I have been
thinking about Noah and his Ark! The design of Father God to carry His own
above the flood waters that would occur and given to His man Noah. Was hearing
this pastor give a teaching this past weekend ( being Passover or Resurrection
Sunday), and I was in awe that he could speak that God told him to build a
certain number of buildings but he just was not sure when God would come for
His own. His hesitation seemed to become a metal door in the room where light should dispel darkness, and a refreshing be experienced among all attending, but alas only heavy metal doors slamming shut is felt there in that room. But in
this atmosphere, you find a man who says he is of God and for God, is not
willing to build because the Lord is RETURNING soon!
If I could
have been standing in front of this man, I would have reminded him of Noah and
when God told him to build the ark, telling him what the materials would be in
Genesis 6 and why He was having Noah build the ark. Then in Genesis 7, God told
Noah and his family to come aboard. Well, the Ark had to be finished for all to
come aboard. Why, God would not have animals or people come aboard, if it were
not expected to be completed!
This has a
lot to do with obedience to the voice of God! It has everything to do with the
heart. And the act of building for the
completed thing God asked for should be evident to be finished. The beasts and
creeping plus birds of every sort went into the Ark. Male and Female entered,
not trans anything, but man and woman entered the Ark. And the Floods began!
The water increased and lifted up the ark, and it rose high above the earth.
The waters prevailed and greatly increased on the earth, and the ark moved
about on the surface of the waters.
Oh, that man
would know that he too, can ride on God’s water of the word and find safety
above the waves of chaos and anarchy, trusting God in His very presence.
God called
Noah to come! Genesis 7:1 Then the LORD said to Noah, “Come into the ark, you
and all your household, because I have seen that you are righteous before Me in
this generation. Genesis 8:1 Then God remembered Noah, and every living thing,
and all the animals that were with him in the ark. And God made a wind to pass
over the earth and the waters subsided. 2 The fountains of the deep and the
windows of heaven were also stopped and the rain from heaven was restrained.
Genesis 9:1 So God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them, “Be fruitful
and multiply, and fill the earth. 2 And the fear of you and the dread of you
shall be on every beast of the earth, on every bird of the air, on all that
move on the earth and on all the fish of sea. They are given into your hand.
Clearly
evident God gives instruction and what man does with it is seen! The best part
is that of the animals, the birds, yes, the beasts of the earth would fear man.
Have you noticed today, that a bear will take out a man on a bike on a pathway
or how close birds swoop down close to where you walk or stand? We saw this news
report on a television news station out of Portland, Oregon where owls were
swooping down to pick up small dogs and attack their owners. This has been
going on in the last two years.
In
Revelation 19:17 Then I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a
loud voice, saying to all the birds that fly in the midst of heaven, “come and
gather together for the supper of the great God, 18 that you may eat the flesh
of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses
and of those who sit on them and the flesh of all people, free and slave, both
small, and great.
Yikes,
there is a grisly feast coming to earth. A victory indeed, but a great contrast
to the marriage supper of the Lamb. ( Ezekiel 39:17-20)
Was reading
an article earlier today of the people in one Florida neighborhood who dealt
with grasshoppers the size of a small child’s hand, who would hiss and make
violent actions of their bodies toward people. Yes, these were angry
grasshoppers! These appeared one day to vegetate on the green plants,
especially on the broad green leaves, next to a business and teaching area in
one Florida city. These grasshoppers had morphed into a creature that regular
spray would not hurt them. The recommendation was given that volunteers could
trample these violent intruders. So the men located teens to trample the
hostile grasshoppers that were wrecking havoc on this once peaceful place. It
took some time, but it worked.
I remember
as a child, when a flying band of locusts invaded our community. Everywhere one
walked, the person would initiate a crunch under their feet and most likely be
hit in the face by several of the loud low-flying intruders. One evening our dad
took us for a ride around the city square and the ground around this city
justice building was black in color and moving. The roadway and lawn was covered with locusts who made loud
noises and great leaps into the air while eating. They continued their feast
while people tried to make their way from destination A to their
appointed destination B. That was a smelly clean up when these invaders left
for the greener side of the hill. It could last for days, but many a person was
happy when these intruders moved on down the road!
1
Peter 5:1-3 NKJV
1 The elders who are among you I exhort, I who am a fellow elder and a
witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that will
be revealed: 2 Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, serving as
overseers, not by compulsion but willingly, not for dishonest gain but eagerly;
3 nor as being lords over those
entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock;
The apostle Peter called Jesus "the Chief
Shepherd" (I Peter 5:4). But this same Peter also admonished earth-bound
men, elders of the church, to be shepherds to the church of God. But this
shepherd is not following the Lord’s instructions! What occurs is the possible
falling away of the flock who have seen an example of the pastor in past years,
but today, he chooses his own way!
Instruction is so important. Those attending school should
be learning to read, write and do some math, but many are left to see pictures
and not learn any words at all to write. How can one become a writer and write
that which he observes if he has no function in reading nor writing? The pastor
has an example of doing his own thing and not the Lord’s thing. One gives death and the other gives life!
John 9:1-41 NKJV Now as Jesus passed by, he saw a man who
was blind from birth. 2 And His disciples asked Him, saying, “Rabbi, who
sinned, this man or his parents that he was born blind?”
John 9: 3 Jesus answered, “ Neither this man nor his parents
sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him.” 4 “I (WE) must
work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no
one can work.” 5 “As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the
world.” 6 When He had said these things,
he spat on the ground & made clay with the saliva; & He anointed the
eyes of the blind man with the clay. 7 And He said to him, “Go wash in the pool
of Siloam” ( which is translated, Sent). So he went & washed & came
back seeing. 8 Therefore the neighbors & those who previously had seen that
he was blind said, “ Is not this he who sat & begged?” 9 Some said, “This
is he.” Others said, “He is like him.” He said, “I am he.” 10 Therefore they
said to him, “how were your eyes opened?” 11 He answered & said, “A Man
called Jesus made clay & anointed my eyes & said to me. ‘Go to the pool
of Siloam & wash.’ So I went & washed & I received sight. 12 Then
they said to him, “Where is He?” He said, “I do not know.”
Jesus put His DNA on this man and the man could see. He had
given the blind man instruction. He anointed the blind man’s eyes and then
sent the man to the pool of Siloam. It was obeying His instructions that were given to see clearly.
Yes, the
Lord will return and He should find us operating in faith and not standing
around twiddling our thumbs. Today we confess the Divine Nature of Jesus. For
the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the
archangel and with the trump of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first.
Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the
clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
If the Lord
has need of some buildings on His return, might we be diligent and faithful in
heart to do it for His glory. Noah built an ark. And the time came to fill it.
When the Lord comes to fill that pastor’s structures, the people will most
likely have to stand outside in the weather: hot, cold, warm, and frigid
indeed. Are we obeying His instructions to build, to send out by encouragement
and give place for Him in prayer and worship, not with an opera singer nor with
an orchestra, but fill the air with worship to Him who is so worthy to be
praised.
Might you
and I be able to confess John 9: 1-for
a man who would contribute to the glory of God confessed to do the instructions
and confessed the divine nature of Jesus. He gave faith to these words when He
said: John 9: 30“Why, this is a marvelous thing, that you do
not know where He is from; yet He has opened my eyes!” 31 Now we know that
God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does His
will, He hears him. 32 Since the world began it has been unheard of that anyone
opened the eyes of one who was born blind. 33 If this man were not from God, He
could do nothing.”
Jesus is in
the pastor and is within your heart. Let us obey God and be excited that He
chose us to be in His family that we might be a person of delight to tell the unbeliever,
“if this man were not from God, He could do nothing. May our doing be of the Lord and people will
know that God is with us, just like He was Noah, and David, and the saints in
the book of Revelation. Amen and Amen.
New teaching at: Voice of Prayer
But In CHRIST
