A New Day of Small Beginnings (Genesis 8, Jeff Kliewer)

Cornerstone Church

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April 29, 2024

Sermon Notes: notes.cornerstonesj.org A New Day of Small Beginnings

04:57: Good morning. Greetings. Good morning. All right.
05:04: Can you all hear me? Microphone, microphone. Well, we have the monitor muted, so it doesn't matter. Oh, OK.
05:09: You should be coming through the house. All right. Good morning, y 'all. So how many of y 'all know one of our deacons whose name is
05:18: Tom Ward? How many of y 'all know Tom? Come on, Tom. Yeah, he's got the big beard, got big hair, usually sits up in this direction.
05:28: No, no? All right, well, here's the big news. He shaved his beard. He shaved his head, so he looks completely different.
05:38: But that's not the biggest part of the news. Guys, if you could show the picture up here. Last week, he flew to the
05:45: Philippines and got married. Let's give a hand clap. He's not here right now. Maybe he's watching online.
05:52: I don't know. But congratulations to Tom and Ellie. He had been dating this girl, evidently, for a while over the internet, getting to know her on video calls.
06:01: And so he just jumped in on a plane and flew and got married. So he totally shocked us.
06:08: But the word of God says, he who finds a wife finds what is good and receives favor from the
06:13: Lord. So we are celebrating with Tom, our deacon, who now lives in the Philippines. So praise
06:21: God for that. We also have women who are at the women's retreat this weekend.
06:28: So if there are some people you're looking for and they're not here, they might be at the women's retreat at Mount Pocono. So we're going to pray for the women.
06:34: We're going to pray for Tom. And we're going to pray for this worship service. Let's go before the
06:40: Lord. Gracious Heavenly Father, we thank you for your good gifts.
06:45: You are such a good and gracious Father. We thank you that you have given the gift of marriage to Tom and Ellie in the
06:53: Philippines. What a surprise this is. And we do thank you and give you all the praise. And we pray blessing on their marriage,
06:59: Lord, that they would be able to work through any differences, culture or otherwise, Lord. That you would help them establish their marriage on that sure foundation which they share together, which is the cornerstone,
07:12: Jesus Christ, and upon the word of God. So help them, Lord, in their marriage. We thank you for this.
07:18: And we pray blessing on them. Lord, we also pray for the women who are up at Mount Pocono Bible Camp this morning.
07:27: We pray that they would be meeting with you, encouraged by one another, iron sharpening iron, that you would help them and that your
07:35: Holy Spirit would fill them so that they come back here on fire, ready to serve and help and to tell others about Christ.
07:44: Lord, we pray that you would really bless these women as they're on the retreat. And now,
07:49: Lord, we pray for this worship service, that you would come and do a mighty work in this place.
07:54: Each of us needing to be encouraged in our most holy faith. We pray, Lord, that you would come and encourage us through your word.
08:03: And now, Lord, as we go to sing songs, let it be more than just singing, Lord. Let it be worship in spirit and in truth.
08:11: Help us to bring our best because you are worthy. Jesus, you deserve the best that we can bring.
08:18: And so help us now to worship you in Jesus' name, amen. Amen, let's all stand and let's all read together.
08:29: This is Proverbs 3, 5, and 6. It should be up on the screen. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lead on your own understanding.
08:37: In all your ways, acknowledge him and he will make straight your paths, amen.
08:43: And that scripture verse, I had the privilege of going to Russ's celebration of life, his funeral yesterday.
08:55: And several months ago, he had expounded, he had preached and they recorded a video of him preaching on that verse.
09:03: And it was just such an honor, just so awesome to hear him just expound on that and what that verses have meant to his life.
09:13: Right now, we're going to sing, Trust and Obey. ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪
09:26: When we walk with the Lord, in the light of his word, ♪ ♪
09:34: What a glory he sheds on our way.
09:41: ♪ ♪ While we do his good will, he abides with us still.
09:52: ♪ ♪ All who will trust and obey. ♪ ♪
10:01: Trust and obey, for there's no other way, ♪ ♪
10:09: To be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.
10:20: ♪ ♪ Not a shadow can rise, not a cloud in the skies, ♪ ♪
10:31: But his smile quickly drives it away.
10:38: ♪ ♪ Not a doubt or a fear, not a sigh or a tear, ♪ ♪
10:50: All we trust and obey. ♪ ♪
10:57: Trust and obey, for there's no other way, ♪ ♪
11:06: To be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.
11:16: ♪ ♪ Then in fellowship asleep, we will sit at his feet, ♪ ♪
11:27: Or we'll walk by his side in the way.
11:35: ♪ ♪ What he says we will do, where he sends we will go.
11:47: ♪ ♪ Trust and obey. ♪ ♪
11:54: Trust and obey, for there's no other way, ♪ ♪
12:02: To be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.
12:13: ♪ ♪ Trust and obey, for there's no other way, ♪ ♪
12:24: To be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.
12:36: ♪ Amen. And Isaiah 53 .10,
12:47: Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him. He has put him to grief. When his soul made an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring.
12:56: He shall prolong his days. The will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. And we're going to sing what he's done.
13:04: We're going to celebrate the great gift of life that Jesus Christ has given us. Amen. ♪
13:24: See, on the hill of Calvary, my
13:30: Savior bled for me. ♪ ♪
13:39: Look, at the wounds that give me life. ♪ ♪ Grace flowing from His side, no greater sacrifice.
13:51: ♪ ♪ What He's done, what He's done.
13:58: ♪ ♪ All the glory and the honor to the
14:03: Son. ♪ ♪ You are forgiven, my future is heaven.
14:12: ♪ ♪ I praise God for what He's done. ♪ ♪
14:23: Sing for the freedom He has won. ♪ ♪
14:38: Speak, say the name above all names. ♪ ♪ Over every broken place,
14:46: He is risen from the grave. ♪ ♪ What He's done, what
14:54: He's done. ♪ ♪ All the glory and the honor to the
15:02: Son. ♪ ♪ You are forgiven, my future is heaven.
15:11: ♪ ♪ I praise God for what He's done. ♪ ♪
15:18: Now on the throne of majesty, the
15:27: Father's will complete. ♪ ♪
15:37: Sing hallelujah to the King. ♪ ♪ He is worthy to receive.
15:44: ♪ ♪ All the worship we can bring. ♪ ♪ Sing hallelujah to the
15:49: King. ♪ ♪ He is worthy to receive.
15:58: ♪ ♪ All the worship we can bring. ♪ What He's done, what
16:06: He's done All the glory and the honor to the
16:14: Son My sins are forgiven, my future is heaven
16:22: I praise God for what He's done
16:28: What He's done, what He's done All the glory and the honor to the
16:41: Son My sins are forgiven, my future is heaven
16:50: I praise God for what He's done
16:55: I praise God for what
17:00: He's done Lord Jesus, we just thank
17:29: You this morning That You came down for Your glorious throne,
17:35: Lord That You put on human flesh Lord, that You bore the cross and wore that crown of thorns for us,
17:43: Lord God, that You have made many righteous Where we could not on our own have any hope of righteousness,
17:52: Lord But You made us righteous, Lord As You took our sins upon You, Lord Man of sorrows,
18:11: Lamb of God By His own betrayal
18:20: The sin of man and wrath of God Has been on Jesus' name
18:34: Siren as He stood accused
18:41: Beaten, mocked, and torn Bowing to the
18:50: Father's plan He took the crown of thorns
19:02: Oh, that rugged cross of salvation
19:09: Where Your love poured out over me
19:16: Now my soul cries out, Hallelujah Praise and honor,
19:26: Lord, to You Sent of heaven,
19:37: God's own Son To purchase and redeem
19:46: And reconcile the very ones
19:52: Who never returned the truth
19:58: Oh, that rugged cross of salvation
20:05: Where Your love poured out over me
20:12: Now my soul cries out, Hallelujah Praise and honor,
20:21: Lord, to You Now my debt is paid
20:31: It is paid in full By the precious blood
20:37: That my Jesus shed Now the curse of sin
20:44: Has no hold on me But the Son sets free
20:51: Oh, it's free indeed Now my debt is paid
20:58: It is paid in full By the precious blood
21:04: That my Jesus spilled Now the curse of sin
21:11: Has no hold on me But the Son sets free
21:18: Oh, it's free indeed Oh, that rugged cross of salvation
21:27: Where Your love poured out over me
21:33: Now my soul cries out, Hallelujah Praise and honor,
21:43: Lord, to You See that stone is rolled away
21:56: Behold the empty tomb
22:04: But Hallelujah, God be praised
22:10: He's risen from the grave
22:16: Oh, that rugged cross of salvation
22:22: Where Your love poured out over me
22:28: Now my soul cries out, Hallelujah Praise and honor,
22:38: Lord, to You Praise and honor,
22:44: Lord, to You Let's pray.
23:05: Father God, we come into this place this morning Eager to hear a word from You We pray that the words of the
23:14: Bible would be to us Like food that nourishes us
23:19: Like water in a dry place That it would be like the drippings of a honeycomb
23:26: Sweet to our taste Lord, awaken our senses that we would be
23:32: Sensitive to Your word That we would hear Your word And Lord, we pray that You would revive us by Your word
23:39: We pray, Lord, revive us by Your truth Individually, we pray for revival
23:45: That we would repent of all known sin And run hard after You As a church,
23:51: Lord, we pray that the wind of Your Spirit Would fill us And send us out preaching the good news
23:57: From the youngest to the oldest, Lord Send Your Holy Spirit to fill us now
24:02: In Jesus' name, Amen On the screen, we have a picture of Mike and Karen DeGenna These are our missionaries to Lyon, France Wonderful, godly couple that we have supported for years
24:18: We need to be praying for them and the work they're doing in France They did come and visit us a number of years ago
24:25: And Mike and I went fishing And I don't mean that we went out evangelizing
24:30: I mean we actually went out on a deep -sea all -night fishing expedition You want to know what the total count was of fish that we caught?
24:39: He caught zero And I caught zero So it was zero to zero Complete strikeout all night long
24:46: But you know, isn't it a good thing that We are not called to fish for fish
24:51: But fish for men And he's been fishing for men in Lyon, France The church has begun to grow
24:59: By the power of God, they have outgrown their current building In Lyon, France, which is a secular and difficult area
25:08: They have seen the need to get a new building So we're going to pray that they're able to To find that meeting space that they need
25:16: Just like we in this church are needing a new meeting space as well That we'd be able to build here in the field next to us
25:23: God is doing a powerful work Now I want to talk this morning I'm going to spend the first ten minutes of my sermon
25:29: Giving an introduction About the state of the gospel in France It's a bit of a history lesson
25:38: Because I love history But also because it helps us to understand our place
25:44: And what God can do through us In our time and place
25:49: It gives us perspective Did you know that Martin Luther was not the first To translate the
25:57: Bible into the native tongue of the people Actually, centuries before Martin Luther In the year 1175
26:06: Peter Waldo commissioned the translation of a Bible Into his
26:12: French tongue He was a merchant in no place other than Lyon, France The reformation began in Lyon, France In the year 1175
26:22: Now when Peter Waldo got a copy of that Latin Vulgate Now translated into his own tongue
26:28: He began to read and he saw That what the Roman Catholic Church was teaching by their tradition Was very different from what he was reading in the
26:36: Bible And so he rejected purgatory He rejected indulgences
26:41: He rejected transubstantiation And he began to believe what the Bible said
26:48: He also became very radical Because he was not discipled He didn't have a great understanding of scripture
26:54: He was new to the faith in that sense And so what he did is he actually left his wife And he put his two kids in a convent
27:02: His two little girls And went out preaching the gospel And gathered thousands of followers
27:07: Now, I do not recommend that Anybody here? Stay with your wife Raise your kids
27:14: But Waldo went out and the gospel began to go forth Through his preaching
27:21: They were persecuted Even from the 1180s By the Roman Catholic Church They ended up settling in the mountains
27:28: But continued to preach all the more So that in the year 1532 When John Calvin was converted
27:36: There were already many who were believing the Bible And had access to the scripture And so that helped the reformation take over So in the 40 years from when
27:45: John Calvin was converted Until 1572 The gospel spread from 0 % of the population
27:55: Or just over 0 % To more than 15 % of France Believing in the evangelical religion
28:03: But see, this was a spiritual war And so as the gospel began to take over cities
28:10: John Calvin was leading that movement from Geneva And sending missionaries back up into France They planted tens of thousands of churches
28:18: Growing close to a million believers So in the year 1572 The establishment cracked down In what was called
28:28: The Saint Bartholomew's Day Massacre They slaughtered
28:33: Protestant Christians By the thousands in Paris And all in the major cities all across France Those who survived, many of them fled
28:43: To places like England and the Netherlands These French Protestants called the
28:49: Huguenots Would end up even in far away places Like the United States of America Fleeing persecution
28:56: But then with the Edict of Nantes There was religious toleration Until that was revoked
29:02: In the year 1685 With the Edict of Fontainebleau Which was the next wave of persecution
29:11: Against the Protestant Christians You want to know what they did this time? They didn't slaughter them Instead what they did is they took soldiers
29:19: And put those soldiers in the homes Of the Protestant believers And they made a law
29:28: That anybody who converted to Roman Catholicism Would be exempt from housing these soldiers
29:35: This was called the Dragon Aids The Dragon Aids were The Protestants were forced to have a soldier
29:42: In their home And these soldiers often would steal And commit atrocities in the home So this king,
29:49: Louis XIV Bragged the year after He initiated the Dragon Aids That there were 800 ,000
29:58: Protestant Christians in France And the following year it was down to 1 ,000
30:04: From 800 ,000 to 1 ,000 Now he was bragging and he was overestimating What he had been able to do
30:10: There were still probably half a million But many, perhaps half Fled France to places like England And the
30:18: Netherlands And the United States of America In fact in first service somebody came up to me After the sermon and said
30:25: My family came from Huguenots The French who had come to the United States of America The next major blow to Christianity in France Came in the year 1789 with the
30:38: French Revolution Here we're all familiar with the American Revolution Right? And it's really built on the idea of individual rights
30:48: That these rights are endued by our creator So the
30:53: American Revolution Was about freedom and liberty to the common man
30:58: Because we have rights that were given by God The French Revolution was the opposite It was a humanist revolution
31:07: Humanism rejected the place of God in society Everything would be established by reason
31:15: And no more establishment of religion So at that time The clergy of the
31:21: Roman Catholic Church Were called the First Estate The nobility were called the
31:26: Second Estate And the Third Estate was like 80 % of the people They were peasants So when they brought this uprising
31:34: They threw down the nobility But they were also trying to get rid of God and church
31:40: And the influence of any higher power Because they were very humanist in their understanding
31:47: So what do you think came of that revolution? Unlike the American Revolution It was nothing but bloodshed and disaster
31:55: Robespierre and the guillotines The killing, the
32:01: Jacobins that led this violent revolution That went to nothing Until finally
32:06: Napoleon Bonaparte took over And made things even worse Napoleon began to conquer territories
32:16: And he did so in the name of the Catholic religion But in 1800 He said this
32:22: It was by making myself a Catholic That I won the war in the
32:28: Vendee By making myself a Muslim That I established myself in Egypt By making myself an
32:37: Ultramontane That I turned men's hearts towards me in Italy If I were to govern a nation of Jews I would rebuild the
32:46: Temple of Solomon Napoleon was so cynical He was just using religion as a tool to conquer
32:56: And I think he would have been the Antichrist He would have rebuilt the Temple And proclaimed himself to be God But he was restrained by the power of God However, Christianity declined for that entire century
33:11: Into the 1900s, the 20th century The historian Paul Wells says
33:16: In the 20th century Christianity in Europe experienced no revival But only continual decline
33:25: And here this year, the year 2024, in March France made it a constitutional right
33:33: That they would be allowed to kill babies in the womb They added the killing of babies in the womb
33:41: To their constitution France has become thoroughly humanist
33:49: Now, what is humanism? Have you guys seen the riots at the college campuses recently?
33:56: Especially Columbia University Columbia University was built on humanism
34:03: Humanism In fact, the Humanist Manifesto was signed by about 30 people
34:09: One of them was John Dewey from Columbia University The Humanist Manifesto says this
34:16: Though we consider the religious forms and ideas of our fathers No longer adequate
34:24: The quest for the good of life is still the central task for mankind Man is at last becoming aware that he alone is responsible
34:34: For the realization of the world of his dreams That he has within himself the power for its achievement
34:43: He must set intelligence and will to the task The idea of humanism is a rejection of God And the potential and the power within humanity
34:56: The goodness of humanity The reason of humanity Humanism rejects
35:01: God and elevates man Human potential The goodness of human beings
35:09: Church, France seems to have lost the war to humanism
35:16: In New Jersey, it looks like we might be losing that war as well Humanism in the universities rejects
35:25: Genesis 1 -11 Rejects the teaching that there is a God who made the world But I see a cloud the size of a man's hand on the horizon
35:38: In France, in the city of Lyon Our own missionaries are seeing converts like they've never seen before In Paris, one church planter, whose name is
35:50: Ivan Collier Just years ago, planted a church and outgrew their building They took over one of those old communist meeting houses
35:59: And from the platform where the most famous communist in France used to preach They turned it into a pulpit
36:04: They outgrew that and now they have a church of over 4 ,000 people meeting in Paris, France This pastor says, his name is
36:15: Ivan Collier That doesn't fit what people think about France Something is changing
36:21: And it's changing right now A woman named Mary from Paris, France says I've lived here for 30 years and it really feels like God is doing a new thing
36:30: People are coming to faith in France And what about here in New Jersey?
36:37: I've never seen the conservative churches so full with Bible -believing Christians Is there a new wind blowing?
36:45: A new day of small beginnings? My favorite French pastor actually lived in the darkest century in French history
36:52: The 1900s Paul Wells says there was no revival, no sign of light
36:59: But Pierre Cordier ministered in Lyon, France for 20 some years
37:07: And then for 20 more years, he started a Bible college in Paris And when he was in his 80s, he wrote a book called
37:15: A New Day of Small Beginnings I stole his title for my sermon today
37:22: That's where I got that A New Day of Small Beginnings What he never saw throughout the 1900s
37:30: He saw in faith that there would be a new day for France It would start with small beginnings
37:35: And then revival could take over With the failure of humanism Now, humanism is a culture of death
37:43: As they have enshrined the right to kill babies, they're not having enough babies France is facing a rapidly decreasing birth rate
37:52: That will impact their workforce And will completely overrun their social welfare system
38:00: It is the failure of humanism 2023 was the lowest birth rate in France since the year 1946
38:11: It's a culture of death Whereas we preach a culture of life Which one wins in the end?
38:19: Humanism is destined to fail It will be yet another of the defeated foes that the church tramples underneath its feet
38:27: In the name of God We will see a new day of small beginnings
38:32: Now, there is coming a day of the Lord Turn with me to Genesis 8 And last week in Genesis 7, we talked about how there will be a final flood of judgment
38:41: Not in water, but in fire The day of the Lord, which is the tribulation
38:47: Seven years of devastation on earth Before God renews things on this earth
38:53: And we have a millennium, a thousand years of peace There's coming a day of the
39:01: Lord And it was prefigured in the flood of Noah That day was a day of wrath and judgment
39:08: But this morning we turn to Genesis 8 And out of the wreckage, the devastation of the entire earth
39:15: We have a new day of small beginnings Noah will come off of that ark
39:21: And begin to rebuild And the earth again will be full of life
39:28: The humanists mock us because we believe Genesis 1 -11 You believe that God created the world?
39:37: You believe there was a flood that completely destroyed everything? And they mock
39:44: Christianity as outdated and just religious Not rational and reasonable
39:50: But the truth is, the humanist view of the world Is completely irrational and totally unreasonable
39:59: John Blanchard, he's an English theologian Turned the tables on the atheists when he said
40:05: And when he wrote a book called Does God Believe in Atheists? Does God believe in atheists?
40:13: That's a better question Atheists propose that this world evolved by chance over millions of years
40:22: But given everything that had to come into place to bring forth life Scientists now calculate the odds of all of these things happening
40:32: As being 1 times 10 to something like the 26th power Utterly impossible
40:38: John Blanchard compares it to this Fill our entire planetary system
40:43: Not just planet earth, but the entire planetary system Revolving around the sun
40:49: With blind people Give each one a Rubik's cube And have them begin randomly moving the
40:56: Rubik's cube around The odds that all of them will solve that Rubik's cube in the same moment
41:02: By chance, is the odds that this world could sustain life by chance
41:08: Another theologian named Fred Hoyle said it this way A world evolving by chance is like a tornado in a junkyard
41:17: The chance that that could spin out a Boeing 747 fully operational Can you imagine a tornado spinning out a
41:27: Boeing 747 Functioning with all that design Yet how much more design is there in this world in which we live
41:35: In the complex machinery of every cell of your body Darwin never saw a cell under a microscope
41:44: To the level that we do He just thought it was a blob of nothing
41:51: But we have seen now by microscopes How complex the workings are of every cell in your body
41:59: There's no chance it just evolved Genesis 1 to 11 is not fairy tale
42:07: And it's not just religious tradition It is the very word of God Let's pick it up again in chapter 8
42:15: Genesis 8 But God remembered Noah And all the beasts and all the livestock that were with him in the ark
42:22: And God made a wind blow over the earth And the water subsided The fountains of the deep and the windows of the heavens were closed
42:32: And the rains from the heavens were restrained And the waters receded from the earth continually
42:40: At the end of 150 days the waters had abated And in the 7th month, on the 17th day of the month
42:47: The ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat And the waters continued to abate until the 10th month
42:54: And in the 10th month on the first day of the month The tops of the mountains were seen
43:02: In wrath, God remembers mercy The flood was a day of wrath
43:08: It was the day of God's judgment on the earth But he remembers mercy Look at verse 1
43:14: But God remembered Noah And he made a wind to blow over the earth
43:21: This is a physical wind that's evaporating water Causing it to lift And the waters to recede
43:27: Those waters are seeping down into the depths of the earth I mentioned last week that in the earth today
43:36: In the crust of the earth, 400 miles deep There is three times the amount of water as exists in our oceans
43:43: In the crust of the earth That's where the waters of the flood went In the ringwoodite, under the earth's crust
43:53: The waters are subsiding Verse 2 Because God is restraining the rain
44:00: Here the rain was more than you would want Normally rain refreshes the earth
44:06: And brings forth the vegetation But here God sent so much rain It was judgment
44:12: In verse 2 He's now restraining that judgment In his wrath, he has remembered mercy
44:20: Habakkuk prayed for the judgment of God Because he saw the wickedness of his people In Jerusalem But he prayed
44:28: In Habakkuk 3 -2 Oh Lord, I have heard the report of you And your work
44:34: Oh Lord, do I fear In the midst of the years, revive it
44:40: In the midst of the years, make it known In wrath, remember mercy
44:46: Habakkuk 3 -2 God has wrath against sin And often he will judge a nation
44:53: Or a place, or in the time of Noah The entire world But even in his wrath He remembers mercy
45:02: Habakkuk wouldn't get to see it And so he ends his book in chapter 3 17 -19 Saying though the fig doesn't blossom
45:09: And there's no cattle in the stall He'll say, yet I will rejoice in God He will hope in God And he foretells in Habakkuk 2 -14
45:18: That there's coming a time When the earth will be filled With the knowledge of the glory of the
45:25: Lord As the waters cover the sea Habakkuk knew
45:30: That though judgment had to come for a time The ultimate state of the world Will be displaying the glory of God And people will know it
45:38: The knowledge of the glory of the Lord There will be revival He will revive his work
45:44: Listen, the time of judgment fell And Noah's dead But a new day of small beginnings
45:52: Would come from that He remembers mercy New Jersey has been under judgment
45:59: For a period of time But there is mercy around the corner
46:06: France Seems like it's snuffed out The very heart of Christianity But look, lo and behold
46:13: It's taking root again And the gospel is flourishing in China They say now 110 million believers
46:22: In the underground churches Sub -Saharan Africa is more Christian probably Than the
46:27: United States of America South America, same thing Korea, especially
46:33: South Korea And then the gospel will penetrate Back to where it began in Jerusalem God will remember mercy
46:42: This gospel will continue to run Now listen, verses 6 -12
46:47: There will be moments of suffering But even in the worst time of your life
46:53: He will give signs Of his mercy At the end of 40 days
46:59: Noah opened the window of the ark that he had made Sent forth a raven It went to and fro
47:06: Until the waters were dried up from the earth I think what that means is it was just Flying over the earth and it never came back
47:13: No sign of him And you wonder You've been floating on this water
47:19: For 150 days In an ark With a lot of animals It stunk
47:24: It felt like a prison It was becoming a place of suffering
47:30: To Noah and his family And they sent out the raven No sign It just looked barren
47:37: Water, hopeless Where's the raven? It would evidently float around And fly around until the waters receded enough
47:46: But he brought no sign However, God does send a sign through the dove Verse 8
47:51: Then he sent forth a dove from him To see if the waters had subsided
47:56: From the face of the ground But the dove found no place to set her foot And she returned to him, to the ark
48:05: For the waters were still on the face of the whole earth Get that sense that it's been a long time
48:12: It's not like in a cartoon where the ark goes up The waters come down They come happily off This is a time of suffering
48:19: The water is still there So he put out his hand and took her And brought her into the ark with him
48:24: He waited another seven days You ever been through a trial in your life
48:30: Where it felt like seven days was followed by Another seven days
48:36: The same trial seems to go on and on And you think this will never end This will never get better My grandfather loved the saying
48:45: This too shall pass The truth of the matter is
48:50: Our light momentary afflictions Are achieving for us an eternal weight of glory That far surpasses them all
48:58: The sufferings of this life are temporary They're light and momentary Compared to the weight of glory
49:05: And the eternity that awaits us You might be going through something right now
49:11: And you feel like that Struggle is never going to come to an end But even in your moment of suffering
49:19: He's giving you signs that he's still here That a new day is coming A better day
49:26: It's like that dove Look what this dove brings Verse 10
49:32: He waited another seven days And sent forth the dove And verse 11 And the dove came back to him in the evening
49:37: And behold in her mouth was A freshly plucked olive leaf
49:44: So no one knew That the waters had subsided from the earth At least somewhere
49:50: There was an olive tree producing leaves He couldn't see it from the boat But the dove must have found it
49:57: Where did he get that olive leaf? And so he brought back the olive leaf And that was a sign After all those days
50:04: Half a year Floating on the earth There's a sign of hope
50:11: God gives signs Verse 12 Then he waited another seven days And sent forth the dove
50:16: And she did not return to him anymore That meant it found a place to live It's a good sign
50:23: Even in the worst moments Of our suffering God gives signs of future mercy
50:32: Future mercies And we know that that includes heaven Where all things will be made right
50:39: Every tear will be wiped away Every suffering that you endure in this earth Is only temporary
50:45: There's coming a time of great mercy And even in this life
50:52: We travel through seasons He'll take you through Valleys of the shadow of death
50:58: But you're going through that valley Psalm 23 He will not keep you there forever He will bring you out
51:04: To a spacious place He will make you lie down in green pastures And lead you
51:10: Besides still waters Now the main point of the sermon From verses 13 to 19
51:17: New days of great mercy Grow up from small beginnings In the 601st year
51:24: In the first month The first day of the month The waters were dried from off the earth
51:30: And Noah removed the covering of the ark And looked And behold The face of the ground was dry
51:38: Oh what great mercy Imagine what that looked like After floating over the earth
51:43: On this water for that long I think of our brother Russ Who just passed and went to be with the
51:49: Lord For 47 years Enduring the suffering Confined to a chair for decades
52:01: And yet what joy and optimism he carried Because he was looking for a day
52:07: When he would walk and leap and praise the Lord And as we sit here
52:12: We left one chair open Right in front of you Don Just to remember him But Christ has prepared a place for him in heaven
52:24: And now he is walking and leaping And praising God He is in the joy of his master
52:29: He's come through the suffering And now entered Into eternal joy
52:37: Noah looked and behold The face of the ground was dry Verse 14 In the second month On the 27th day of the month
52:44: The earth had dried out Then God said to Noah Go out from the ark
52:49: You and your wife and your sons And your sons' wives with you Bring out with you every living thing
52:57: That is with you of all flesh Birds and animals And every creeping thing
53:03: That creeps on the earth That they may swarm on the earth And be fruitful
53:08: And multiply on the earth This is that creation mandate Be fruitful and fill the earth
53:15: Now it's being renewed again A new day of small beginnings Now the flood has completely changed
53:24: The topography of the entire earth High places have been made low And low places have been made high
53:30: Hawaii has been separated From the continent It is now removed far out into the sea
53:36: That Pangea That one land mass Is now divided into multiple continents
53:43: Everything's changed What do you think has come of every house And everything that they built?
53:50: There's nothing left of it No sign of life Every corpse has been completely destroyed
54:01: There's nothing but ground And it hasn't yet begun to bud It's just empty wasteland
54:07: Hopeless But no This is a new day of small beginnings
54:14: And he goes out with his wife And his sons and their wives And like the animals Now the earth will be filled with life again
54:22: A new day This is how God works In Israel They had become sinful
54:32: And rejected God And so God sent Israel Into dispersion
54:38: And then even the southern kingdom Into exile in Babylon But after fulfilling the 70 years
54:46: What did God do? He brought them back into the land And it looked like there was nothing there
54:53: Everything was rubble In Nehemiah chapter 4 verse 17
55:00: The people had to rebuild the walls With a sword in one hand
55:06: And the trowel in the other Because their work was opposed
55:11: By the surrounding peoples It was hard to build in those conditions There were enemies everywhere
55:20: Sanbalat was a mocker Making fun of the people of God And he said What are you Jews trying to build there?
55:28: And Tobiah jumps in With his little mockery And says Yeah, whatever they build
55:33: If a little fox jumps on it It will crumble But by the power of God As the men set themselves to work
55:41: The walls were rebuilt in a matter of months And now Sanbalat and Tobiah were in rage
55:47: And they brought forth an army And so the people continued to build Now with a sword on one side
55:52: And a trowel in the other They built and they built Turn with me to the book of Zechariah It's near the end of the
56:03: Old Testament And we'll just look at a few verses Zechariah was a prophet at this time
56:10: Encouraging the people And we'll look at Zechariah chapter 4
56:23: Nehemiah and Ezra have brought them back The governor of Israel is named
56:30: Zerubbabel The high priest is Joshua These are the leaders of Israel The anointed ones
56:38: That God has put in their place to lead Israel Now let's read from Zechariah 4 verse 1 and following And the angel who talked with me
56:48: Came again and woke me Like a man who is awakened out of his sleep
56:55: And he said to me What do you see? I said I see and behold
57:00: A lampstand all of gold With a bowl on the top of it And seven lamps on it
57:07: With seven lips on each of the lamps That are on the top of it And there are two olive trees by it
57:15: One on the right of the bowl And the other on the left And I'm sure
57:21: Zechariah is thinking What does this mean? Or if you had this dream Would you think I ate some chili before falling asleep?
57:28: I had a strange dream What on earth am I seeing? But the angel who talked with me
57:37: Verse 5 The angel answered and said Do you know what these are? I said no, my
57:43: Lord Then he said to me This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel Not by might
57:50: Nor by power But by my spirit says the Lord of hosts Church We can build in New Jersey Just like our friends can build in Lyon There are enemies that will resist us
58:10: If we try to do it the humanist way Like our own potential Our gifts Our talents in this room
58:16: Nothing will come of it But if we say with Zechariah Not by might
58:21: Nor by power But by my spirit says the Lord of hosts If we will humble ourselves before God Confess our sin
58:29: Repent Turn to God And ask for the filling of his spirit And his spirit fills each of us
58:36: We can not only fill this room But build right there And fill that And continue to plant churches
58:43: Like we planted the rock two years ago And over the course of weeks
58:48: And months And years And decades The multiplication of what
58:54: God is doing here Can change the place in which we live And it's not by our might
59:02: It's not by our power It's by the spirit of the living God This is the point of the sermon today
59:09: Look how the people responded Those who had seen the old temple Were just weeping Because the temple that they were building
59:16: Looked like nothing compared to the one That the Babylonians destroyed And in verse 10
59:24: Zechariah says For whoever has despised the day of small things
59:30: Shall rejoice And shall see the plumb line In the hand of Zerubbabel Many of those who lacked faith
59:45: Were weeping when they should have been cheering And what God says essentially is
59:51: Do not despise the day of small beginnings The kernel of faith that's being planted in South Jersey It's a small beginning at this point
01:00:02: We are small compared to what's around us We are the very small minority
01:00:07: In believing Genesis 1 to 11 The humanists in the public schools
01:00:13: And in the universities And in majority culture Through the media Through the advertisers
01:00:19: Everywhere around us The water in our culture Opposes what we believe
01:00:26: And we really are a fraction Compared to what's out there The enemies, the
01:00:32: Sanbalats and Tobias But not by might Not by power By his spirit
01:00:38: What we're seeing here is just A small beginning Of greater things yet to come
01:00:46: We can build here Notice in verse 13 and 14 And then we'll go back and finish in Genesis 8
01:00:53: He said to me Do you not know what these are? I said no my Lord What were these olive trees?
01:00:59: Tell me already Then he said These are the two anointed ones Who stand by the
01:01:05: Lord of the whole earth Zerubbabel And Joshua Governor and high priest
01:01:15: Anointed by God To be who they were called to be And in the Hebrew It doesn't say
01:01:20: The two anointed ones It actually reads The two sons of new oil Two sons of new oil
01:01:29: They are anointed with oil In the Old Testament There were prophets Like Zechariah Preaching He's anointed
01:01:37: There were kings Here Zerubbabel is like the king And there were priests
01:01:42: Joshua The high priest I want to tell you That in the church
01:01:47: We no longer have prophet, priest and king As separate offices We have one prophet
01:01:53: One priest One king Whose name is Jesus Christ He is the anointed one
01:01:59: That's what Mashiach means Christ anointed He is anointed as the king
01:02:05: And the priest And the prophet And he has poured out his oil upon us
01:02:13: His church The temple that they built Was only a placeholder for him
01:02:19: He says Tear down this temple And on the third day I raise it up So our king
01:02:26: Is risen And now his temple He builds in us He's seated at the right hand of the father
01:02:32: And we like a spiritual house Are being built together As living stones He's building
01:02:38: Even now We are the church The gates of hell
01:02:44: Cannot stand against the church Because the king Is anointed And if Zerubbabel And Joshua Was Zechariah the prophet
01:02:52: Could do it in their day How much more we Who know the king of kings And the lord of lords
01:02:59: This is a new day Of small beginnings Now we know from Genesis 7 There is coming a day of the lord
01:03:06: A day of reckoning Where God will judge his enemies Psalm 2 With a rod of iron
01:03:11: Smashed to pieces Into little bits The kingdoms of this earth But we're in this period of grace
01:03:22: He's restraining evil And we don't know how long it will be
01:03:28: It could be just months Until Christ calls us up It could be today Or it could be decades
01:03:35: Or a hundred years from now The signs of the times Seem to be pointing to soon
01:03:41: But let's build Not knowing the day or hour With expectation that When Christ comes
01:03:48: He will find faith on earth Let's build and build For something that matters
01:03:54: Because we serve the king Lastly This is Genesis 8 Verses 20 to 22
01:04:02: Humanism is a failure It's a culture of death That goes nowhere But God is merciful
01:04:11: To those whom he has humbled Noah built an altar to the lord
01:04:16: And took some of every clean animal Some of every clean bird And offered bird offerings on the altar
01:04:24: And when the lord smelled The pleasing aroma The lord said in his heart I will never again curse the ground
01:04:31: Because of man Now two things need to be said quickly What pleased the lord
01:04:38: Was the sacrifice It was the offering It was not the goodness of Noah Noah was just a token of God's grace
01:04:49: A vessel of mercy God had shown mercy to Noah But the sacrifice of an animal
01:04:58: Points to what pleases the lord Every old testament sacrifice
01:05:03: Whether this one Or the Levitical offerings Of sheeps and goats The blood of bulls and goats
01:05:08: All of those were pointing to Jesus on the cross And once Jesus died
01:05:15: The wrath of God was satisfied Against our sin Noah's sin was atoned for In the blood of Jesus Even though all he knew at that time
01:05:26: Was the blood of these birds So what pleases
01:05:33: God Is the sacrifice of the son That's why he's merciful to this world
01:05:40: And the humanists will say Well we're good Humanity is good Let's see what he says about that In verse 21
01:05:47: I will never again curse the ground Because of man Does he go on to say
01:05:53: Because man is actually really good No he says exactly the opposite For the intention of man's heart
01:06:00: Is evil From his youth Neither will
01:06:07: I ever again Strike down every living creature As I have done These are competing world views church
01:06:14: Begins with A view of man as sinful At enmity against God And against the anointed one
01:06:25: Versus the humanist world view Which sees man as good And human reasoning as the pinnacle
01:06:36: God restrains his wrath against humanity Because he's merciful
01:06:44: In verse 22 While the earth remains Seed time and harvest Cold and heat Summer and winter
01:06:50: Day and night Shall not cease Next week as we take this up I'm going to start there
01:06:56: Talking about the climate activism That the humanist world view Is promoting
01:07:04: We'll talk about how That Is a fear Not of the
01:07:09: Lord But a fear based on human reasoning
01:07:15: The truth is We do have a God Who will sustain the world Season after season
01:07:20: Day and night Summer and winter Shall not cease So where does that leave us At the end of chapter 8
01:07:26: It leaves each one of us With a call To start new today
01:07:32: If you have the new birth That's the first point You must become a new creation
01:07:40: You must repent of sin And believe in Christ And he'll make you new And you start walking with God But if you've strayed from that path
01:07:48: You need to come back And renew your commitment A new day To start building the right habits
01:07:54: Noah had the world before him Everything was Was flat
01:08:01: Wiped out And he built new habits Of work
01:08:08: Building up a new civilization Which then would go out To the ends of the earth Each of us has to do that But it also speaks to churches
01:08:20: We've got to build Like it matters See that hand
01:08:25: That cloud The size of a man's hand Some of you are wondering What I mean by that Elijah He was praying for the rain to come
01:08:35: And three years Without rain And he sent his servant To go look over the horizon
01:08:40: And the servant kept coming back I don't see it I don't see any sign Until finally the last time
01:08:47: The servant said I see a cloud It's about the size of a man's hand Coming over the horizon
01:08:53: And Elijah said There it is Gird up your loins Get on the chariot
01:08:58: Let's go And in fact Elijah ran back Out running
01:09:03: Ahab and his chariot And the rains came pouring down That cloud Was the sign
01:09:10: Do you guys see it? Do you see signs That God is going to pour out The rains of revival?
01:09:17: I do I do I believe he's going to do that And we need to have That kind of optimism
01:09:26: I watched a movie A couple days ago I wouldn't encourage parents To show it to young children
01:09:34: I hate the title of it actually But I really like the content It's called The Insanity of God It's badly named
01:09:42: What they meant by The insanity of God is What seems insane God will let you suffer
01:09:47: In ways that seem insane But he has good purposes For gospel advance
01:09:54: I hate the title Because that's poorly stated But the content was
01:09:59: Very, very powerful You can watch it for free You just have to go to RedeemTV .com
01:10:06: RedeemTV .com You just have to put in Your email address And set up an account It's free And then you can watch
01:10:12: The insanity of God Everybody in this room Will be challenged In your faith
01:10:19: Of what Jesus is worth To you And what you're willing To suffer for his name's sake
01:10:26: The insanity of God Today church
01:10:32: We're praying for A new day Of small beginnings Let's go before the
01:10:38: Lord And if you need to Do some business with God If you need to repent of sin And start fresh today You do that But let's pray for that wind
01:10:47: That blew over the waters To blow over us The anointing The new wine
01:10:52: New wine in new wineskins You first of all Have to be made new To receive the new wine
01:10:59: Which is a picture of The anointing Of the Holy Spirit Filling you And using you In ministry
01:11:05: Let's ask for it Father your people Are bowed before you
01:11:10: This is a people that Believes in you You are the creator You spoke the entire world
01:11:15: Into existence You made them male and female When Adam and Eve sinned
01:11:24: You promised a savior To crush the head of the serpent You gave the family line of Seth You gave warnings
01:11:37: Through the prophet Noah You flooded the entire earth And then you dried up the earth
01:11:46: And sent the people out For a new day of small beginnings We believe this God And we ask
01:11:53: God That you would help your church Who believes in you Who believes your word To take ground in New Jersey We pray that the rock
01:12:03: Would flourish where it's planted And be established and built up We pray that we would plant
01:12:10: More churches in this area We pray for the churches That are here To unite with one another
01:12:16: And to become strong together That the church would rise up In South Jersey But Lord my main prayer
01:12:23: This morning is for Each of us individually To have a new start this morning To start building
01:12:29: Good habits of Bible reading Every single day Of prayer Of evangelism
01:12:38: Of worship That we would love To come worship you Every Sunday morning Let this be a new day
01:12:48: Lord help us to see How small we are Compared to the humanist Culture around us
01:12:55: But let us not fear The Sanbalats and Tobias Who mock us
01:13:01: Lord we ask in Jesus name That you would empower us To take ground and have victory
01:13:07: Let it begin in every Individual heart right now Revive us oh Lord We pray for revival
01:13:14: Grant us repentance That we would serve you Wholeheartedly And God we look for that day
01:13:24: We're looking for the day Jesus when you come For your church
01:13:29: Would you find faith On earth In us In Jesus name we pray Amen Amen and let's stand
01:13:38: We're gonna go out singing About the victory that Christ Has already won in our lives No matter what you're going through We know the end of the story
01:13:47: Christ has won There's peace set out
01:14:14: There's less darkness And hope that's in the blood
01:14:19: There's a future grace That's mine today
01:14:24: That Jesus Christ has won So I can face tomorrow
01:14:33: With the tomorrows in your hands And all
01:14:38: I need you will provide Just like you are
01:14:44: So I can face tomorrow With the tomorrows in your hands I'm fighting a battle
01:14:51: That you've already won No matter what comes my way
01:15:01: I will overcome I know what you're doing
01:15:09: And I know what you've done Nobody in a battle you've already won
01:15:27: There's mercy in the wind
01:15:32: In manna for today And when it's gone
01:15:39: I know you're not You are my hope this day
01:15:45: And when the sea is raging Your spirit is my help
01:15:53: You'll fix my eyes on Jesus Christ I'll say that it is well
01:16:02: Oh I know that it is well And I'm fighting a battle you've already won
01:16:16: No matter what comes my way
01:16:21: I will overcome Don't know what you're doing
01:16:29: Don't know what you've done I'm fighting a battle you've already won
01:16:56: And I don't know how this story ends
01:17:03: We will be with you again
01:17:11: You're my savior, my defense
01:17:18: No more fear in life or death We know how the story ends
01:17:33: We will be with you again You're my savior, my defense
01:17:48: No more fear in life or death
01:17:53: And I don't know how this story ends
01:18:03: We will be with you again You're my savior, my defense
01:18:17: No more fear in life or death I know how this story ends
01:18:28: And I'm fighting a battle you've already won
01:18:36: No matter what comes my way
01:18:41: I will overcome Don't know what you're doing
01:18:49: Don't know what you've done And I'm fighting a battle you've already won
01:19:02: And I'm fighting a battle you've already won
01:19:19: All right, I love the words of that song. Hey, that's by Shane and Shane. You've already won.
01:19:25: Let's do that again in a few weeks. Everybody listen to that song so we can just all know it and belt it out next time around.
01:19:32: We in? We'll repeat this one. All right. Matthew 28, 18 to 20.
01:19:37: And Jesus came and said to them, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
01:19:44: Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the
01:19:49: Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.