When God tells us to do something we would’ve done anyway, it’s pretty easy to obey. But what about when the Lord’s instructions are a little bit “out there” or take us beyond our comfort zone? That’s what Tony Evans will talk to us about as he takes a look at the life of Noah.

Dr. Tony Evans is the founder and senior pastor of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in Dallas, founder and president of The Urban Alternative, chaplain of the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks, and author of over 100 books, booklets & Bible studies. His radio broadcast, The Alternative with Dr. Tony Evans, can be heard on more than 1,300 US outlets daily and in more than 130 countries.

the hallmark of a hero bravery integrity

selflessness they saved the day

ask for no reward and ride off into the

sunset the Bible also tells the stories

of heroes but they are always brave good

or selfless in many ways they’re people

just like you and me missing the mark or

dropping the ball what is it that in

Abraham or a sermon or a Moses have in

common that we should be telling their

stories even today what makes them

heroes abraham believed God and became

the father of many nations

Sarah believed God and became a mother

in her old age Moses believed God and

became the delivery of the people in

bondage they’re all connected by virtue

of their great faith the harm

[Music]

one of the great Old Testament

illustrations is Noah one verse is given

to him in the Hebrews chapter 11 verse 7

and here’s what it says by faith Noah

being warned of God about things not yet

seen in reverence prepared an ark for

the salvation of his household by which

he condemned the world and became an

heir of the righteousness which is

according to faith were introduced to

Noah as the illustration of faith at

work now this event occurs in Genesis

chapter 6 remember this is an Old

Testament figure given to New Testament

Christians to teach us how to live by

faith we’re told something about Noah in

Genesis 6 verse 9 these are the records

of the generations of Noah Noah was a

righteous man blameless in his time Noah

walked with God

we’re saying nor was a righteous man he

lived to please God he was a blameless

man he had integrity with people and the

reason he could be righteous and the

reason he could be blameless had to do

with his walk he walked with God

he says Noah walked with God he was on

the same page that God was Ord and trust

me when you walk with God he’s walking

with you nor walk with God and we’re

told that he was a man of righteousness

blamelessness and spiritual integrity

and character he wasn’t perfect that

shows up later on in his life and in his

story walking with God is called

pleasing God pleasing God means to make

God smile to make God happy nothing

pleases God more than to see somebody

walking by faith making their decisions

based on their relationship with God

bringing God to bail on all their

decision-making now God becomes real to

you but here’s what’s interesting

it is the context in which he walked

with God because the first eight verses

of Genesis chapter 6 lets you know what

the world around him was like when he

was walking with God it says in Genesis

chapter 6 verse 1 it came about that men

began to multiply on the face of the

earth and daughters were born to them

that the sons of God saw that the

daughters of men were beautiful they

took wives for themselves whomever they

chose then the Lord said my spirit shall

not always strive with man for ever

because he also is flesh nevertheless

his days shall be 120 years the Nephilim

were on the earth in those days and also

after words when the sons of God came

into the daughters of men they bore

themselves children those were the

mighty men who were of old men of renown

then the Lord saw that the wickedness of

man was great on the earth and that

every intent of the thoughts of his

heart was only evil continually the Lord

was sorry that he had made man on the

earth and was grieved in his heart the

Lord said I will blot out men from whom

I have created from the face of the land

from the man to the animals to the

creeping things and to the birds of the

sky for I am sorry that I have made them

Noah was walking with God when nobody

else was Noah was the exception to the

world rule he was watching out of step

with the culture because he was marching

to a different drum beat it says the

whole world had become wicked what was

some of the wickedness what if you were

to read the scriptures you would find

that there was immorality violence

looting this vulgarity profanity lying

killing blasphemy and then it hit the

bottom demon-possession so the fallen

angels who are sexless infiltrated evil

men who had relationships with women

producing a demonized population you

need to understand how demons work

demons work because they need a vehicle

through which to express themselves

because their spirit beings the angels

fallen angels so they need a vehicle

that’s why when Jesus

cast the demons out of the end Fame man

they asked could we go into the pigs

because they were unclean and so give us

a place to reside we need a house to

express ourselves through shame now the

problem is not only the sin that brought

about the addiction the reason why it’s

so hard for addicted people to get over

the sin is they not only have to try to

deal with the sin but the demonic

amplification of the sin because the

demons have gone into a garbage

environment and made themselves at home

there that’s why it is an addiction

because it has been demonically

infiltrated that’s why when people try

to deal with the sin without dealing

with the demons they wind up right back

at it because the spiritual was

unaddressed in whatever the addiction

happened to express itself to me that’s

why the wall cause of addictions the

Bible calls it a spiritual stronghold

the spiritual stronghold of pornography

the spiritual stronghold of gambling the

spiritual stronghold of whatever it

happened to be drunkenness because there

has been a grip by the demonic world he

says the demonic world had gripped the

culture but here’s Noah who was a

righteous man a blameless man who walked

with God meaning he’s the odd man out

he’s the weirdo he’s the crazy man

because he wasn’t conforming to the

culture be not conformed to this world

he wasn’t agreeing just because

everybody else was going in he wasn’t

doing it just because everybody else was

doing it his goal was not to be popular

with the world in which he lived because

the world which he lived was not popular

with God he saw himself as pleasing God

not pleasing the culture but uh when you

in a world like that that’s a lot of

pressure that’s pressure some of you

work in pressured environments

you’re under pressure to do this to act

that way to go with them to be there to

submit to this and you’re under pressure

you’re being squeezed some of you are in

educational institutions that’s

squeezing you and pressing you cuz cuz

you’re the odd man out if you’re walking

with God and they are see it’s easy to

be a Christian here this morning there’s

no competition in the house everybody

here basically agrees with everybody

else

and even if you don’t you gonna fake it

because of the environment in which you

are in but once you leave here and go

back to family and friends and work and

and environments you’re gonna feel

pressure when you try to be a Noah in a

secular world in this post Christian era

there used to be a time when we grew up

when the Christian worldview dominated

so even if you weren’t a Christian you

respected the Christian worldview that

is the pre-christian era we live in the

post Christian era and now Christianity

has become persecuted all around the

world we’re now in a post-christian

environment where that value system that

ethic is no longer accepted as the

respected norm and the more serious you

are with your walk with God the more

awed you will look like not because

you’re trying to be weird not because

you’re trying to be different it’s that

you just are different Noah watch this

walk so close to God that he was the

only one God was talking to he was 11

saying being warned of God

since we’re hanging out together I’m

gonna see the reason some of us don’t

hear from God as we too far God wants to

speak to you but he wants to speak to

you because you’re walking with him you

hanging out together you’re in close

proximity so he speaks to the mine and

bring thoughts that you didn’t think

bring perspective you didn’t have bring

an orientation you weren’t about because

you’re close enough that you can hear

his voice speaking to you and woe to the

Christian who spends their Christian

life never having heard the voice of God

God says Noah verse 11 of Genesis 6 now

the earth was corrupt in the sight of

God and the earth was filled with

violence God looked on the earth and

behold it was corrupt for all flesh had

corrupted their way on the earth then

God said to Noah the end of all flesh

has come for the earth is filled with

violence because of them and behold I am

about to destroy them with the earth

make for yourself an ark of gopher wood

you got to be kidding me you’ve got to

be kidding me God talks to him I’m gonna

destroy the world and I want you to make

a boat now let me explain something

Hebrews 11:7 says that Noah built an ark

when he hadn’t seen anything meaning

he’d never seen a flood it hadn’t rained

up to this point because the earth was

was warded from underneath so God is

warning him about something he’d never

seen he lives a hundred miles away from

an ocean what in the world do you build

a boat a hundred miles from the water

you gotta put the boat on so let me give

you a signal

when God is close enough to you to speak

to you and what he tells you is weird

makes absolutely no sense that mean

you’re ready to something big the

weirder God gets in leading you the

bigger the thing is he’s involved with

he’s going to destroy the whole world

he tells Noah build a boat on dry land

even though you’ve never seen rain you

don’t know what a flood is and trust me

let me tell my big this boat is because

God gives the measurements in the

chapter to use our foot and yard

measurements the measurements God gives

in the chapter for the ark is one and a

half football fields long that’s how big

the Ark is one and a half football

fields long it is four stories high so

it’s higher than this church building

and it took him a hundred and twenty

years to build it the scripture says 120

years some of you been saying I’ve been

waiting on God for a long time

and I have seen it rain yet I haven’t

seen a flood yet I didn’t see anything

yet but what we find out in the

scripture is it says that Noah as soon

as God told him verse 22 of Genesis 6

thus Noah did according to all that God

had commanded him so he did then let me

tell you what we do we do some of what

God tells us to do to walk by faith

involves completely what God tells you

to do the work he’s called you to the

obedience he’s demanded of you but

remember that obedience is coming

because you’re walking with him if

you’re not walking with him and told to

obey Him

obedience becomes an irritation if

you’re walking with him obedience

becomes a natural outgrowth that’s why

some people like obeying God and some

people hate obeying God even though they

may be doing the outward thing they may

hate obeying God because they haven’t

been walking with God the folks who love

obeying God out of the folks who are

walking with God so you need your walk

to appreciate the obedience even with

the obedience doesn’t make sense nor

exercise faith when he went out and

chopped down the first gopher wood tree

and he was gonna spend a hundred and

twenty years obeying God without seeing

anything I don’t know this but I’m sure

they had to be days when he said tired

of traffic trees I’m tired of putting

this thing together his huge boat on dry

land but not only that

guess what second Peter says second

Peter says that Noah was a preacher of

righteousness talks about the second

Peter 2:5 1st Peter 3:20 Noah is a

preacher of righteousness so washes now

Noah is chopping down trees during the

day because he has to work during the

day to see what he’s doing

and he’d going to town to preach at

night maybe he only got a three word

sermon it’s going around it’s gonna rain

God told me to tell you it’s gonna rain

it’s dad was right all I know is you

know wet stuff coming down from Earth

and it’s gonna rain God told me to tell

you it’s gonna rain you talked about

looking like a fool he worked and he

witnessed Paul says I am not ashamed of

the gospel it is the power of God unto

salvation to everyone who believes if

you can put placards on your car

placards on your lawn about who you’re

voting for in the election then why are

you an undecided voter when it comes to

standing up and proclaiming your faith

in Jesus Christ it says he proclaimed

his faith in other words on your job if

you were accused of being a follower of

Christ would there be enough evidence to

convict you or would you be found

innocent of all charges

he was crystal clear where he stood the

atheists aren’t silent the folks

teaching your kids evolution and there

is no God they’re not silent so he

worked by day he witnessed by night and

he walked with God that’s how he rolled

Hebrews 11 says he prepared his art in

reverence reverence that’s a worship

word ah to all God to fear God you know

you remember though you know whistle

while you work

he worship why he worked so he out there

chopping down go verges I praise you I

give you glory I don’t see no rain but

I’m praising you I’m giving you glory

I’m I’m putting up this wood just like

you told me and I’m gonna bless your

name in the middle of the work even

though I don’t see any results of the

work I don’t see what you do it I’m

give you glory you worship while you

work he says he built his ark in

reverence and then it says holy horses

men and then it says haul your horses

Kingdom men he built the ark for the

salvation of his family because a job of

a real man is to save his family the job

of a kingdom man is to save his family

Kingdom men don’t walk away from their

families don’t abandon their children

don’t sit home while she goes to work

and he does nothing no no no he was out

working he was out working and it was

clear that if nobody else believes me I

would make sure my family believes me

I’m gonna make sure my wife’s walking

with me I’m gonna make sure my children

walking with me because a real man

delivers his family even if nobody else

believes it Noah built the boat and he

saved his family he says that’s gonna be

these seven other people and they’re

gonna see my faith at work they ain’t

gonna see me sending in the church they

gonna see me leading them the church

ain’t gonna be saying when they have a

Bible question ask your mother I’m gonna

discover the answer myself and I’m going

to I’m gonna best I can give it to a

wife cuz I’m responsible for my family’s

salvation I’m responsible to leave my

kids to Christ I’m responsible because

the definition of a man is you’re

responsible even if you’re not to blame

you can’t walk with your Heavenly Father

and let everybody else dictate to you

cuz they’re your friends you’re walking

with God and it says and by his walk he

condemned the world Hebrews 11 says

verse 7 he condemned the world he

condemned the world with his work and

his witness and then it happened 120

years later

with all the silence plop plop plop

water coming down from the sky North

says to his family it’s time mr. Lyon

looked at mrs. Lyon and went wrong

[Applause]

mr. bird looked at mrs. bird sweetly d20

nor was given instruction without

knowing how God was gonna pull it off

how are we gonna get all the animals

into the ark in fact got you asked me to

build an ark and you all of all the

instructions you gave me you gave me

nothing related to navigation so how do

I know where I’m going in fact how am I

even gonna get to water because he

didn’t know how all this was gonna work

how is all this school work getting the

food to feed all these animals 49 God

may not give you all the information but

do the work of obedience he’s called you

to do until he shows you how he plans to

pull it off

all of a sudden crystal clear that the

one man was right and the civilization

was wrong okay it became crystal clear

it took a while I know some of you want

to give up some of you want to quit

you’re trying to live the Christian life

nobody’s buying it nobody’s believing it

maybe ladies guys are rejecting you

because you won’t compromise your

standards maybe maybe maybe folks are

leaving you because because you won’t

hang out with them and do what they’re

doing and yes you’re going to fit but

there is coming a day when God will make

it inextricably clear where he stands

and if you’re walking with God he’s

standing with you and they came a day

when they begin to realize no one’s walk

with God was the truth their rebellion

against God was a lie and they found it

out too late because the floods came the

Bible declares that one day Jesus is

coming back it says as it was in the

days of Noah shall it be when the Son of

Man returns we are seeing the days of

Noah right before us we’re seeing the

demonic

we’re seeing the the compromise of

values we’re seeing the rebellion

against God we’re seeing the dismissing

of God from the culture we are in the

days of North the Bible says when you

see those days look up your Redemption

draweth nigh you will be the one who

will because I love this I’ll just

mention it it says that he had to seal

the boat with pitch pitch keeps the

water from getting into the boats of

Ceylon he sealed the boat with pitch the

Hebrew word for pitch is the root word

for atonement

so he sealed the boat with the atonement

of pitch guess why you’re gonna be safe

for eternity you will be safe for

eternity because the Hebrew word for

pitch is atonement and the blood of

Jesus Christ seals the eternal destiny

of anyone who comes to God by faith in

the finished work of Jesus Christ and so

Jesus is your Ark of safety God has an

ark for you to build he’s waiting on you

to obey and to obey Him completely not

partially if God says do this and you

only have done this much that he will

move he will not move until obedience

has been completed until faith has been

fully exercised that’s why as we go

through the Hall of faith and we learn

from these folks I had a sister who I

was talking to my office and she said I

want faith but I don’t have it I don’t

have it and I looked at her and I said

then piggyback off of mine because I got

enough for both of us

you better hang out with somebody who

does have faith when you don’t have

faith grab ahold of their faith ride

their backs until it’s transferred to

you because God has integrity and he can

be trusted even though he’s confusing at

times one of the old television shows I

love was something called early edition

it was this man who got tomorrow’s

newspaper today he got tomorrow’s

newspaper today so he saw what was

coming the day before it came because he

had the early edition the day before the

actual event he could do things to make

changes because he knew what was coming

tomorrow no one knew what was coming

tomorrow he walked in light of it today

if you are a believer in Jesus Christ

you know where this thing is going so

why don’t we walk with God today so that

we can hear his voice be prepared for

what he wants to do in this life and

reward us in the next life because like

Noah we walked with God save our

families condemned the world and then it

closes by thing and he became the heir

he was the beneficiary because his

family was saved and protected may God

help us as a church collectively as

individuals personally to be known not

for our buildings not for our program

not for our resources not for that that

that all that’s good but to be known for

one dominant factor those folk walk with

God may that be what we’re really known

for

[Applause]

[Music]

like Noah we’re all called upon to

exercise faith in the most inconvenient

times Noah had never seen rain and yet

he was to act based on what God said

even though it made him look very

foolish not only that but faith is often

anti-culture

he had to go against the whole community

in which he lived and the world in which

he existed

faith will make you seem like a loner

sometimes it’ll make you make others

think that you’re a fool but we see at

the end of Noah’s story that he was not

the foolish one those who rejected him

were actually the foolish ones so you

walk with God even if it makes you hard

in the culture as long as you’re obeying

God even if it’s something you’ve never

experienced before seen before expected

before because God cannot be put in a

box he will blow your mind let him blow

your mind and if you have to build an

ark on dry land if you have to do

something you’ve never seen heard of or

you’ve seen anyone else to do before

it’s okay because when you obey God by

faith you set yourself up for not only a

miracle but the covering of your own

family even when there’s destruction and

the culture taking place all around you

obey by faith even when it makes you

seem like you’re being foolish

you

the Bible tells stories of people that

today we call heroes they sought to

inspire humanity for over 3,000 years we

also have a story and is connected to

these heroes by virtue of our faith

my CD series heroes of the faith include

12 sermons in two bodies but you can

have that will get the amount whether

it’s my way of saying thanks for helping

us with God’s words to a world indeed

visit our website at Tony

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