Trans:Gen. 7:6
I. FIRST, WE HAVE NOAH'S CONDITION.
A. He had Nowhere to go.
Noah was hemmed in - he literally had no where to go. He was confined to the Ark...and would be for over a year!
Trans:Have you ever been there? I have and I am...
How many are confined to a hospital bed today? Just laying there hour after hour, day after day, confined to a bed.
Many are stuck in a dead end job - no promotion in sight, no skills to get a better job, just settled into a low-paying, boring routine.
Some have no job at all - living in poverty. Too poor to take a vacation; can't afford gasoline; bills pilling up;
Maybe placed in a tiny, no growth ministry - regular members cease being regular; Baptistry sits empty; finances touch and go; but this is where God has placed you.
Noah understood and so does God...
Elvis had a song called "Nothingville."
Nothingville
Only just a two-bit town
Where nothing's real
They treat me like a country clown
Nothingville
I ain't gonna keep-a-hangin' round'
The doors keep slammin' in my face
People keep puttin' me in my place
It's a rat's race at a snail's pace
Nothingville...Nothingville
B. Noah had nothing to do.
Noah didnt have to steer the ark; there was nobody to lead to Christ in that Ark; nothing new or exciting - just the same boring, smelly routine of feeding the animals and listening to the pouring rain!
If we were honest, often life turns into a boring routine - your life has become predictable...you do the same thing day after day after day.
After a long, dry sermon, a minister announced that he wished to meet with the Church Board in the vestry after close of worship.
The first man to turn up was a total stranger. "You must have misunderstood my announcement," said the minister. "This is a meeting of the Board."
"I know," said the man, "but if there is anyone here more bored than I am, I sure would like to meet him!"
Trans:I doubt if many our lives are in harmony with out yearbook predictions. We all know days that seem to go nowhere with nothing all that important to do.
Winston Churchhill wrote:
"The main qualification for political office, is the ability to foretell, what is going to happen - tomorrow, next week, next month, and next year - and then to have the ability afterward, to explain why it didnt happen!"
II. FURTHERMORE, NOTICE HIS COMMOTION. 8:7
A. Who told him to send out those birds? No one!
When we are hemmed in we try get unhemmed...Like Abraham and Sarah who thought Hagar might help them get out of their unproductive situation.
B. Why did he do it?
To see if the water had gone down - but why? So he could get out of the Ark!
How many want to get out of a marrage? A ministry? A job? An unpleasant circumstance?
C. What good did it do Noah to send out those birds?
It accomplished nothing! The truth is God had shut the door of the Ark and God would open the door in His good time.
Trans:I wonder how much wasted commotion we are involved in? Worthless Worrying; Anxious Activities; Foolish Fears;
We need to accept where God has placed us - and learn to wait on His time-table. Ultimately we are waiting to get out of this confined world and enter into eternity.
"For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God." Romans 8:19 (NASB)
"And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body." Romans 8:23
"You too be patient; strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is near." James 5:8 (NASB)
Some years ago I read about a speedboat driver who had recently survived a racing accident. He said that he had been at near top speeds when his boat veered slightly and hit a wave at a dangerous angle. The combined force of his speed and the size and angle of the wave sent the boat spinning crazily into the air.
He was thrown from his seat and propelled deeply into the water—so deep, in fact, that he had no idea which direction the surface was. He had to remain calm and wait for the buoyancy of his life vest to begin pulling him up. Once he discovered which way was up, he could swim for the surface.
Sometimes we find ourselves confused and we dont know "which way is up." When this happens, all the commotion in the world will not help! We need too calmly wait on God's timing.
One day He is going to tug us up to meet Him in the air. But that day will not come any sooner because of our freting and carnal plans.
III. FINALLY, OUR COOPERATION.
What do we do when, like Noah, we are confined to an Ark?
A. Rejoice.
In what? In God's sovereignty; love; wisdom; goodness.
Crabb, "Each of us is born a doubter in God's goodness. We need to [rejoice] in His goodness - through poverty; lost opportunities; and plane crashes.
Our calling is to enjoy God's wise, loving, good plan, no matter what happens.
If we do not, we will begin to reason like this: "If God is so good, then how come, He let be without a job; let my boy go astray; let my mother die; let my health fail me?"
The fruit of our sin nature is to doubt the goodness of God. If we let the flesh reign, we will become convinced that, we must make up, for God's deficiency in our lives, by taking things into our own hands.
All sin may be thought of, as our effort, to supplement what we think are limits to God's goodness. It is trusting in ourselves, instead of trusting in God."
"17 Though the fig tree should not blossom And there be no fruit on the vines, Though the yield of the olive should fail And the fields produce no food, Though the flock should be cut off from the fold And there be no cattle in the stalls, 18 Yet I will exult in the LORD, I will rejoice in the God of my salvation. 19 The Lord GOD is my strength, And He has made my feet like hinds' feet, And makes me walk on my high places." Habakkuk 3:17-19 (NASB)
B. Relax!
Don't feel guilty because you are not doing great things for God - the only one who really does great things is God Himself.
The flesh has a It's a wonderful life mentality. Jimmy Steward see what life would be like if he had never been born. The entire town he lived in as a result is wicked and sinful and depraved - THAT IS SHEER NONSENSE!
It is only God who is restraining sin and producing righteousness!
Focus on Being not Doing - Noah wasnt doing much in that Ark, but he was being a faithful man of God! Growing, maturing, learning things about God in that Ark, though such things are rarely seen at the time.
Relax in a great God who is always working...
Swindoll, "A relaxed, easygoing Christian is miles more attractive and effective than the rigid, uptight brother who squeaks when he walks and whines when he talks."
Mrs. Charles Cowman "There is no music in a rest, but there is the making of music in it." In our whole life-melody the music is broken off here and there by "rests," and we foolishly think we have come to the end of the tune.
God sends a time of forced leisure, sickness, disappointed plans, frustrated efforts, and makes a sudden pause in the choral hymn of our lives; and we lament that our voices must be silent, and our part missing in the music which ever goes up to the ear of the Creator.
How does the musician read the "rest"? See him beat the time with unvarying count, and catch up the next note true and steady, as if no breaking place had come in between.
Not without design does God write the music of our lives. Be it ours to learn the tune, and not be dismayed at the "rests." They are not to be slurred over, not to be omitted, not to destroy the melody, not to change the keynote. If we sadly say to ourselves, "There is no music in a 'rest'," let us not forget "there is the making of music in it."
C. Realize your golden opportunity.
To do what? To know God!
Noah had a golden opportunity to know God intensely in that Ark! Moses was given 40 years, with virtually nothing to do but get to know God; Paul was confined to Arabia with one goal - get to know the Jesus, that he had come to know.
National Geographic ran an article about the Alaskan Bull Moose. The article:
"The male battles for dominance, takes place during the Fall, they go brutally head to head. The heftiest Moose, with the largest and strongest antlers wins the fight.
Therefore, the battle fought, in the Fall - is really won during the summer, the time when he eats and rests continually.
That one that consumes the best diet for growing antlers and gaining weight, will be the winner, in the Fall fight. Those that eat inadequately, will sport weak antlers and have less bulk in the Fall."
Maybe it's your spiriutal summer? A time to prepare you for the upcoming battle. Dont waste it!
D. Relinquish your carnal dreams - in reality they are nightmares!
Turn in your resignation - Ja. 4:7.
Hannah White Smith, "When I speak of burdens, I mean everything that troubles us, whether spiritual or temporal. I mean, first of all, ourselves. The greatest burden we have to carry in life is self; the most difficult thing we have to manage is self.
In laying aside your burdens, therefore, the first one you must get rid of is yourself!"
E. Remain in communication with others in your Ark.
Noah was not in the Ark alone - he had his family with him. Only 8 people but still a congregation of believers.
We may be a small church - but we are still a church family and needed each other. In fact we need to support each other more because we are a small church.
Cymbala, "I have learned as a pastor, that when a believer, starts attending church less frequently, or only sporadically, it is always a sign of spiritual trouble. I've heard all the rationalizations, "I'm too busy right now;" or "I can worship God at home in my kitchen." or something just as lame.
But to be a healthy part of the body, always implies two things: a desire to stay connected; and the humility to admit our need for other believers. Attending church regularly is not a matter of legalism but spiritual logic, especially as we see "the Day approaching."
Con:
1. Perhaps you can identify with Noah, shut up to seeming failure.
Maybe what you wrote in your high school Yearbook - mocks you...
2. Hang in there! Just keep, keeping on!
3. George Matherson, give a needed perspective:
"Perhaps you are very dissatisfied with yourself. You are not a genius; you don't discern any distinctive talents; you are inconspicuous, when it comes to having any special abilities. Mediocrity seems to be the measure of your existence.
None of your days are noteworthy, except for their sameness. Yet, if you are a believer in Jesus Christ, you actually have a great life.
John the Baptist, never performed a single miracle, but Jesus said of him, "Among those born of women there is no one greater."
John was content to be only a voice - be willing to be only a voice. Do the most everyday and insignificant tasts, knowing that God sees. You may be doing mor good, they you know."
One more thing - there is something far worse then being in the Ark. It is being outside of that Ark! Gospel...
Johnny Palmer Jr
16797 Hideway Lane
Decatur Ar. 72722
