Time Marches On

Do you like old pictures? Old Videos. Some of us here in church are part of a Facebook Group called Forgotten Oklahoma. It’s really interesting. Old pictures of towns and farms here in Oklahoma. Some of the towns don’t even exist anymore. And some of these were bustling towns that had populations up in the HUNDREDS but now they are just open fields.

Avant, the little town just up the road here used to be a large town. Grocery stores, movie theaters and banks. Now there’s really not any businesses in town now. Do you know why? There’s several reasons. Some of them were oil boom towns. Some dried up during the Dust Bowl. Others were bypassed by the Railroad so people moved away. But when you really get down to it, THE ROOT CAUSE ... It’s because ... TIME MARCHES ON.

People are born and people die.

Good things happen and bad things happen.

PEOPLE LIVE THEIR LIVES and TIME MARCHES ON. And it’s been this way from the Very Beginning. Let’s look in our Bibles to the first BOOK. Genesis. Genesis 8 and we’re going to read Verses 15 - 22.

“And God spake unto Noah, saying,

16 Go forth of the ark, thou, and thy wife, and thy sons, and thy sons' wives with thee.

17 Bring forth with thee every living thing that is with thee, of all flesh, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth; that they may breed abundantly in the earth, and be fruitful, and multiply upon the earth.

18 And Noah went forth, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives with him:

19 Every beast, every creeping thing, and every fowl, and whatsoever creepeth upon the earth, after their kinds, went forth out of the ark.

20 And Noah builded an altar unto the Lord; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar.

21 And the Lord smelled a sweet savour; and the Lord said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake; for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done.

22 While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.”

The GREATEST CALAMITY that mankind had ever known had just happened. The entire world was WIPED OUT. All of the people and the animals EXCEPT those that were on the ARK were DEAD. But yet ... TIME MARCHED ON.

Even a CALAMITY like the FLOODING of the entire earth didn’t stop TIME from MARCHING ON.

Even the death of MILLIONS of people didn’t stop TIME from MARCHING ON.

So that’s what I want to talk to you about this morning.

TIME MARCHES ON. Let’s Pray.

Brother ____, would you lead us?

I. As we look at these Verses, the ARK had rested on Mt. Ararat. It was time to get off and go on with life. The animals were to BREED and MULTIPLY. I’m sure thankful for that because I REALLY LIKE a GOOD STEAK. And I really like FRIED CHICKEN so I’m really glad that those CHICKENS got off that boat and began to BREED. And to be totally honest I really like my Old Dog George. So I’m glad that those DOGS got off the ark and made little baby puppies. I’m GLAD that TIME MARCHED ON.

I’m NOT GLAD that the Copper Heads and Rattle Snakes got off the ARK. They should have just stayed on BOARD. And I wish the TICKS and CHIGGERS WOULDN’T have hitched a ride on the animals as they got off.

But never-the-less, TIME MARCHED ON.

And we see here where Noah and his family got off that boat and the first thing that they did was to build an ALTER and make a Sacrifice to God. I believe this was a COMMITMENT to do what GOD wanted them to do. This was a COMMITMENT to SERVE HIM the rest of their days.

Because TIME was going to MARCH ON.

And then they got to work replenishing the EARTH.

ALL OF US TODAY are the OFFSPRING of one of the SONS of NOAH. And therefore, we are ALL the OFFSPRING of NOAH himself. Genesis 6:8

“But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.”

We are all the OFFSPRING of a man who found GRACE in the eyes of the Lord.

We are ALL the OFFSPRING of a man who LISTENED to GOD and OBEYED even when it seemed like ALL OF HIS WORK was in VAIN.

And everyone of us sitting here today are here because a man LISTENED to God, and his BOYS and their WIVES listened to God, they got onboard, and TIME MARCHED ON!!!