"The Rainbow: Proof That God Takes His Promises Seriously”

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.