Icebreaker: What would you do if they told you that you only have a few days to live?
Biblical Scriptures: Genesis 6:5-7, 2 Peter 2:5-9, Luke 17:26-30.
INTRODUCTION
God sees the wickedness that there is among the children of the men; He cannot ignore the sinful works that humanity commits in any place or most remote place on earth. The evil and deceitful heart of humanity has carried it to extremes to untie the judgments of God to its corrupted works and thus to receive his just payment.
I. IT WAS NOT GOD WHO CAUSE FLOOD BUT THE HUMANITY
a) The wickedness in the time of Noah (Genesis 6:5): And Jehovah saw that the wickedness of men was a lot in the land, and that every plan of the thoughts of the heart of them was of continuous only evil.
b) The judgment that continued to the wickedness (6:7): And Jehovah said; I will scrape from the face of the land the men that I have created, from man to beast, even the reptile and the birds of the sky; I repent from having created them.
II. AN INVITATION TO SURVIVE THE FLOOD
a) God I invited Noah to enter to the Ark: The salvation of Noah and his family was by faith. Just like now also our salvation is by grace and through faith.
b) The ark of our times: Just like the Lord utilized a method to save a family of an eminent catastrophe of judgment in water in the times of Noah. In these times the Lord is utilizing a supernatural method (the church) to save great multitudes through the Lord Jesus Christ the captain of this spiritual ark.
III. THEY REPENTED BUT IT WAS TOO LATE
a) The purpose of the preaching of Noah: The people of that time never thought that a judgment would come to them; they never imagined that a good God would send a flood to sinners. This same thing happened to Sodom and Gomorrah, to the rich man of the story with Lazarus and to many others that realized to late that our God is a God of judgments.
b) Jesus said that there would be similar days to the days of Noah (Lucas 17:26-30): There would be wickedness in the thoughts of the men, they would be corrupt in their moral decisions, they would be violent in their deals with each other, they would be content and confident, they did not include God in their daily lives. Their ruin was disastrous by living in its simple-mindedness excluding to God from their lives.
CONCLUSION
The church is the ark in these times; God designed it to save humanity of the corrupt society of these times. Just as God provided a refuge in the time of Noah, now God provides a refuge "the church" through Jesus; we invite you to enter to the ark of salvation now.
QUESTIONS
a) If the gospel carries us to the ark of salvation. Why does the majority ignore the calling through Bible?
b) What can we do as the Christians so that more souls enter to the ark (church)?
c) What things impede us to be more effective to reach others?
d) Do you want to make a pact with God today and to assure your permanence in the ark?
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