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🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 This is one part of the prize here. You can get the one of a kind rare first place wooden spoon to chase your kids around the house with or hang in the kitchen or bedroom. Kids are more than welcome to enter into this. You guys can hang this out in the garage or the woodshed. I don't know if you have a man cave but that would probably look good. Come out and that's one part of it and then we'll probably just have a couple of gift cards as well. The only rule, I mean other than the rules I've already expressed, but the other rule is that in order to vote, and we're just going to have you vote on one chili, whichever is your favorite, we're not going to get real, we're not going to turn into connoisseurs down here. We vote on every single aspect of the chili which is fine. If others want to do that, they're more than welcome to. But we're just going to vote on your favorite chili. And if what draws you to a chili is the way it looks, then you vote on that. And if you like the way a chili, the mouth feel of the chili, then vote on that. But to me it all comes down to one thing, taste. I don't care what it looks like. If it looks good and it tastes good, then that's what matters. It's got to taste good. If it looks okay but it tastes great, then that's the one I'm going to eat. So we're going to vote, you vote however you want. But here's what I'm getting at, you have to be at least 12 years old to vote. And even that, I feel like I'm kind of setting the bar pretty low to let the palates among us, the discriminating, wise, seasoned palates of a 12-year-old to even vote. That's me giving you some wiggle room. I've seen things that 12-year-olds, 15-year-olds, and frankly some of you adults eat and it's kind of like, I don't know if these are the people that should be voting on which chili is the best tasting or whatever. But there's got to be some kind of minimum, otherwise kids are just going to be voting for whichever one has the brightest corn in it or something. So we've got to have a cutoff. And it's 12 years old, if you're below 12 you're welcome to eat all the chili you want, you just can't vote. That's our limit there. On the back we've got the homeschool field trip to the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum coming up next month on the 11th from 9 to 12. You've got the address there, some very important details, make sure you please read over that. Again, this is open to anybody with homeschool age children. So you don't have to be homeschooling as long as the children are in school. We just call it the homeschool field trip because it is something that we like to provide for our homeschoolers. But of course anyone with children that are of age are welcome to participate. If you do want to participate, again please read over these details and there will be some other ones as we get closer. And be sure to sign up in the back next to the water cooler. There's also the annual church picnic, this is the annual one up in Tempe, but we're all welcome to attend that. If you'd like to go, you've got the date, the time, and the address. And I may or may not be going, I'm not sure yet, but if I do go I'm sure I'll have some room for a few people. So it looks like we're going. It's been decided, we're going. So that means we'll have a few seats for anyone that wants to go on that day. That's always a great time. I always enjoy going up to the picnic when we can make it. It's a lot of food. You don't feel like getting to bring anything. There's always plenty of food, hot dogs, burgers, and it's a good time to kind of just go up there and fellowship with some of the other Faithful Word members. Also below that we've got the songs scheduled for the upcoming services. But that's going to do it for announcements. We'll go ahead and sing one more song before we get into preaching this morning. Song number 65, just over in the glory. Just over in the glory land. Just over in the glory land. The storm that brought me into heaven. Just over in the glory land. Just over in the glory land. Where we are the mighty, oh, sky sky. Just over in the glory land. I am on my way to those mansions then. Just over in the glory land. Where they see us raise in restoration. Just over in the glory land. Just over in the glory land. I am on my way to those mansions then. Just over in the glory land. Just over in the glory land. Where we are the mighty, oh, sky sky. Just over in the glory land. The joyful God that my Lord has seen. Just over in the glory land. And the kindred saved him forever. Just over in the glory land. Just over in the glory land. The joy that the angel gave. Just over in the glory land. Just over in the glory land. Where we are the mighty, oh, sky sky. Just over in the glory land. When the blood was strong I would shout and sing. Just over in the glory land. And the sand was firm, oh, glory land. Just over in the glory land. Just over in the glory land. The joy that the angel gave. Just over in the glory land. Just over in the glory land. And the blood was strong. Just over in the glory land. This time we'll go ahead and pass the offering plate as it goes around. You can follow along with me as I read from Genesis chapter number six this morning. Genesis chapter number six. I'll begin reading there in Genesis chapter number six. It says in verse one, And it came to pass when the men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, that the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair, and they took them wise of all which they chose. And the Lord said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh, yet his days shall be in hundred and twenty years. There were giants in the earth in those days, and also after that when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown. And God saw the wickedness of man that was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually, and repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and engraved him at his heart. And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, and creeping thing and fowls of the air, for it repented me that I have made them. But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God. And Noah begat three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. And God looked upon the earth, and behold it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth. And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh has come unto me, for the earth is filled with violence through them, and behold I will destroy them with the earth. Make thee an ark of gopher wood, room shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch. And this is the fashion which thou shalt make of it. The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, and the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits. A window shalt thou make to the ark, and in a cubit shalt thou finish it above, and the door of the ark shalt thou set in the sides thereof, with lower and second and third stories, thou shalt make it. And behold I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, and destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life from under heaven, and every thing that is in the earth shall die. But with thee will I establish my covenant, and thou shalt come into the ark, thou and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons' wives with thee, and of every living thing, of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee, they shall be male and female. Of fowls after their kind, and of cattle after their kind, of creeping thing of the earth after his kind, two of every sort shall come unto thee to keep them alive, and thou shalt take unto thee of all food that is eaten, and thou shalt gather it to thee, and it shall be food for thee and for them. Thus did Noah according to all that God commanded him, so did he. Let's go ahead and have a word of prayer. Dear Lord again, thank you for the time that we have in the beginning of this week to come and to hear the preaching of the word of God. I pray that you would help me to preach this morning, to help us to look to Noah and his example, and Lord, that you would just bless us for having been here this morning. We ask in Christ's name, amen. So if you remember last week, I started a series called Lessons from Leaders, and last week, of course, we looked at Adam, and not gonna re-preach all that, but we talked about how Adam was an example of leadership and that he was appointed. We have to have leaders that are appointed, but that also makes leaders accountable, and if you want to get caught up on that, that's, of course, online, but the other thing I wanna point out before we get into this week's lesson is that the title of the sermon is Lessons from Leaders. It's not lessons for leaders. Some people might be thinking, well, I'm not a leader. Leadership isn't one of the primary things that I do. It's not something that's a big part of my life. How is this gonna apply to me? But it's lessons from leaders. There's a lot of things that we can all glean and learn from when we look at these different examples of leaders in the Bibles, and here's the thing. Lots of other leaders were told to be examples. You think about the elders in Ephesus were told by Paul to be in samples to the flock. You think about how Paul told Timothy to be an example of the believers. We're given leaders, we're given people to look to as examples, so that's the point of the series is that we can look to these different leaders in the Bible and we can learn things and apply them to our own lives. And what I wanna look at this morning when it comes to this leader in Noah is that Noah is somebody that stood out. He was somebody that in his generation that was different. He wasn't somebody that just went along with what was going on. He was somebody that took a stand and as a result, he was very unique. He wasn't like everybody else. In fact, some people might even back then look at him and say, what an odd guy. He might have been kind of the ugly duckling back then, so to speak. He was the odd man out. He wasn't going with the flow. He was somebody that stood out, that was different, and that was unique. If you notice there in verse five, it says, and God saw the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every imagination of his thoughts was only evil continually and a repented man that he had made man on the earth and it grieved him at his heart. And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast and creeping thing in the fowls of the air, for it penteth me that I have made them. So we see here in these first few verses that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, meaning that everybody's getting in on this. Everybody's participating. It's the result of the majority of people that has made the earth wicked. It's their actions that they've done as a whole that has filled the earth with violence, but it says there in verse eight, but Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. So there was one man amongst all of these people who were responsible for the wickedness being great upon the earth. One man was stood out. One man was different. That's what I want us to learn from Noah. We'll make some application as we go. It says there in verse 11, the earth also was corrupt before God and the earth was filled with violence and God looked upon the earth and behold, it was corrupt. Why? For all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth. So this wasn't just a few bad apples that were rooting it for the whole group. The Bible says there that all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth. We're always dealing with wickedness in this world. We're always going to be having sinful people, but there's certain times throughout history, certain times throughout human events that man is worse than others. And obviously back then in Noah's day, it was exceptionally bad, probably as bad as it's ever been and probably as bad as it ever will be until the return, just before the return of Christ. But notice again when everyone else was going bad, when everybody else was corrupt, when everybody else was going against God, when everybody else was just being violent, when everybody else was disregarding the things of God, there was one man that stood out and this is what made him unique and he was different and he was, I guess, probably to his peers at that time a little bit odd. He was righteous in a wicked world. And this is what we can learn from Noah as a leader is that we must be willing as God's people to stand alone. Obviously we have each other here right now and we can say we're not completely alone like Noah was. Noah obviously was much more isolated from those around him. He really was the one that was taking a stand really kind of all by himself besides some of his immediate family. At least we have the fellowship of the believers but even us as a church and us as Christians and us as Bible believers, even we have become a bit like a Noah. We have become the minority in this world. We're not exactly the dominant persuasive force in this world. The Bible says that the whole world lieth in wickedness. And as God's people, like Noah, we must be willing to stand alone. And this is something that we can all apply in our lives. This is something that we can all use to encourage us to not be so afraid of what other people think about us. Not be so worried about if we say this or we do that or we refuse to go along with this or we disagree in this area that all of a sudden we're going to stand out. There's nothing wrong with that. In fact, that's what's necessary. And in fact, that's what God is going to bless is when he looks down and sees us and says, there's somebody that's willing to be different. There's somebody that's willing for my sake to stand alone. The Bible warns us about following a multitude to do evil. The Bible warns us that even before Christ comes, so shall it be as it were in the days of Noah. The world is going to become worse and worse. We're going to stand out more and more. We should be willing to be like Noah, be willing to be different, willing to stand out, willing to be unique, willing to be, dare I say, a little odd. Go to Philippians chapter two, Philippians chapter number two. The Bible tells us there's so much we could talk about when it comes to this idea of separation. And all through the scripture God is making a difference between his people and the people of the world, between his people and the unsaved. And I won't take the time to belabor all that point, but the Bible does warn us over and over again to be different. It tells us to be different. It commands us to be different. And it warns us that in so doing, we're going to be a little bit like Noah. We're going to stand out. We're going to be a little different. We're going to be a little odd. The Bible says in 1 Peter 2, you're going to Philippians 2, it says, ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood. I mean, that's what we have in Christ. We are a holy nation, a what? A peculiar people. We're not like everybody else. At least we shouldn't be. And spiritually, you know, that can't be helped. We are a peculiar people inherently through Christ. God looks down and he sees us and he sees the lost. He sees the saved and he sees the lost. The problem is a lot of times is that God's own people, they don't want to be peculiar. They don't want to stand out. They don't want to be different. They want to just blend in with the world and go along to get along. But we are to be a peculiar people, as it says in 1 Peter 2, that we should show forth the praises of him who has called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. You say, what is it that makes us so peculiar? What is it that makes us so different? Why should we be willing to be like Noah and be different? Why is it that we should be like Noah, be willing to be like him and be unique and maybe even be considered a little strange or odd or peculiar? Why is it that we should be willing to do that? It's because we need to be able to show forth the praises of him who has called us out of darkness into light. That's what makes us different is that we're no longer in darkness before we were, but now we are in the light. And we ought to be able to take that stand to be willing to be different. Why? So that we could show forth the praises of him. When people look at us and say, what makes you different? It's Christ. Why isn't your life have the same problems that the world's had? Because of the light that I've been called into. Because I'm not walking in darkness. We should be willing to show that to the rest of the world as God's people to be peculiar. You say, well, I don't know. I just don't like the idea of that. I don't like being made to feel uncomfortable. And I get it. Sometimes taking a stand for God in the workplace, taking a stand for God in and among our peers, whether it be at work or the family or among friends, it can make you feel a little odd. It can make you feel uncomfortable. And this isn't something that people typically don't gravitate toward awkwardness. It's not something they're looking to have more of in their life. And God's people can become reluctant to be like Noah, to follow this example in being different. But what does the Bible say in Philippians chapter 2 verse 14? Do all things without murmurings and disputings. The Bible over and over again tells us to come out from among them, to be separate, sayeth the Lord. And people can feel like they're getting drug into that marvelous light. They say, well, I just want to kind of stay back here in the shadows and not be a peculiar person. I just want to go along to get along. Well, you know, that's murmuring. That's disputing. That's complaining. Look at verse 15. Why? That you may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God. This is who we already are as if we're safe. We already are the children of God. Spiritually, we already are different from this world. You know, but we need to learn to be transformed by the renewing of our mind. We need to be able to be willing to go ahead and walk in that marvelous light that we've been called into and go ahead and be willing to stick out and stand out like Noah amongst a perverse and wicked generation that we're living in. An adulterous generation that we're living in. He's saying that you may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation among whom you shine as lights. You know, we need to be willing to step out and shine as lights in this perverse and crooked nation that we're living in today, in this world that lies in wickedness. We need to be willing to go ahead and stand out. And look, we have to understand that there is this disparity between the saved and the unsaved. There's a very significant difference between people who are saved and people who are not saved. You know, we need, as God's people, to embrace that and say, God has called me into his marvelous light. Let me walk in it. And if that causes me to stick out, if that causes me to be a little bit more odd, if that causes me to be, you know, maybe the object of ridicule and scorn, so be it. Because we'll see the end here in the story of Noah, of all those that kind of mocked and scoffed and laughed. I know we all know the story, right? And how it ends. It doesn't end well for everybody else. It goes pretty good for Noah. You know, there's those decades long where he has to go ahead and build the ark. Everyone's saying, what are you building a boat for? You know, he had to go ahead and acknowledge the fact that there was a difference between him, that he had found grace in a world that had rejected God to the point where they had filled it with violence. The Bible says there in Philippians that we are to be harmless, blameless, harmless, the sons of God without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding forth the word of life. Holding forth the word of life that I may rejoice in the day of Christ. You know, that's why we're supposed to be different. So that we can show that there is a difference. We are to hold forth the word of life so that others can come into that light. The Bible says in 1 John, and if you would go to 2 Timothy 4, it says in 1 John, we know that we are of God. That's present tense. We are of God right now. If you're saved, if you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, no matter how you're living, no matter if you're just going along to get along, or whether or not you're standing out and shining as a light in this present world, you are of God. We are the sons of God and the whole world lieth in wickedness. There is the disparity between the saved and the unsaved today. There is a colossal difference between those who are going to heaven and those who are going to hell. One is considered God's people, one is considered the sons of God, others are not. They are considered, they are at enmity with Christ. That's the difference. Why would I, as God's child, want to go along with the world that's at enmity with Christ? Doesn't make any sense. We need to learn to go ahead and stand out, hold forth that word of life so that we can bring others to our side. But so often what happens with Christians is that they go to their side. And that's what happens in churches. You'll have good, solid, fundamental Baptist churches standing for the word of God, holding forth the word of God, and then as things become less popular, as things get more difficult and the world becomes more liberal and starts to reject the things of God, that's when a lot of churches will start to go that way. But that's not what we're called to do. We're called to hold our ground, and as the world drifts away from God and as the world gets farther and farther away from God, we need to just go ahead and stay right where we are in the word of God, hold forth the word of life, and go ahead and just become more peculiar, more odd, more strange, and what? As the world grows darker, we are going to shine brighter if we stand there. And not so that we can, you know, look down our noses at the world and say, well, look how holy we are, look how different we are. That's not the point. The point is that we can bring others to our side. If you look there in 1 Timothy 4, he said in verse 1, I charge thee therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and in his kingdom. You know, this is a charge that was laid upon Timothy. This is what he's starting out saying in verse 1. What I'm about to tell you is not just a suggestion. This isn't just something that, you know, if it's convenient for you, Timothy, go ahead and do what I'm about to tell you. You know, Timothy, if it's not too much trouble, if it's not going to make you feel too awkward, if it's not going to make you too uncomfortable, go ahead and do it. You know, he said, I charge you before God, and not just before me, Timothy. You're not just going to disappoint me if you don't live up to this charge. I'm charging you before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom. And what is the charge? Verse 2, preach the word, be instant in season and out of season. Now what does he mean by that when he says in season and out of season? He's saying when it's popular, when it's in season, and when it's out of season, when it's not popular. He says whether it's popular or not, whether people want to receive it or not, you need to preach the word. And look, the word isn't always popular, is it? You know, in the culture and the world that we're growing up in and we're living in right now, it's becoming increasingly less popular. We're getting to be more and more out of season as the days go by. I don't think I have to spend a lot of time to prove that point. I think probably everybody in the room understands that. That the world is going in a completely opposite direction from the word of God. So what should we do? Oh, let's just move a little bit closer to them so we don't stand out so much. But what we're really doing is we're turning down the dial in that light. We're saying, oh, let's just move a little over so we're not quite so uncomfortable. What we're really doing is dialing back the brightness that we're supposed to shine forth as. He's saying, be instant in season out of season. Reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. He's saying, get up and say it the way it is. Reprove. Tell people they're wrong. Tell this world they're wrong. Rebuke. Name sin. Call out sin. He's saying, do this. This is the charge that he has given to Timothy. And he's saying, well, that's for the preacher. Look, that's for all of us. Because Timothy, again, was supposed to be an example of the believers. And he's saying, look, verse 3, this is the warning. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine. But after their own lust shall they heap to themselves, teachers having itching ears. And they shall turn away their ears from the truth and shall be turned unto fables. He's saying, look, people are going to drift away. They're going to get bad. You need to just stand your ground in season out of season. Preach the word. Reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. He's saying, be like Noah. When the whole world fills itself with violence through the imaginations that are in the hearts of men, you go ahead and just stay right where you are and stand out and stick out. That's why he says in verse 5, but watch thou in all things endure afflictions. That's why we were warned to do all things without murmurings and disputings. Because if we go ahead and decide, well, I'm going to stand out. I'm going to go ahead and stand that ground. I'm going to go ahead and be that peculiar person. Just mark it down. There's going to be some affliction. When you're living in a world that's going away from God and you say, I'm going to stand right here on the word of God, you better be prepared to endure some affliction. If you're going to take a stand in your family, you're going to take a stand for what's right and you're not going to bow to sin and if you're not just going to give in and fold over for people and you're going to stand for righteousness, you're going to get some backlash to some degree or another. Whether it's from your family, coworkers, your peers in some way are going to have something to say about it. So what we see from Noah and from Timothy and others is that really you have to be willing to take the unpopular position if necessary. Look, it's real easy to stand for God when it's popular, isn't it? It's really easy to be part of the IFB church when everybody was part of an IFB church. I mean, it used to be when a new, you know, when I say new, I mean like a new IFB church, not like a new IFB church. If there was a new church in town, you know, people would just go, hey, let's go see what the new church is about. You don't have to go out and drag them in. You know, people would just show up. Why? Because it was popular. Because going to church, hearing the new preacher, that was something you would just go do. Not today. Why? Because people don't care for the things of God. People are getting further and further away from the things of God. They don't want to hear the preaching of the word of God. It's becoming less popular. It sure is easy to go along when everybody's, you know, everybody's into it, when it's the cool thing. But you know, we need to be willing to take the unpopular position when necessary. And I'm saying today, it's becoming necessary to take the unpopular position, to be different, to stand out. That's what we see from Noah, with somebody who when everybody else was going aside, when everybody else was going the other way, he was willing to just stand his ground and stand out. And it's not always easy to do, you know, what's not popular, is it? It's a lot easier to just go along. You know, and one group of people that I think about specifically when it comes to this idea of just not doing what's popular is young people. You know, the older you get, the less you care about what other people think, typically. You know, almost to a fault, you know. Right, but young people, they really struggle. You know, everybody goes through this with what? They struggle with wanting to fit in. And it's like this paradox when you're a young person. You want to be unique. You want people to notice you. You want to be different. But at the same time, you want to be popular and you want to be accepted. It's like a paradox. Young people want to be different, but they also want to fit in with their peers. Well, you know, here's one way to stand out today is to live for Christ. You know, if you want to stand out and be different and be unique and not be like everybody else, young person, live for Christ. You'll stand out. You'll be different. You'll be unique. And you know what? You'll probably also suffer some affliction. There'll probably also be some mocking and some ridicule and some scoffing to some degree or another. But my advice and what we learned from Noah to anybody, young people, anybody, is to go ahead and stand your ground. To be that light, to be that example in a wicked world. We need that. Stand your ground because what's the alternative to standing your ground? It's sinking with the group. You know, either stand your ground or go sink with everybody else. Go drown with the rest of the world. I mean, think about Noah. If you would, go back to Genesis chapter six. We just read through Genesis. You know, we read through Genesis six, seven. We just kind of read about Noah. That's a cool story. How neat that is. But really, put yourself in Noah's shoes. Think about what was taking place. We just read through his life in a matter of minutes. His entire life. And he's told to build this boat, this great ark that's going to, you know, save these animals and spare humanity from complete destruction. And he builds this massive vessel. But he's building it in a time when rain wasn't even a thing. They say, why are you building this ark? Well, God's going to flood the earth. Flood? What's that? Right? Because the fountains of the deep had never been broken up before. It had never rained before. I doubt there had even been such a thing as a flood before. I mean, think about the floods that we experience here. What's the result of floods here? It's rain, right? If it doesn't rain, there's no floods. Oh no, there's going to be this huge flood. And, you know, unless you're on this boat that I'm building, you're all going to die. Why? How's that going to, what do you mean flood? Well, there's, water's going to fall from the sky. You know, and we here, we just think that that's normal to us, right? Good night. You know, we had that thunderstorm blow through town yesterday and it got up in Phoenix. I hop on Facebook, you know, last night real quick and everyone on my feed is posting about the rain. Like, oh, it's raining. You know, this is what happens to you when you live in the desert too long. You know, it's them driving in their car or shooting a video of the rain hitting the windshield. You know, it's them and their kids out in the rain playing. You know, I'm not against any of that. I'm just thinking, you must not be from the Midwest because it was the complete opposite back there. We would sit through weeks of drizzle and gray and rain and we'd go, it's the sun! You know, it's the complete opposite, right? But we just think about, oh, God's going to send the rain. But think of how crazy that must have sounded to the people back in Noah's day. Water's going to fall from the sky. I mean, if I were to come out and tell you that, hey, you know, God came to me and God told me, first of all, if I ever say that, don't believe me. But I'm just saying as an example, if I ever said that, that, you know, after, at a certain point, you know, cotton candy's going to fall from the sky. You know, some of the kids would get pretty excited, right? Some of the adults would probably get pretty excited. A lot of dentists would get pretty excited. But, you know, you would say, that's crazy. I think Brother Corbin's even crazier than we thought originally. You know, he's finally, the cheese done fall out of his sandwich, you know? He ain't playing with a full deck. That pot is cracked. That's what you would think, right? But that's exactly, in all likelihood, I can't say for sure, but don't you think that's kind of how it was for Noah? It's never rained before. The Bible says in Genesis 2, the Lord had not caused it to rain upon the earth. There was not a man until the ground. And there he is saying, nope, God, I'm building this giant boat. Look, if your neighbor does something, you typically notice. You know, if your neighbor doesn't, you know, keep up the lawn, we notice. If your neighbor started building a giant vessel like what Noah built, you would notice. And you'd probably get kind of curious. What he's been taking, you know, I'm not exactly sure how long it took. People have theorized and they have different ways of figuring it out. It's beyond the scope of this sermon. But in all likelihood, it took decades to build that thing. Decades. And you're watching Noah just decade after decade after decade build this boat. You're not going to get the least bit curious as to why he's doing that and walk up to him and say, hey, why are you doing this? Well, I'll tell you why. Verse 17, Genesis chapter 6, verse 17. The Lord said, and behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth to destroy all flesh, wherein as the breath of life from under heaven and everything that is in the earth shall die. Oh, Noah, you doomsdayer. You know, oh, you're just such a, you're so negative, Noah. No, God's going to destroy him. The end is near. You know, they just look at you, Noah, like you're that guy with the sandwich board standing on the corner. The end is near. You know, screaming, repent. Just some crazy person. Some crazy religious zealot. That's all he is. But you know what? This is exactly what was going to happen. And Noah knew it. And Noah said, hey, I'm going to go ahead and just stand out. You know what? Well, I don't want to upset anybody. You know, I don't want to be the weirdo here. You know, and I don't want to be the guy with the ark. So, Lord, I'm just not going to build the ark. Well, then you know what, Noah? You're going to drown just like the rest of them. You know, and this is the mentality that we have to have today. You know, we go out and we tell people, hey, there's a hell. You know, judgment is coming. And people can scoff and mock at that, but it's still coming. You know, and we might say, well, I don't want to be scoffed and mocked at. I don't want to go knock doors because I don't want anybody to, you know, laugh at me for what I believe. You know, I want to be made feel uncomfortable. You know, well, first of all, you know, you need to just get over that. And here's the thing. You know, eventually you'll get to the place where you just feel sorry for people like that. You know, when people, when you go knock on a door and do it long enough and people are rude or people are a jerk or people just kind of laugh at you or people say something that, you know, might otherwise make you feel uncomfortable, eventually you just get to the point where I just walk away and say, I feel sorry for that person. No matter how rude they are or how they treat me, I just say, I'm sorry that person's going to go to hell. Hopefully they get saved. But you know what, in order to do that, in order for me to, or any of us to be able to, you know, have that mentality, we have to be willing to do what first? To actually go out and preach the gospel. You know, in order for Noah to send the message of destruction and warn of the, you know, the danger to come, he had to go ahead and build that boat and stand out like a sore thumb for a while. I mean, Noah probably put up with it for decades, for a long time, while he's sitting there building that boat. Keep something in Genesis. Go to Luke 17, when he's building the ark. The Bible says, the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein a few, that is, eight souls, were saved by water. The longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah. You know, he had to just keep building the ark and building the ark, and what it was was God's testimony to the world saying, hey, better believe. And you know what, there probably were people that believed. There probably were people that went ahead and believed Noah, but they weren't going to help build the ark. Because they didn't want to be like Noah. They didn't want to be made the object of ridicule. Luke 17, look at verse 26, and as it was in the days of Noah, so also shall it be in the days of the Son of Man. For they did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given a marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark. I mean, it's just business as usual. Noah's just that crazy guy up on the hill building that ark. Pay no attention to Noah. There's nothing to see there. But what happened at the end? The flood came and destroyed them all. And you know, Noah was right. Go back to Genesis chapter number 7. Genesis number 7. It says in verse 1, I'll begin reading in Genesis chapter 7. Verse 1, And the Lord said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark, for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation. For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights. You know, those last seven days, everyone's watching Noah and his family go into there, into that ark. He goes in there, God shuts up the door, and it's just like nothing happens. They're like, what a crazy guy. Seven days later, the flood came and destroyed them all. And it says in verse 12, And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights. And here's the thing. You know, I don't think Noah was in the ark laughing at everybody. Like, told you so. You know, Noah probably looked out and pitied them. You know, and you say, what's my motivation to stand out? What's my motivation to go ahead and be different out of love for those people? Be different. You know, preach the gospel, shine forth as a light in a dark world out of love for those people. The same people that are going to mock and scoff and ridicule you. The same people that are going to, you know, make fun of you. The same people that are going to make fun of what you believe or how you dress or the way you look or how you spend your time or what you don't do. You know, we ought to go ahead and bear that out of love for them. And that's the example of Christ, by the way. I mean, isn't that what He said when they were nailing Him to a cross? Father, forgive them for they know not what they do? That's the example of Christ. That's the example of Noah, I believe. I don't think he was in the ark when everyone else is up to their necks going, well, you should have listened to me, told you so. Oh, who's laughing now? You know, no, he was probably in there, you know, heartbroken, feeling bad for these people. You know, he pitied them. You know, that's the example of Noah, is that we need to get on board or go down with the rest of them. Say, well, I don't want to go along with, you know, God's program. I want to go along with the world's program. Then you're going to go down with the world. You know, and here's the thing, you go along with the world's program, just like in Noah's day, he wasn't tossing out life preservers, folks. There was no lifeboat to throw out the side. You know, some people go along with the world's program long enough and they make mistakes and they make decisions that there's no coming back from. I'm not saying God can't use them, I'm not saying there isn't grace and mercy and they can still, you know, be used mightily by God, but there's some mistakes that you make in life that there's just no coming back from. You want to get on the world's program when it comes to marriage and rearing children or, you know, abstaining from certain sins, you want to go ahead and get along on their program. Look, you're going to find yourself in a world of hurt and you can't just wander into a church someday and hope that someone's going to throw you a life preserver, that someone's going to get up and just wave a magic wand over your life and fix everything. No, the damage is done. It's permanent. There's some things you can't come back from. You know, there's probably a lot of people, seven days after Noah went into the ark, after decades of building it, there was probably a lot of people that were doggy paddling alongside the ark, scratching at the wood saying, let me in, but you know what, it was too late. But you know what, those people probably had a good time just going along with the program. Those same people that went down with everybody else probably, you know, lived their life just fitting in, just going along, probably never felt awkward, probably never had to stand out for God, but where did it lead them? That's what you have to consider, is where it led them. So when we look at the example of Noah, when it comes to this idea of standing for God, to be willing to stand out, you know, the motto really is this, get on board or go down with the rest of them. You say, well that sounds lonely. You know, it sounds lonely. You're telling me I have to take this stand for God and there's going to be a lot of other people that aren't going to go along with it. I'm going to have to endure all this mocking and ridicule or I'm going to lose friends or relationships. Yeah, you are, but you know what, that doesn't mean that the Christian life is a lonely one. You know, standing apart is not standing alone. Standing apart is not standing alone. And especially, you know, we got it better than Noah when you think about it. You know, we take a stand for God, we don't compromise on the word of God and we have many people that believe like us still, right? But even, let's say, even if everybody else did forsake God, maybe we really found ourselves in a position like Noah, where it was just him and the whole world was filled with violence when everybody else was wicked. That doesn't mean that he was never alone. He was alone, you know, in the sense that there weren't other people with him, but who did he have with him? God. He had God. You know, and this is what some people, I think, fail to remember, is that when you take a stand for God, you're not standing alone, you're standing with God. Taking a stand for God is to stand with the Lord. Look at Genesis chapter 7 again, verse 1, And the Lord said unto Noah, Come thou in all thy house into the ark, for thee have I seen righteous before me. You know, the world's looking at Noah and saying, we've seen you kind of as an odd duck. We've been looking at Noah and saying, what a weirdo. We've been looking at Noah and kind of laughing and mocking and scoffing and thinking, what a strange guy to build an ark. Why isn't he just joining in? Why is he spending his time messing around with some boat talking about water coming from the sky? Why doesn't he just get in with us? Why doesn't he just get on board with our program and spend his time doing the things that we do? You know, why does that family, why is it every Sunday I see them load up in that car and back out of the driveway and go down to that fundamental Baptist church? Don't they know there's a ball game on? Don't they know they can go down to the golf course? Don't they know they can go down and have some kind of recreation? They can go and start a garden. They can do all number of things. But there they are going to church on Sunday. They go back out again during the middle of the week. What a bunch of weirdos. Must be a lonely life. Yeah, you know what? Maybe we don't stand with everybody. Maybe we're not going to do all the things they do, but we stand with God. They might see us that way, but you know what? God looks down and says, I see thee righteous before me. And that's who I, you know, that's whose perception I care about the most. You know, I really don't care what the world thinks of me. I don't care what some idiot on Twitter thinks of me. I don't care what a bunch of atheists and phagnostics think about me. I don't care about what this world thinks about me. You know who I care, whose opinion matters to me? God's opinion is the only one that matters to me. And if we want, if we feel the same way, then you know what? We have to stand with God. And that may make us stand out a little bit. But boy, I'd like to have that same thing said about me. I have seen thee, have I seen righteous before me. Yeah, you've been a little different before the world, but you've been righteous before me. Look at Genesis chapter 6, verse 8. The Bible says that Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. He found grace. Everybody else was corrupt. Everybody else had filled the earth with violence and wickedness, but Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. And look, that didn't just happen by accident. It was like God was up there with some big, you know, tumbler like they use, you know, for bingo or something. Noah, you know, he gets the grace. Let me just pick one guy out of a whole bunch just to spare humanity. It says there in verse 9, these are the generations of Noah. Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God. You know why Noah found grace? You know why Noah was a bit of an exception? Because Noah was willing to go ahead and just walk with God anyway. He was willing to go ahead and be a just man and perfect and stand out and have a walk with God. When everybody else was going the opposite direction, Noah was willing to go upstream against the current, against the flow, and have a walk with God. And as a result, yeah, maybe he was the object of ridicule and scorn, but he was also the object. He was the apple of God's eye. God was able to also look down and say, well, I see one guy who's different, Noah, and I see him righteous. And this is, you know, the lesson that we learned from Noah. Be willing to stand out. And if you want to do that, then you're going to have to have a walk with God. And again, you know, that's not just something that just happens in and of itself, finding grace in God's eyes. You know, God's blessing in life isn't guaranteed. You know, everyone I'm sure in the room this morning, if we were to walk up to you and say, hey, do you want God to bless you? Do you want God's blessing in life? Probably everyone would say, yeah, of course. Who wouldn't want that, right? God is good. But you know, it's not guaranteed in the Christian life. Just because you got saved doesn't mean that God's going to automatically bless you. I mean, weren't there people that got saved in Noah's day? Absolutely. You think Noah was the only saved guy? I honestly believe that there's probably a lot of people that got saved. But they just didn't want to get on that arc. They didn't want to stand out. They just wanted to be like everybody else. And they certainly, you wouldn't say those people were blessed by God when God's drowning them. You know, they were still under the curse of God physically in this world. And that tells me that, you know, God's blessing in this life is not guaranteed, folks. You say, how do you get it? It's earned. You earn it. Now, obviously we don't earn salvation. We all understand that. Salvation is the gift of God. It's by grace, not of works. You know, but we are His workmanship created unto, we are His workmanship in Christ Jesus created unto good works which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. You know, we got saved. We were created, we are His workmanship created unto good works in Christ Jesus. We got saved by grace through faith. But there are also works that God hath before ordained that we should walk in those works. There are still things that we're supposed to do, works that we are supposed to perform after salvation. That's how you get the blessing of God on your life. And that's what Noah did. I mean, Noah believed. He was a descendant of Adam. He knew who the Lord was. He was one of the sons of God. He understood who the Lord was. He knew what God expected. He knew God was holy and righteous. And he understood that he had to stand alone. He couldn't just go along with it if he wanted the blessing of God in his life. He had to go ahead and stand out, be different, be an oddball, and build that ark, do some work, if he wanted to spare his life. God's blessing is not guaranteed. It's earned. Look at verse 1 again. And the Lord said, Genesis 7, Verse 1, Noah was blessed and spared because of the fact that he did what he was commanded. Does it say that Noah did everything that Noah wanted to do? That Noah just decided for himself what was going to get God's blessing in his life? Does it say that Noah just kind of did whatever he felt was right? No, he did what God commanded him. You know, we can't expect God's blessing in life and not do the things that he's commanded us. You know, Jesus, Happy are ye if ye what? Do them. Do my commandments. You're going to be happy. You know, you look at somebody else who's got the blessing of God in their life, and say, boy, I'd sure like that. Well, you know what you ought to look at is how they got there. You look at some family and say, oh, man, I really like how their family turned out. I really like how the kids they raised. I really like the marriage that they have. I really like how they got their life together in this way. I like the spiritual walk that they're walking. Well, how did they get that? I like the blessing that I see in somebody else. How did they get that? By doing the things that God has commanded. That's how you get the blessing of God. So when we think about Noah as a leader and his example to us, really what we should ask ourselves is, do you want to fit in or stand out in this world? You know, and a lot of people say, well, I just want to fit in because I don't want to be made to feel awkward. I don't want to be, you know, I don't want to have my name out there on some Twitter feed or some, you know, whatever being mocked and ridiculed. Do you want to stand out or do you want to fit in? If you want to stand out in this world, if you want the blessing of God, then you're going to have to stand with God because this world is not standing with God today, obviously. If we want to stand out in this world, then you're going to have to stand with God. And look, if you want to be like Noah and have a walk with God, that's where it starts. You know, I heard a great quote recently by Brother Hyles, and he said this, he said every, and I'm probably messing it up, but he's paraphrasing, but he said something to the effect that every walk with God begins with a stand. Every walk with God begins with a stand. So that's a great quote. You know, and that, and I was like, I found that while I was preparing this sermon. I said, man, that fits right in because that's what Noah had. Noah had a walk with God, but you know what? He also had a stand. And if we want to stand out and we want to be different, we want to have a walk with God, you know, we're going to have to stand out with God. Oh, I want to have a walk with God. Okay, great. So you want to stand then. Oh, I want to walk with the Lord. I want to have the blessing of God. Oh, great. So you want to stand for the Lord. Oh, I want God's blessing in my life. I want to have a walk with him. Good. I'm glad to hear that you want to stand with God. Just be prepared that if you're going to stand with God, you're going to stand out in this world. That's a lesson we learned from Noah. Let's go ahead and pray. Dear Lord, again, thank you for this great example of Noah. I pray you'd help us to apply it to our lives to be people who are willing to stand out, Lord, in this world as lights that shine in a dark place. And Lord, you'd help us to show forth that marvelous light that you've called us into. Lord, that we'd be willing, Lord, to go through whatever persecutions we have to go through in order to save others and to be that example. And Lord, help us to have a life that is blessed by you by walking with you. We ask these things in Christ's name. Amen. Down in the valley with my Savior I will go Where the clouds are booming and the speed was low Everywhere he leads me I will follow, follow God Walking in his footsteps to the crown he won Follow, follow, I will follow Jesus Everywhere, everywhere, I will follow God Follow, follow, I will follow Jesus Everywhere he leads me I will follow God Down in the valley with my Savior I will go Where the clouds are booming and the time was low Where he leads me I will follow, follow God Walking in his footsteps to the crown he won Follow, follow, I will follow Jesus Everywhere, everywhere, I will follow God Follow, follow, I will follow Jesus Everywhere he leads me I will follow God Down in the valley or up on the mountain stream Which beside my Savior will my soul ever be He will keep me safely in the path I've been astray But when we gather on the hills of God Follow, follow, I will follow Jesus Everywhere, everywhere, I will follow God Follow, follow, I will follow Jesus Everywhere he leads me I will follow God Follow, follow, I will follow Jesus Everywhere he leads me I will follow God Follow, follow, I will follow Jesus Everywhere he leads me I will follow God Follow, follow, I will follow Jesus Everywhere he leads me I will follow God Follow, follow, I will follow Jesus Everywhere he leads me I will follow God Follow, follow, I will follow Jesus Everywhere he leads me I will follow God I will follow God I will follow God I will follow God I will follow God I will follow God I will follow God I will follow God I will follow God