dark horses- noah

MESSAGE TRANSCRIPTION: 

Well, it’s good to see you. For you that do not know me. I am Virgil Grant. I am one of the leaders around here. And we’re excited that you’re here today. And I just want to genuinely say to you that no matter where you’re at on your spiritual journey, you’re welcome at Eastside. Whether you’re just starting it or whether you’re stuck, it does not matter. We’re glad that you’re here. And in two weeks from now, on Father’s Day, we are having what we call a buzz event. And let me just give you the vision behind why we do these events. And so we’re bringing in Brandon. He’s fantastic. He’s going to be wonderful. And but we do this because there’s people in your life. There’s people in my life that need a nudge in their spiritual journey with Jesus. And so we create events like this so that you can make an easy invite. And so you make the invite. You bring them with you. And as you bring them with you, then hopefully, there’s a seed that is planted that one day will come to bear spiritual fruit. And so here’s my encouragement to you is don’t come alone. Bring someone with you, maybe someone that used to be in your life group, someone that you used to sit and worship with, maybe someone that you used to serve with and you just haven’t seen them lately. This would be a great time of someone in your realm of influence to invite you to come in to join us while we are in a sermon series called Dark Horses. And if you’ve missed any of those sermon sermons, you can go back to our website and catch up. We talked about Nehemiah; we talked about Esther. We talked about Gideon.

And today, regardless of your Bible knowledge, almost everyone has heard of the dark horse that we’re going to talk about today, and that is Noah. And the story of Noah is an outlandish, crazy story. And let me just say something. The reason why we’re doing this sermon today is because we believe that God is going to ask you to do something crazy today as well. We believe that God’s going to ask you to receive him as your Lord and Savior and make him your personal savior. If you haven’t already done that, and if you’ve already done that, we believe that God is going to ask you to take your next spiritual step, which is to be baptized. And so wouldn’t it be a crazy morning if we had a bunch of people who received christ, a bunch of people who went through with baptism this morning? Wouldn’t that be crazy, right? Yeah, absolutely. And so the story of Noah is found in Genesis, chapters six, seven, and eight, and you can go back and read The Dark, The Dark Horse story later. But let me just kind of give you a summary of what’s going on. So, God, in the very beginning, he created Adam and Eve. He created them for fellowship. He walked with them, and they walked with them in the garden. But because God loved humanity, God gave Adam and Eve the choice of free will. And so love is never love unless there is free will involved. And so one day, Adam and Eve, we don’t know when they decided that they were going to exercise their choice of free will, and they decided to take the fruit from the tree that they had been commanded not to take from. And so, at that very moment, the Bible says their eyes were open. They recognized that they were naked. There was shame and guilt. There was ushered into the world. God came alone and set them outside of the garden. And after that event, all of a sudden, humanity begins to literally go down on a downhill sprawl. And there was this dark, destructive behavior, behavior that absolutely broke the heart of God. Now, the experts tell us when we come to Genesis chapter six, there are about 1 million people in the world at this particular time. So literally, Noah is one out of a million. Now, notice what the scripture says. Here’s a little bit about the story.

Genesis 6:5-7 (NLT) 

“The Lord observed the extent of human wickedness on the earth, and he saw that everything they thought or imagined was consistently and totally evil. So the Lord was sorry he had ever made them and put them on the earth. It broke his heart. And the Lord said,‘I will wipe this human race I have created from the face of the earth.'”

Now, just like some of you, you, as parents, you have a child that is rebellious. That rebellious child breaks your heart. And just like God when he created humanity, and we went down this dark road of depravity and evilness, what did it do to God’s heart? It broke his heart. Now, as a result of this, what is the Lord? What is his response? He says I am going to watch this human race I have created from the face of the earth. I’m going to wipe them out completely. Now, in the next verse, we find a little bit about Noah. But don’t you love that transitional phrase when it’s in a good way? You know, but Noah found favor with the Lord. In other words, is that when God looked at the million people that were on the earth at that particular time, he said, You know what? There’s one person, there’s one family that probably shouldn’t be destroyed in flood. And it’s Noah and his family. The next verse, verse number nine, tells us more about Noah.

Genesis6:9 (NLT) 

“This is the account of Noah and his family. Noah was a righteous man, the only blameless person living on earth at the time, and he walked in close fellowship with God.”

Now, how would you like it to be said of you that he walks with God? That she walks with God? I mean, would that be a wonderful way for people to describe you? And so, what do we learn from the story of Noah? And then here’s the question I want to pose to is today, what do you do when you sense God is asking you to do something or to take a step that looks completely crazy, not only crazy to you, but crazy to everyone else? And I would just encourage you today if you haven’t taken notes in the past, I would encourage you to take notes today because I think that the three points that we’re going to talk about is going to be very beneficial or at least take a picture of the screen or something like that. But here we go. The first thing that you do is that you obey God even when you don’t understand it. So whatever God asked you to do, it doesn’t make sense. It sounds crazy, and you don’t know what to do.

You obey God even when it does not make sense. 

Now, I know that this sounds weird, but at this point in the story, Noah is 500 years of age. Maybe Noah is having a midlife crisis. I don’t know. But God says to Noah. Noah, here’s what I want you to do. I want you to build a boat to save you and your family because it’s going to flood, and there’s going to come destruction. Now, folks, this is completely ludicrous. There are very few. There are a lot of reasons why this is ludicrous to mankind. Number one is that Noah was 500 miles from the nearest mass of water. He was in the middle of a desert. He’s 500 miles away. And God says, I’m going to destroy everything by flood, and you’re going to build a boat to save you and your family and some animals. And Noah is going to walk 500 miles away from the nearest land of water. Now, notice this. Up to this point, according to Genesis chapter two, it has never rained before. No one has ever seen rain drop from the sky into the ground because the scripture says that there was a mist that came up from the floor of the earth that watered the vegetation of that day and age. But in addition to that, God gave Noah specific instructions on how to build the ark, this really big boat. He gave him a material list. He says everything’s going to be made out of gopher wood. Then you are going to use tar to plaster the inside and the outside. It’s going to be 450 feet long, which is about a football field and a half. It’s going to be 75 feet wide, which is about six, but the width of a six-lane highway. And maybe, for example, as you go through Atlanta or something like that, it’s going to be 45 feet tall, about four and a half stories high. And not only that, it’s going to have an upper deck, a middle deck, and a lower deck. And if you take all of this and you do the math, it’s equivalent to 522 railroad boxcars. Now, think about that, 522 railroad boxcars. And if you put sheep into those 522. Riverboat boxcars, it would be 126,000 sheep. Now, I don’t know about you, but that’s a lot of doo-doo. I don’t know about that. But there’s a lot of doo-doo, right? I mean, there’s a lot of that. But here’s what God says to Noah. Noah, I’m going to come alone. I am grieved at the fact that I created humanity. I’m going to eliminate humanity altogether. Except for you and your family. I want you to build a boat. And I’m going to ask you to build this boat. And here are the dimensions of the boat. And as you build the boat, you’re going then to enter it. You’re going to take two of every animal with you, and you will get on the boat. And then I’m going to see a flood. And I just want you to be obedient. And Noah has never seen rain. He’s 500 miles away from the nearest body of water. And it is just ludicrous to follow the Lord and to be crazy at this particular time. But here’s what scripture says in Hebrews Chapter 11, verse seven. It was by faith that Noah built an art to save his family from the flood, and he obeyed God, who warned him about something that had never happened before. The notice, the word faith, and the word obey. Now, let me ask you a question. If God came to you here in Kentucky and said, I want you to build a boat, I want you to build a ship, and then I want you to do it this big and this tall and this wide, and you’re going to spend all these years doing it. What would be your response? Now, I don’t know about you, but I would have some questions. I would have some doubts. I mean, I would have some fears. But, you know, like, one of the questions I would have are if you’ve ever thought about this or not. But, hey, God, what do we do about termites? Have you ever thought about that? I mean, what do you do? I mean, and so but, you know, when we look at Noah, he doesn’t doubt. He doesn’t have any fears. He doesn’t have any delays. He doesn’t do any of that. He gets his boys together. They go down to the Home Depot. And what do they do? They begin the construction project. Now, let me ask you a question. Here’s the application for your life and for my life. Now, let me ask you a question. Do you have the guts? Do you have the grit? Do you have the faith this morning? To obey God. When it doesn’t make sense. Because God is asking you to do some things. Let me give you some examples of maybe what God’s asking you to do. For some of you this morning. You’ve got a person that’s on your hit list. They’re your enemy. They’ve attacked you. They have talked about you. They have spread false rumors about you. They’ve stabbed you in the back. And you can’t even be in the same room with the person. And God is saying to you this morning, you better forgive her. You need to forgive him. You need to let them off the hook. But, God, it doesn’t make any sense. And that’s exactly what obedience looks like, my friend. For some of you, here’s what God’s asking you to do. You know that thing that you’re worried about. It’s keeping you up each night. You know, that test result that you got this past week, you know, the outcome and how you’re going to fix it. Do you know about the house payment that you are worried about that you don’t have the money to pay? Do you know about the children that you’re worried about that you don’t know how they’re going to turn out? God is saying to you, is this making any sense? Just trust me. Stop trying to be in control. Here’s something some of you are dating. An individual. And God is asking you to break up and call off the relationship or to call off the marriage to be. And the reason why gods are asking you to do this is because he or she does not have the same spiritual convictions about God as you do. And God is saying, you know what? If the most important thing in your life is me, you should be able to share the most important thing in your life with the most important person in your life, and he or she does not have the same conviction about your God, but God, she is so cute. God, she’s a hotty, God. How did you not see their profile picture? It does not make sense, but this is what obedience looks like. This is what. Do you have the guts? Do you have the grit? Do you have the faith to obey God? Save for some of you. It’s to receive Jesus Christ as your personal savior. For some of you this morning. It’s about you taking the next spiritual step and for you to somehow or another step out and to be baptized this morning to let the world know that you received Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. Now, folks, you need to understand something is not obeying God. It makes absolutely no sense. Do you know how long it took for Noah to build the ship in the middle of the desert? It’s 120 years. Now, I don’t know about you, but about year 75, I’ll go. Hey. Got a real same pager. Did I miss reading the tea leaves or something? That miss here you speak. I mean, I got it. I’m pretty tired. I’m pretty worn out. I mean, my hands are. We are getting older by the day. And. And this arthritis is kicking in. Hey, God, can I just get my gold watch and retire? I’m done. Put a fork in me. And have we not learned that God’s timing is different than our timing? Our timing is now, but God’s timing is His timing. In bad faith, Noah obeyed God even when it didn’t make sense. The second thing that you do is that you.

Ignore detractors, and you keep moving forward.

So the first thing that you do, you obey God even when it doesn’t make sense. And as you begin to obey God, there are going to be people who will try to pull you back. There are real people who are going to ridicule and kill you. Do you understand? It took Noah 120 years to build a boat, and not just a little boat, but a boat, the three times of the Statue of Liberty. And there has never been a raindrop from the skies, and there has never been any rain. And he is in the middle of the desert. What about his three sons? Can you imagine them? They’re out hammering, nailing their sawing. Have you ever thought about the conversations that they had about their dad, Noah? Can you imagine what the three boys are saying? You know what I’m saying? You know what? I believe that is lost. I believe dad is in a midlife crisis. I don’t know if you know this, but Dad is wasting our inheritance on a boat that’s going nowhere. I mean, have you ever thought about how you know what I would say? You know what? I think Dad has dementia. I think we take them and get them checked out. I mean, there are all kinds of things that are going on. Now, friends, when you live the dark kind of life, spiritually speaking, be prepared to be criticized, to be misunderstood, and considered to be completely 100% crazy, and see friends. We have people all the time in our community that thinks the East side is crazy. There are a lot of people who think that what we do at his side is crazy. Let me just give you some examples. There’s a huge group of us. We give a large percentage of our income to the Kingdom of God through this local expression of the body of Christ. And when our CPAs look at how much money that we give away, they think that we are loony. Do you know that your neighbor thinks that you’re loony for being at church this morning, especially if you’re serving? Because, you know, what they’re thinking is that they are crazy. There are only a day of their only day to go play golf, their only day to sleep, and their only day to do maybe something with the family instead of sleeping, instead of playing golf and doing something with their family. Those nuts are getting ready. Going to church and go to serve for 3 hours in the kid’s ministry or the special needs ministry, or are they going to do hospitality or party and they are just crazy for what they’re doing. See, folks, when you do something for the Kingdom of God, people are going to criticize you. And this is the reason why we cannot let detractors detract from us, But we have to keep moving. And here’s what I know about Isa. When you are living the type of faith that we are seeking to live here at Eastside, there are all kinds of people in our community who are criticizing us. I mean, there are people who are going. Who does Eastside think they are? We just came out of the global pandemic, and there is uncertainty about the future of our economy and that stupid church down the road there. They just declared they’re going to open a second campus. That doesn’t make any sense. They’re crazy. You know why we’re crazy? Because there are thousands of people in Madison County dying and going to hell. And that is not why because there’s a pandemic. It is not why because there’s a bad economy. The time is now. And there are people there’s always going to criticize. And let me just tell you why people criticize especially other churches. Let me just forget about my notes for a second; who just tells you why they criticize. Here’s the reason why. This is my personal opinion. And I’m not talking bad about any church. You know who they are. You hear it? I hear it. I don’t give a rip. But let me tell you something. Okay. Let me just say some churches that are not doing anything for God, they need something to rally around. You know what? They rally around. They rally around a church that’s doing something. Amen. They rally around. A church is doing something. Because why? It’s easier for them to have a common enemy. They have a common purpose and work their butts off. See, folks, criticism is going to come. Criticism is going to come because we believe that God wants us to help 10,000 people to live an all-in life for Jesus, that God wants us, through the power of the Holy Spirit, to push back the darkness in this community, to pave the way for the next generation, to rise up and to be dark forces that God wants to use us to storm the gates of hell. And let me just say something to you is that other people will always criticize us. But my personal opinion, this is the reason why God is blessing us and will continue to bless us because we are willing to look crazy for the kingdom of God. Amen?

What do you do when God to ask you to do something that sounds crazy? Number one, you just obey God even when you don’t understand it. Number two, you ignore the detractors, and you keep moving. But number three, now, listen, this is a very important point. No one moving, No one leaving.

You maximize opportunities. While the doors are still open.

Let me explain this to you. Say it with me, if you don’t mind. You maximize opportunities while the doors are still open. See, God gives each person in this room. Opportunities. In their lifetime to walk with him. He gives you an opportunity to follow him, to go on an adventure of faith with him. But listen to me, my friends. Those doors. Don’t always remain open. After 120 years of building the boat, after going through all the ridicule, the doubts, the questioning, and the waiting. Look what happens in Genesis chapter seven, verse one.

Genesis 7:1 (NLT) 

“When everything was ready, the Lord said to Noah, ‘Go into the boat with all your family…'”

Now listen to me. Noah for 120 years. Invited people to join him on this mission. He invited everyone that he came in contact. He talked to his neighbors. He talked to his city. He talked to his country. He talked to the people that were traveling by who had questions. Noah had one spiritual conversation after another. But here’s the thing that you need to understand there came a moment when the door of opportunity was no longer open. The door of opportunity was about to be closed. And when it came, here’s what God did, is that God said to Noah. Noah, I want you to get onto the boat. I want you to get with your family. And then I want you to get all the animals; the time has come. And God himself closed the door. Now, folks, when God closes the door, that door can never be opened again. No one can open that door. Can you imagine Noah, for 120 years, preached and taught and invited people to come on the journey, and not one single person came on the journey with them. Now, let me ask you a question. I ask myself this question. What would I have done? I’ve been in ministry now for 32 years. And what if, for 32 years, no one ever responded to the gospel of Jesus Christ? It doesn’t matter. You just keep doing it. And so, after 120 years, Noah and his family get on the boat. God closes the door. And guess what happens? After day one, no rain after day two no rain. People were mocking people, shouting that no one is family. You’re nutcases; you’re crazy. Day three, no rain. Day four, no rain. Day five, no rain. Day six. Everybody is still laughing. But on the sixth. Night. People notice the skies are darker. The wind is rising at midnight. There’s thundering and lightning. And the rain begins early the next morning. The rain is now up to their ankles by the end of the day. It’s to their knees by the next day. It is up to their waist. Now imagine what people are doing now. The boat begins to float just a little bit. Now people are beginning to beat on the door. Now the people are begging for Noah to open the door and to let them come in because everything they’ve been saying must be coming through because there’s something that’s happening that we’ve never seen before. And here’s what happens, my friends. It rains for the next 40 days and 40 nights. And after the rain is over with. Guess what? The earth is strangely silent.

There’s no noise. It’s silent. They had 120 years to walk through the door of opportunity. But they said no. Now, have you ever thought about what Noah experienced? I mean, here he is. He’s inside the boat. He’s inside the ship. He’s inside the ark. People are banging on the boat to get in. It’s his neighbor; it’s his friends. It’s maybe some family members. Maybe it’s the Home Depot manager. We bought all of the wood. I don’t know. But here are these people. The wrongness of Noah saying that these people that I knew did not accept God’s invitation, His grace, his door of grace, his door of opportunity. They’re dead. They’re gone. They’re wiped away. See, folks. Some of you, you’re here, and you think that you have all of your life. The door of opportunity is going to be open. But here’s what I know. The door of opportunity closes much more quickly than we realize sometimes. And here’s the thing. God wants you. He brought you here this morning for you to walk through the door of grace. God’s given you an opportunity this morning to walk through the door of grace. To walk through the door of salvation. To walk through the door of having your sins forgiven. To have your name written in the book of heaven. To be given a brand new, fresh start. And how does he do that? Well, Jesus tells us in John chapter three, verse three, he says this.

John 3:3 (CEV) 

“I am telling you the truth: no one can see the Kingdom of God without being born again.”

Now, what does it mean to be born again? Here’s the question. Have you been born again? This is not a question for your spouse or for your children. This is a question for you. Have you been born again? And the second question is, how am I born again? And we send it around here all the time. It’s as simple as what’s it with me? A, B, and C, And all three letters correspond with the thought. The letter A is what is to admit that I’m a sinner. To admit that I have fallen short of God’s glory. To admit that there’s something inside of me that is broken. You know, that diagnosis is that thing that is broken inside of you. And broken inside of me is called It’s called sin. And can I tell you there’s not a priest? There’s not a pastor. There’s not a. There’s not a program. There’s not a parent. There’s not a grandparent. There’s nothing that can fix what is broken inside of me. Or you see, folks, we don’t need. For a start, we really need a second birth. And how does that second birth happens if what’s broken inside of us we cannot fix? Well, that’s letter B believes that God sent his son Jesus to fix our sins. The issue is that Jesus came to die. The death that you, I should have died is that we believe that Jesus when he hung on the cross, he took on all of the sins of humanity. And he died for all the sins of humanity. And the Bible says in Romans chapter ten that we believe in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ in our hearts, and we confess all of that with their mouth. And then the letter C is used to confess confession as our Lord and Savior. And how do you seal the deal? How do you take your first step? How do you step across the line and say, you know, I want to be born again? I want to walk through the door of opportunity, the door of grace. How do you do that? Well, you do that by praying the born-again prayer. And I just want to ask you about your head. You don’t have to close your eyes. You just bow your head. And I want to lead you in the prayer of being born again. But I want to make sure that I count you in the prayer of being born again. Here’s how I’m going to count you in the prayer of being born again. I want you to in a moment. To raise your hand. Not right now. Just in a moment. When I ask you to raise your hand. When you raise your hand. I was going to ask you to leave it up. Then we’ll go round the room and count your hands. This morning we had one. But almost every time that we do this, there’s somebody, multiple people, that raises their hand. I’m not going to ask you to meet me in the foyer. Come down front or stand. And then, after I count everyone’s hands, then I’m going to have you look at the screen, and then we’re going to pray. The prayer is being born again. So this morning, if you want to be counted in the prayer, would you just raise your hand? Just slip it up real, if you will. Thank you. One. Looking in the back. Keep your hands up, too. Thank you. Someone else. Two hands.Awesome three. Thank you. So you. And just look at the screen. Here’s the prayer. Everyone, look, here’s the prayer. And for the three of you that raise your hands, you pray this prayer in your heart. You said it out loud, you can say it under your breath, you can say it in your head. But.

Dear Lord Jesus, I believe you’re the son of God. I believed on the cross. You took my sin machine, my guilt, and you died for it. You face hell for me so I wouldn’t have to go. You rose from the dead to give me a place in heaven. A purpose on earth and a relationship with your father. Today, Lord Jesus turned from us. Sin to be born again. God is my father. Jesus is my Savior. The Holy Spirit is my helper. Heaven is my home. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Let’s welcome these three people. Now because you three prayed that prayer. I just want you to know that this challenge is not only for you but for hundreds of people who raised their hands over the last six months. Is that your next step is baptism. Baptism is a public declaration of an inward commitment. I saw you raise your hand, but not everybody else did. And over the last six months, I’ve witnessed all of you raise your hand. And your next step is to be baptized. And we have open baptism this morning, which means that you can come and get baptized right now on the spot. Now, some of you are going to say, well, I’ve never been to a baptism class. This is your baptism class right now, although some of you are going to say, Well, I came with the gas, and I don’t want to inconvenience them. I promise you this. They will cheer. They will clap. They will even come up front with you. For some of you, you’re saying, Well, I wasn’t planning on getting baptized today. You know, you weren’t planning on it. But you know what? On God’s calendar, he had it circled, my friend, for you to be baptized. For some of you this morning, you’re going. But, Pastor, I look so good this morning. I don’t want to mess my hair up. That’s just pride. For some of you this morning. You may be saying, Well, I didn’t come prepared. I don’t have a towel. I don’t have a change of clothes, underclothes. I don’t have you that. Guess what? We have a whole wardrobe back in the bag that will fit and meet any needs that you have. So are you saying? Well, what about my purse? What about my wallet? What about my keys? We have a security team. We have volunteers. They’ll take care of all of that. So you’re saying. But what about my kids? They’re in eight kids. Well, I talked to kids volunteers this morning. They said you can leave your kids until next Sunday and pick them up. Okay. So you’re good. Some of you are saying, well, but you know what, Pastor? You know, my family’s not here, and they’re not going to get to witness this. They’re not going to get to see it. Well, that’s just an excuse, my friends. We’re going to videotape every baptism. We’re going to take pictures. So this is not about your family. This is about you being obedient to God. For some of you. You’re here, and you’re visiting, and this is your first time being here. And you go, You know what? I don’t know if I want to be a member of that. Well, you know what? We’re not for sure. If we want you to be a member, I’ll Eastside either way. And so you know what we’re doing. We’re not baptizing you in this area. We’re baptizing you into the kingdom of God, my friends. And so here’s the deal. Whatever excuse you have, we can eliminate that. And here’s what’s going to happen. Listen to me very carefully. I’m going to prey after I say amen. We’re going to count. One, two, three. Let’s try it. One. You know, after we say three, we want to stand to our feet in a moment, and then the band’s going to strike that first note. And as that first note is being struck, you’re going to come, and you’re going to meet one of our friendly people over here. You get to choose which one is the most friendly for you. Okay. But you should pick one of them. They’ll introduce themselves to you. They’ll take you back to a private baptism room and let you change clothes. We had eight this morning. We’ve already got two. That’s already scheduled for this morning. So while you’re, you know, been whisked away and into a private changing room, then they won’t have to. That’s going to be baptized. We’ve built in time for this morning. We’re in no rush. We’re here because God is moving. And you may say this sounds crazy. Exactly. That’s what Noah said. He was crazy, but he listened and obeyed. And God blessed him. And if you listen and obey God, he will bless you. So let’s pray. Father, right now, we just ask that you would help these men and women who need to take their next spiritual step, to take their next spiritual step, that they would have courage, they would overcome fear, that they would be bold in their faith, that they would risk everything to be obedient to you. And so, Father, you come. You be glorified. You be honored. We prayed these things in the name of Jesus. Amen. Here we go. One. Three. You stand, you come.