R1683 The Never God

Dr. Wilton's topic is the Never God.

What does it mean? Let's open the Bible itself and discover with Dr. Don Wilton. Today we're headed to Genesis 8 in just a moment and discovering what Dr. Don is talking about when he talks about the Never God. As we do so, know that we're here for you. We'd love to pray with you anytime at 866-899-WORD. That's the phone number 866-899-9673, but we're also connecting on our website right now at www.tewonline.org. The power of prayer is something that we embrace, of course, and the encouraging word, but the concept of praying for our adult children is something new and fresh. There are wonderful resources on our website right now that will help you understand how praying for our adult children can revolutionize your life as well. It's online at www.tewonline.org. Take a look.

And now Dr. Don Wilton. I want you to open your Bibles to Genesis chapter 8. Genesis, of course, is always an easy book for us to find because it's right at the beginning of the Bible.

It's the book of beginnings. We're going to be in Genesis chapter 8, and I want to read to you a few verses that will tell you exactly where we are for the next few moments. Genesis chapter 8, and I'm going to pick up at verse 15. Genesis chapter 8 and verse 15. Then God said to Noah, go out from the ark, you and your wife and your sons and your son's wives with you. Bring out with you every living thing that is with you of all flesh, birds and animals, and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, that they may swarm on the earth and be fruitful and multiply on the earth. So Noah went out and his sons and his wife and his son's wives with him, every beast, every creeping thing, every bird, everything that moves on the earth went out by families from the ark.

Then Noah built an altar to the Lord and took some of every clean animal and some of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar. And when the Lord smelled the pleasing aroma, the Lord said in his heart, I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intention of man's heart is evil from his youth. Neither will I ever again strike down every living creature as I have done. Now may the Lord give us an understanding today and especially about the never God. That's what I want to speak to you about today is the never God.

Never, never. The Bible tells us that God wants us to know something that he will never leave us. He will never forsake us. As somebody once said, and I'm sure more than one teacher listening today has said to many a student, what part about what I've just said do you not seem to understand? God tells us that he will never leave us.

What part about that do we struggle with? I want us to just take a brief glimpse at Noah. Let's look at Noah together. We're going to ask or make three statements about Noah. God's going to speak to us.

He's going to show us something about our amazing never God, this one who carries us through. Where was Noah? Let's look first of all at where he was, his now. We're looking in hindsight, but I want you to just put yourself, if you can, according to scriptures, what does the Bible say about Noah's now?

Well, there are three things that you have no doubt about. First of all, if you want to know where he was, you have to consider his world. The Bible is very clear about the world in which Noah found himself, and there's so many passages. Chapter 6 and verse 5, let me read it to you. The Lord God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth and had grieved God. That was Noah's now, and we can unpack that.

This man, and we will remind ourselves of very deeply godly man, spiritual man, a man who had a personal relationship with God, his present was the world in which he found himself. Second thing you have to consider is not just his world, but you have to consider Noah's assignment. Look at chapter 6 and verse 9, the Bible says, these are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation, and I love the next statement. Noah walked with God. So now get this, God evidently wants us to know that his place, where he was, grieved the heart of God. But God wants us to know that he had a very special assignment for Noah because he was a righteous man. This never God, never leave you nor forsake you, wants to use you. Right throughout the scriptures, God's people have been vital instruments in the hands of God, in the carrying out of his purpose, and in the sharing of his divine will for mankind.

The church has never been irrelevant, it's not a sideshow for God, and you are the church. His world was in a shambles, his assignment was specific to him. I've been around a lot of animals, especially in Africa, and I know you and I try not to make light of these things, but this was an enormous impossible assignment. He didn't have dart guns. Go around and round up giraffes and elephants. How about snakes?

Because it says every animal. Birds, how do you round up birds? You ever try to round up a bird? You know two, not one, two birds got into my house last week. And here I am, I've got all the doors open and I'm running around trying to get them, they just flying from one room to the next, and my wife is sitting in a corner screeching, not helping me one lick.

And you would have thought these were dinosaurs or something flying around, they were little tiny sweet little birds like that. It was one thing to get them out, can you imagine trying to get all these in? What about the water? Usually boats float. If you go and do a study of this area in which they live, water was not just a scarcity, it was almost unheard of outside of the mainline rivers.

What about the opposition? The mocking, the belittling, the laughing, the pointing fingers at, at every turn this man in his now was challenged. So if that's where Noah was, the second thing we've got to consider is what he did. What did he do? What did Noah do?

Well he did three things if we could summarize it in such a short way. The first thing he did was he boarded the boat. He got on. Bible says in chapter 7 and verse 1, the Lord said to Noah, go into the ark, you and all your household, because I have seen that you are righteous before me in this generation.

What are you waiting for? That's what God expected of Noah, just get on board my ship. He boarded. The second thing he did was he sailed.

Now I'm trying to minimize here, I would love to have been a fly on the wall. I'm sure there were at least two flies on the boat, but I'm going to say to you that I can only imagine when the rain started and the Bible tells us, you know, you can read about it here in the scriptures, how the water just came down. Look at chapter 7 verse 17. The flood continued for 40 days on the earth. The waters increased and bore up the ark and it rose high above, did you get this next word? High above the earth. The waters prevailed and increased greatly on the earth and the ark floated on the face of the waters and the waters prevailed so mightily on the earth that all the high mountains under the whole earth, under the whole heaven were covered and the waters prevailed above the mountains covering them 15 cubits deep.

And so it goes on. This was beyond any human understanding. And here's Noah and his family on this boat. He boarded, he sailed and sometimes we're so quick to get to the end of the story that we skip over the tumultuous nature of the journey, the panic. Can you imagine how many of people on board came to Noah every day and said, Noah, really upset with you that you got us into this mess. How many of those people understandably would have said, we're all gonna perish, we're going to drown in this.

Look at the tumultuous waves. This epic journey, this is what he did. He accepted God's assignment. He just got on board the boat and then it wasn't over. He just stuck with the assignment through unanswered questions.

That's the third part about what he did. He waited. You know, the Bible says those that wait on the Lord renew their strength. Please forgive the interruption. We'll be back with the rest of today's message in just a moment. But Dr. Don wants me to remind you we're here and available to pray anytime at 866-899 word. That's 866-899-9673 and online as well at tewonline.org.

That's the place you'll discover great resources like this. Have you ever felt lonely, isolated, or abandoned? No one escapes the feelings of loneliness caused by separation, grief, loss, or isolation.

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Again, you can sign up at the bottom of our website, tewonline.org. Now back to today's great teaching with Dr. Don Wilton. That's the third part about what he did. He waited.

You know, the Bible says those that wait on the Lord renew their strength. In chapter eight and verse six, love this passage. At the end of 40 days, Noah opened the window of the ark that he had made and sent forth a raven. It went to and fro until the waters were dried up on the earth. Then he sent forth a dove from him to see if the waters had subsided from the face of the ground, but the dove found no place to set a foot and she returned to the ark for the waters were still on the face of the whole earth. Then he put out his hand and took her and brought her into the ark.

He waited another seven days. You ever get agitated with God because of your weight? You ever feel in your heart that your faith becomes diminished because you didn't get an answer immediately? You know, eventually in verse 11, the dove came back to him the evening and behold in her mouth was a freshly plucked olive leaf.

This is the never God. He waited. That's the hard part, isn't it? It's hard to wait.

It's hard. It's so hard because waiting sometimes is waiting in the middle of a tumultuous sea. I can't explain why God makes some of us wait, but he does.

It's part of our faith journey. So there's a third aspect and that's when he arrived because the dove returned with an olive branch and the boat came to settle on the land again and when it did, Noah did three things. First of all, he came out of the ark. That's what the Bible says in chapter 8 and verse 18. So Noah went out. He left the boat.

Some of you are at that point. God has demonstrated his love to you. He's brought you through the rough water and now it's time for you to get off. He came out, but the second thing he did, which I think is very important, was that he built an altar. That's what verse 21 tells us. Verse 20, Noah built an altar to the Lord. Many of us, God brings our boat to rest.

We say thank you very much and off we go. He built an altar and the third thing that he did when he arrived was that he heard. He heard the promise. After he worshiped the Lord and gave back to God what God required of him, he heard God's promise. So here's what the Lord has shown me in my own life.

For God to carry you through, for God to carry you through where you are today, where I am today, your now, in your grief, your condition, your circumstance, your need, for God to carry you through four things need to be said. First of all, you need to accept where you are. Stop agitating so much.

Pain hurts. This is not about just saying, well get over it. God didn't say get over it, but before God accept your circumstance.

That's a hard thing to do. Talking to righteous people, the Lord lives in your heart. Accept where you are, your marriage, your life, your health, your wealth.

Accept where you are. Number two, do what God tells you to do. God is very clear and he'll speak to you, he'll speak to you now, he'll speak to you through his word. He'll speak to you through a discipleship leader, through that coach, through that teacher, through that parent, grandparent, that best friend, through your pastor, through that minister. God will speak to you. He will speak to you by his Spirit.

Watch this. Do what God's telling you to do. Don't sit there and try to argue with him. Stop arguing with God.

Stop trying to figure out how big your boat needs to be and how you're going to be able to float it when there's no water. He's the never God. He will never leave you.

He's got you. Number three, anticipate answered prayer. Take God at his word. Have believing faith in God's word. Take him at his word. Trust God.

Maybe it's time for you in the presence of the Lord. Say, Lord, I love you, but I want you to know that I believe. You've told me, you've shown me this is my journey.

This is what I need to do. I don't understand it. I can't figure it out, but yes, Lord, and I will anticipate answered prayer. And then the final thing, number four, is once God takes you through, don't just walk away. The Bible is very clear, is very clear. In verse 21, once the Lord smelled the aroma of the sacrifice, he gave his promise.

Now I'm not trying to read something into the texture, but friend, perhaps you're almost there, but what is missing in your life is exactly that. God has answered your prayer and you've just walked off. You want God's promise? You give it all back to him. You offer that sacrifice to him. You give your life to him. You give him all praise and all glory. That's what Noah did. I mean, he had hardly stepped off that boat.

He didn't go and throw a party evidently immediately to say, we did it, we did it, we did it, which nobody would have criticized them for that. I'm sure there was ecstatic happiness from all concerned, given all the factors, but point priority number one, was he worshiped the Lord. He said, Lord, you have proven to me and demonstrated to me that you will never leave me nor forsake me. I give it all back to you. Would you bow your heads with me today?

Every head bowed and every eye closed. It begins in your heart and the heart of a loving God. Do you know Jesus?

That is the critical question. Do you know Jesus? Not do you know about Jesus?

In my own testimony, I spent many years growing up in the church knowing about Jesus, but I did not know him personally. You can know him personally as your savior today. It starts with a simple prayer. I'd love to lead you in that prayer. If you're ready to give your life to Jesus Christ, you can repeat after me or just say me too God. Lord, I know my sin has separated me from you, but Jesus, I also know that you are the son of God. You died for my sins and you rose from the grave. I believe you are alive and I want you to be alive in me. Change me, Jesus. Be my CEO of my life. In your name I pray. Amen. It starts with that very confession.

Oh, how we'd love to walk alongside you. Dr. Don has prepared specific things that will help you grow in your faith if you just gave your life to Christ or maybe today rededicated your life to Jesus. Give us a call at 866-899-9673 and let us send these resources to you. The number again, 866-899-9673.

Call for your free resources today or meet us on our website at TEWonline.org. And before we get away, we have time to have one more moment of encouragement from our pastor and chief encourager, Dr. Don Wilson. What a wonderful time of worship we've had together. You know, I want you every day to experience this encouraging word.

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