Noah // Running With The Giants [Part 1 of 6]

“By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.” Hebrews 11:7

“For the eyes of the Lord search back and forth across the whole earth, looking for people whose hearts are perfect toward him, so that he can show his great power in helping them.” 2 Chronicles 16:9 (LB)

FOUR CHARACTERISTICS GOD CAN USE:

1. Be available.

“The LORD saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. The LORD was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain. So the LORD said, ‘I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth—men and animals, and creatures that move along the ground, and birds of the air—for I am grieved that I have made them.’ But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD.” Genesis 6:5-8                        

2. Dare to be different.

“This is the account of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked with God.” Genesis 6:9

“Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight and was full of violence. God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways.” Genesis 6:11-12

“Fear of man is a dangerous trap, but to trust in God means safety.” Proverbs 29:25 (LB)

3. Follow Him completely.

“Noah did everything just as God commanded him.” Genesis 6:22

“In those days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving their children to be married, until the day Noah entered the boat. They knew nothing about what was happening until the flood came and destroyed them.” Matthew 24:38 (NCV)

“The LORD says, ‘Now, let’s settle the matter. You are stained red with sin, but I will wash you as clean as snow…. if you will only obey me.” Isaiah 1:18-19 (GN)

4. Never give up.

“Then the LORD said, “My Spirit will not contend with man forever, for he is mortal; his days will be a hundred and twenty years.” Genesis 6:3

“Christ died once for the sins of all us guilty sinners although he himself was innocent of any sin at any time, that he might bring us safely home to God. But though his body died, his spirit lived on, and it was in the spirit that he visited the spirits in prison and preached to them—spirits of those who, long before in the days of Noah, had refused to listen to God, though he waited patiently for them while Noah was building the ark. Yet only eight persons were saved from drowning in that terrible flood. (That, by the way, is what baptism pictures for us: In baptism we show that we have been saved from death and doom by the resurrection of Christ; not because our bodies are washed clean by the water but because in being baptized we are turning to God and asking him to cleanse our hearts from sin.) And now Christ is in heaven, sitting in the place of honor next to God the Father, with all the angels and powers of heaven bowing before him and obeying him.”  1 Peter 3:18-22 (LB)

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