there are 2 things to learn from noah’s mistake…
#1 remember that our sins don’t remove our victories. did the fact that noah sinned and got drunk, did it mean that him building the ark didn’t mean anything anymore? of course not. GOD had still used him to save a world. so our sins do not remove our victories. they make us feel sometimes like they’re not victories but the sins do not remove the victories in our lives.
i’ve noticed that whenever we have SPIRITual highs in our lives, satan always tempts us. do you know when i have some of my greatest temptations? it is on my mondays. the day after i had some of my greatest victories. satan knows when we are the most vulnerable.
you have a great SPIRITual high. then after that you think, “i’ll never sin again, i feel so close to GOD!” then you go out and you might even actually sin again. and you think, “how could i have done that? i got a glimpse of who GOD really is. how could i have done that?” satan says, “you didn’t learn anything about GOD. this mistake wipes out every good thing that you’ve learned.” that’s the temptation that comes to your heart.
that’s not true. don’t buy it. go back, ask for forgiveness of your sin, confess it to GOD and tie in again to what GOD has done and keep growing.
it’s sort of like going up a mountain with some little dips in it. you go up the mountain and then you go down into a little dip. when you’re in this little dip you feel like you’re down at the bottom of the mountain because you went down a little. but GOD knows you’ve come a long way. get going again and go back up the mountain of growth and faith. that’s what’s happening in our lives. our sins don’t remove our victories.
#2 remember that our victories don’t remove our sins. the victory of CHRIST on the cross removed our sin, the sin that’s upon all of us. we’re no longer accountable for that. but you can’t rely on past victories for today’s faith. you can’t rely on what happened last week to keep your life and relationship with the LORD fresh today. you can build on it, grow through it, and look to it. but you can’t rely on it. you and i have got to rely on our living relationship with CHRIST today.
just a thought from the front porch…
Showing posts with label noah. Show all posts
Showing posts with label noah. Show all posts
Monday, January 24, 2011
Sunday, January 23, 2011
this is real life…
another thing that noah did after he came out of the ark was he got drunk. that’s not how it’s supposed to end! he gets drunk.
genesis 9:20-24 (msg), noah, a farmer, was the first to plant a vineyard. he drank from its wine, got drunk and passed out, naked in his tent. ham, the father of canaan, saw that his father was naked and told his two brothers who were outside the tent. shem and japheth took a cloak, held it between them from their shoulders, walked backward and covered their father's nakedness, keeping their faces turned away so they did not see their father's exposed body. when noah woke up with his hangover, he learned what his youngest son had done. he said, “cursed be canaan! a slave of slaves, a slave to his brothers!”
this is like rocky getting knocked out in the last round! like forrest gump leaving his friend in the jungles in vietnam! like john wayne waving the white flag! but this is real life. it’s not hollywood.
that’s one of the things i like about the bible. it tells us the real truth about GOD’s people. no punches pulled. and when i see this real truth, i know that GOD’s not lying to me about people’s lives. HE’s not painting fairy tales. here’s a man of incredible faith who made an incredible difference and also made an incredible mistake. any of you like that?
just a thought from the front porch…
genesis 9:20-24 (msg), noah, a farmer, was the first to plant a vineyard. he drank from its wine, got drunk and passed out, naked in his tent. ham, the father of canaan, saw that his father was naked and told his two brothers who were outside the tent. shem and japheth took a cloak, held it between them from their shoulders, walked backward and covered their father's nakedness, keeping their faces turned away so they did not see their father's exposed body. when noah woke up with his hangover, he learned what his youngest son had done. he said, “cursed be canaan! a slave of slaves, a slave to his brothers!”
this is like rocky getting knocked out in the last round! like forrest gump leaving his friend in the jungles in vietnam! like john wayne waving the white flag! but this is real life. it’s not hollywood.
that’s one of the things i like about the bible. it tells us the real truth about GOD’s people. no punches pulled. and when i see this real truth, i know that GOD’s not lying to me about people’s lives. HE’s not painting fairy tales. here’s a man of incredible faith who made an incredible difference and also made an incredible mistake. any of you like that?
just a thought from the front porch…
Saturday, January 22, 2011
a different way of doing things…
the first thing that happens when noah came out of the ark is worship. he builds an altar.
and the second thing that happens is GOD makes a rainbow. and in that rainbow is a covenant and a promise. GOD says in genesis 9:12 (msg), this is the sign of the covenant I am making between ME and you and everything living around you and everyone living after you. I’m putting MY rainbow in the clouds, a sign of the covenant between ME and the earth. from now on, when I form a cloud over the earth and the rainbow appears in the cloud, I’ll remember MY covenant between ME and you and everything living, that never again will floodwaters destroy all life.
this may have been very important in noah’s life. if it’s true that a canopy had covered the earth and noah had never seen rain, then it was going to rain again. the first rain that noah had seen, the first time those drops had fallen, it had destroyed the earth. how’s he going to feel the next time that happened? “GOD, last time it destroyed the earth. is it going to destroy the earth this time?” GOD said, “i'm going to make sure you don’t see that. I’m going to put a rainbow in the clouds to say I’ve got a different plan this time.”
you and i need to catch hold of that. the rainbow, the sign of GOD’s promise is GOD loves to do things in different ways. HE’s got a different plan for our lives. as you and i look into the skies and see the beauty of a rainbow, it should remind us that GOD has a new plan, a different way of doing things.
just a thought from the front porch…
and the second thing that happens is GOD makes a rainbow. and in that rainbow is a covenant and a promise. GOD says in genesis 9:12 (msg), this is the sign of the covenant I am making between ME and you and everything living around you and everyone living after you. I’m putting MY rainbow in the clouds, a sign of the covenant between ME and the earth. from now on, when I form a cloud over the earth and the rainbow appears in the cloud, I’ll remember MY covenant between ME and you and everything living, that never again will floodwaters destroy all life.
this may have been very important in noah’s life. if it’s true that a canopy had covered the earth and noah had never seen rain, then it was going to rain again. the first rain that noah had seen, the first time those drops had fallen, it had destroyed the earth. how’s he going to feel the next time that happened? “GOD, last time it destroyed the earth. is it going to destroy the earth this time?” GOD said, “i'm going to make sure you don’t see that. I’m going to put a rainbow in the clouds to say I’ve got a different plan this time.”
you and i need to catch hold of that. the rainbow, the sign of GOD’s promise is GOD loves to do things in different ways. HE’s got a different plan for our lives. as you and i look into the skies and see the beauty of a rainbow, it should remind us that GOD has a new plan, a different way of doing things.
just a thought from the front porch…
Friday, January 21, 2011
worship or worry…
then noah came out of the ark and what a great day that must have been!
what would you have done? you’ve been on this ark for over a year with all these animals. you’ve got to start thinking through this time, “when i get off this ark, the first thing i'm going to do is…” what would it be? how would you celebrate?
noah teaches us the motivational power of worship. that’s the first thing he does when he gets off the ark. he’s been on this ark for over a year with all these animals and the first thing he does is he offers a sacrifice to GOD and he builds an altar.
when was the last time the first thing you wanted to do, was say thank you to GOD in a new situation? that’s what noah did. it’s a great pattern. if i want to have a motivated life, what we have to do is take the first opportunity in any new situation – a new job, a new place you’re moving, a new church that you’re involved in, a new baby you’re having – any new situation that comes into your life, the first thing you do is worship GOD. thank him for that situation.
here’s something interesting, we often in a new situation want to do the exact opposite of worship. what we want to do is worry about it – new parents, moving into a new house, new mortgage. it’s so easy to do that. but noah allowed GOD to work in his life in this situation. not, “where will all the animals go? how am i going to take care of them now? there’s not enough food for them. the vegetation hasn’t grown up enough. i'm not sure this is going to work.”
no, the first thing he does is worship. he builds an altar.
just a thought from the front porch…
what would you have done? you’ve been on this ark for over a year with all these animals. you’ve got to start thinking through this time, “when i get off this ark, the first thing i'm going to do is…” what would it be? how would you celebrate?
noah teaches us the motivational power of worship. that’s the first thing he does when he gets off the ark. he’s been on this ark for over a year with all these animals and the first thing he does is he offers a sacrifice to GOD and he builds an altar.
when was the last time the first thing you wanted to do, was say thank you to GOD in a new situation? that’s what noah did. it’s a great pattern. if i want to have a motivated life, what we have to do is take the first opportunity in any new situation – a new job, a new place you’re moving, a new church that you’re involved in, a new baby you’re having – any new situation that comes into your life, the first thing you do is worship GOD. thank him for that situation.
here’s something interesting, we often in a new situation want to do the exact opposite of worship. what we want to do is worry about it – new parents, moving into a new house, new mortgage. it’s so easy to do that. but noah allowed GOD to work in his life in this situation. not, “where will all the animals go? how am i going to take care of them now? there’s not enough food for them. the vegetation hasn’t grown up enough. i'm not sure this is going to work.”
no, the first thing he does is worship. he builds an altar.
just a thought from the front porch…
Thursday, January 20, 2011
motivation and faithfulness…
noah built an ark, noah entered the ark and then noah on the ark. when i think of noah on the ark it teaches me the motivational power of faithfulness.
how many days was he there? i think the first number that comes to many of our minds is forty. but that’s not what the bible teaches. not at all. it rained for forty days and forty nights. but the bible says that after noah got on the ark, the floods started on the seventeenth day of the second month and noah got off the ark on the twenty-seventh day of the second month – a year. he was on the ark a year and ten days. and he was on the ark seven days before the rains started. so that adds up to noah being on the ark a lot more than forty days. he was on the ark 375 days – 375 days of faithfulness, 375 days of trusting GOD. after 120 years of trusting GOD which is how long it took him to build the ark.
one of the most impressive things to me about noah is his faithfulness. when i think of a man who would go onto an ark like that and trust GOD through that time, maybe some of the animals hibernated but not all of them did.
can you imagine cleaning up after animals for three hundred plus days? can you imagine listening to animals for all of those days? can you imagine smelling animals for all of those days? the incredible smells! faithfulness. noah and his family were faithful to GOD.
sometimes faithfulness isn’t fun. cleaning up after the animals on that ark wasn’t fun. worrying about whether the waters would ever recede – it wasn’t fun. but it had to be fulfilling, deeply. noah had to stand back at the end of his day and recognize when he saw that the entire earth was covered with water, “we’re it. we’re all that’s left. if sixty years into this project, i’d said, ‘no, GOD, where would my family be now? where would these animals be now?’” so on the days that aren’t fun when you’re being faithful to GOD, just stand back for a minute and look at what GOD’s doing through your life in this world.
just a thought from the front porch…
how many days was he there? i think the first number that comes to many of our minds is forty. but that’s not what the bible teaches. not at all. it rained for forty days and forty nights. but the bible says that after noah got on the ark, the floods started on the seventeenth day of the second month and noah got off the ark on the twenty-seventh day of the second month – a year. he was on the ark a year and ten days. and he was on the ark seven days before the rains started. so that adds up to noah being on the ark a lot more than forty days. he was on the ark 375 days – 375 days of faithfulness, 375 days of trusting GOD. after 120 years of trusting GOD which is how long it took him to build the ark.
one of the most impressive things to me about noah is his faithfulness. when i think of a man who would go onto an ark like that and trust GOD through that time, maybe some of the animals hibernated but not all of them did.
can you imagine cleaning up after animals for three hundred plus days? can you imagine listening to animals for all of those days? can you imagine smelling animals for all of those days? the incredible smells! faithfulness. noah and his family were faithful to GOD.
sometimes faithfulness isn’t fun. cleaning up after the animals on that ark wasn’t fun. worrying about whether the waters would ever recede – it wasn’t fun. but it had to be fulfilling, deeply. noah had to stand back at the end of his day and recognize when he saw that the entire earth was covered with water, “we’re it. we’re all that’s left. if sixty years into this project, i’d said, ‘no, GOD, where would my family be now? where would these animals be now?’” so on the days that aren’t fun when you’re being faithful to GOD, just stand back for a minute and look at what GOD’s doing through your life in this world.
just a thought from the front porch…
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
the power of trust…
another defining part in noah’s life was when he entered the ark and that shows the motivational power of trust. he took his obedience and applied it by trusting GOD.
and that had to be a scary moment. he’s got all these animals in this ark and he walks in and genesis 7.16 (msg), then GOD shut the door behind him. it wasn’t noah that shut the door, but GOD. that’s trust!
in my life many times i want to keep my options open – “GOD, i’ll do this for YOU but let me keep this over here open in case this doesn’t work out. i can go through that door too.” but if GOD’s saying, “i want you to shut the door,” it’s shut.
trust. genesis 7.6-10 (msg), noah and his wife and sons and their wives boarded the ship to escape the flood…just as GOD had commanded noah. in seven days the floodwaters came. the door was shut and it was seven days after that door was shut before the rain started to fall. how do you think noah felt during those seven days? seven long days. “GOD, what am i doing in here? YOU’ve made this promise. the rain’s supposed to come. where’s the rain?”
i don’t know why GOD waited seven days. i don’t know if HE was giving people an opportunity to repent outside the ark. i don’t know if HE was doing something inside noah’s heart within the ark.
and i don’t know why GOD waits in my life sometimes, or in your life. but HE does, doesn’t HE? some of you are in that seven-day waiting period and you’re wondering what in the world is GOD doing? you’ve gone in, the door has been shut. you’ve made the commitment, total commitment to GOD, and you’re asking, “GOD, i'm not sure this is going to work out!” noah had to feel that way but he kept coming back to trust and obedience.
in the span of things what was seven days? the longest seven days of his life, that’s what they were! in the span of days what’s seven days or seven years to us or 11 years? sometimes they can be the longest time in our lives. but trust says “GOD’s working.” the rain hasn’t started yet. what HE said hasn’t happened yet. but HE’s preparing it to happen just in HIS timing. noah’s trust was vital. and so is your’s.
just a thought from the front porch…
and that had to be a scary moment. he’s got all these animals in this ark and he walks in and genesis 7.16 (msg), then GOD shut the door behind him. it wasn’t noah that shut the door, but GOD. that’s trust!
in my life many times i want to keep my options open – “GOD, i’ll do this for YOU but let me keep this over here open in case this doesn’t work out. i can go through that door too.” but if GOD’s saying, “i want you to shut the door,” it’s shut.
trust. genesis 7.6-10 (msg), noah and his wife and sons and their wives boarded the ship to escape the flood…just as GOD had commanded noah. in seven days the floodwaters came. the door was shut and it was seven days after that door was shut before the rain started to fall. how do you think noah felt during those seven days? seven long days. “GOD, what am i doing in here? YOU’ve made this promise. the rain’s supposed to come. where’s the rain?”
i don’t know why GOD waited seven days. i don’t know if HE was giving people an opportunity to repent outside the ark. i don’t know if HE was doing something inside noah’s heart within the ark.
and i don’t know why GOD waits in my life sometimes, or in your life. but HE does, doesn’t HE? some of you are in that seven-day waiting period and you’re wondering what in the world is GOD doing? you’ve gone in, the door has been shut. you’ve made the commitment, total commitment to GOD, and you’re asking, “GOD, i'm not sure this is going to work out!” noah had to feel that way but he kept coming back to trust and obedience.
in the span of things what was seven days? the longest seven days of his life, that’s what they were! in the span of days what’s seven days or seven years to us or 11 years? sometimes they can be the longest time in our lives. but trust says “GOD’s working.” the rain hasn’t started yet. what HE said hasn’t happened yet. but HE’s preparing it to happen just in HIS timing. noah’s trust was vital. and so is your’s.
just a thought from the front porch…
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
the motivational power of obedience…
we all need models, somebody to show us how. when we look at the book of genesis in the ot in the bible, we see some people whose lives were driven by GOD’s purpose and one of them was a man by the name of noah.
this man noah was asked to do things by GOD that were so absolutely absurd that they were almost amusing. but when we take a second look at him, we think, “wow! what faith! what an example! what a person to follow!” there’s a longing to learn how to have faith from him.
now i want us to see the different parts of noah’s life and how we can learn about motivation from each of those things that happened in his life.
here’s one: noah built an ark and that teaches us the motivational power of obedience.
genesis 6.13-16 (msg), GOD said to noah, “it’s all over. it’s the end of the human race. the violence is everywhere; I’m making a clean sweep. build yourself a ship from teakwood. make rooms in it. coat it with pitch inside and out. make it 450 feet long, seventy-five feet wide, and forty-five feet high. build a roof for it and put in a window eighteen inches from the top; put in a door on the side of the ship; and make three decks, lower, middle, and upper.”
so noah begins to build this ark, this ship and it’s huge. the length of it was one and a half football fields. GOD gave noah an incredible project. and in this project, HE allowed noah to have a SPIRITual experience in his life like none other. but it was an experience of obedience. every foot of width, every foot of length was obedience to GOD. he had to be thinking, “what am i doing? what’s going to happen?”
genesis 6.22 (msg), noah did everything GOD commanded him to do. that’s a dream of my life. i’d like to get there someday. did everything. that’s exact obedience. what incredible obedience.
noah was motivated because he was obedient. there are days in my life when the only thing that motivates me to serve GOD is my obedience. i don’t feel like doing it, nobody’s telling me i'm doing a great job in doing it. they might even tell me i'm doing a terrible job in doing it. satan’s throwing lots of temptations at me. there are days like that in all of our lives. there are days when the only motivation is obedience to the ONE who loves us the most. i trust HIM more than i trust me. noah had that. that’s why GOD was able to use HIM to change a world – literally.
just a thought from the front porch…
this man noah was asked to do things by GOD that were so absolutely absurd that they were almost amusing. but when we take a second look at him, we think, “wow! what faith! what an example! what a person to follow!” there’s a longing to learn how to have faith from him.
now i want us to see the different parts of noah’s life and how we can learn about motivation from each of those things that happened in his life.
here’s one: noah built an ark and that teaches us the motivational power of obedience.
genesis 6.13-16 (msg), GOD said to noah, “it’s all over. it’s the end of the human race. the violence is everywhere; I’m making a clean sweep. build yourself a ship from teakwood. make rooms in it. coat it with pitch inside and out. make it 450 feet long, seventy-five feet wide, and forty-five feet high. build a roof for it and put in a window eighteen inches from the top; put in a door on the side of the ship; and make three decks, lower, middle, and upper.”
so noah begins to build this ark, this ship and it’s huge. the length of it was one and a half football fields. GOD gave noah an incredible project. and in this project, HE allowed noah to have a SPIRITual experience in his life like none other. but it was an experience of obedience. every foot of width, every foot of length was obedience to GOD. he had to be thinking, “what am i doing? what’s going to happen?”
genesis 6.22 (msg), noah did everything GOD commanded him to do. that’s a dream of my life. i’d like to get there someday. did everything. that’s exact obedience. what incredible obedience.
noah was motivated because he was obedient. there are days in my life when the only thing that motivates me to serve GOD is my obedience. i don’t feel like doing it, nobody’s telling me i'm doing a great job in doing it. they might even tell me i'm doing a terrible job in doing it. satan’s throwing lots of temptations at me. there are days like that in all of our lives. there are days when the only motivation is obedience to the ONE who loves us the most. i trust HIM more than i trust me. noah had that. that’s why GOD was able to use HIM to change a world – literally.
just a thought from the front porch…
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