From the Desk of Pastor Toby Powers
Truth Baptist Church
Bremen, GA
Staying Afloat In The Storm
Genesis 7:17-8:1
Intro: We are reading of the time when God sent the Great Flood which destroyed all living creatures on the face of the earth with the exception of Noah, his family, and the animals that were on the ark. Everybody was overtaken by the storm except Noah and his family. What made Noah’s day so stormy, and how was this one man so special that he and his family were spared a fate of judgement passed upon all the rest of mankind? Notice:
I. The Storms: The Time when Noah lived was a stormy time. They had:
A. Spiritual Storm, They were in a time of spiritual crisis because they had rejected the:
1. Moving of God’s Spirit, Gen 6:3 “And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.”
2. Message of God’s Servant, II Peter 2:5 calls him a “preacher of righteousness.”
3. Means of God’s Salvation, the ark
B. Social Storm, This will always follow a spiritual storm! Notice the social situation:
1. They had material blessings, Matt 24 “Eating & Drinking” without care
2. They had moral bankruptcy, 6:5, 11-12
3. They had marital breakdown, 6:1-2, Matt 24:37-39 “Sons of God wed the daughters of men.” This was the sons of Able who served God marrying the daughters of Cain who rejected God. They were unequally yoked together (II Cor 6:14).
C. Sovereign Storm, the ultimate storm in this story is sent by God. God saw (6:5), God sorrowed (6:6), God said (6:7 “I’ve had it!).
But while the world was rocking and reeling with stormy waters...(6:8) Noah found grace!
II. Staying Afloat: All the world was buried deep beneath the waters (7:19-24), yet Noah was still afloat with his family. How did he keep from the stormy time taking him and his family down with the rest?
A. Personal Experience with Grace, 6:8. You will never escape the judgment w/out grace.
B. Powerful Walk with God, 6:9. Only two men in the Bible were referenced in exactly this same manner: Noah and Enoch, but we too can walk with God in these days! To walk with him there must be: a meeting place (God always meets man at the blood), a marked path (both walk by the book, Amos 3:3), a mutual pace (not too fast or too slow). He walked with God:
1. In Prayer, 6:13 “God said to Noah.” When is the last time you heard from God?
2. In Obedience, 6:22, Many stormy gales have been quieted by obedience to God.
3. In Spreading the Word, II Peter 2:5
C. Place Behind The Closed Doors, 7:16, It is much like the passage in John 20:19 when Jesus appeared behind closed doors with the apostles during a very stormy time. They found that behind closed doors with Jesus: *There is Privacy With God. *There is a Forum for our Petitions to be heard of Him. *There is a Place to Praise Him. *There Is Peace Because the Past is Forgiven, the Present is Secure, and the Future is Settled. *There is Proof. He Showed Them the Scars. *There Is a Plan. He Came With Authority, Atonement, and Anointing. *There Is Power. Power To Be Faithful, Fruitful, and Spirit Filled.
III. Starting Over: when the storm was gone, Noah had very little of anything to start a new life, but he had stayed afloat! Before he did anything else, he gave thanks (8:20-22). He thanked God for the sweetness of fellowship (he may have lost his home and property, but he never lost fellowship with God), the salvation of his family, and the security through the flood (Some through the water, some through the flood. Some through the fire, but all through the blood. Some through great sorrow, but God gives a song in the night season and all the day long!).
Conclusion: The storms were terrible, but they were temporary. The storms were on all the earth, but one man stayed afloat. The storms were of man’s creations, Satan’s temptations, and God’s indignation, but regardless of the source of the storm, there was but one way to whether it- get on board with God. When the storm was over and the family gave thanks, God began to bless them (9:1). You may be in the midst of the biggest storm of your life today, but if you will seek God and be obedient to him through it, he will keep you afloat, and a blessing will follow your storm!
