Bible Teaching

Calvary Temple Teaching Library

He Walked With God Pt.2

Amen! Let's turn to Hebrews 11 and pick up where we left off this morning. There are just a couple of quick reminders. Take some time these next weeks and lift Rob's hands up in prayer. There is some warfare and we're believing for the enemy to be brought down and for God's love to manifest itself, His will to be done. Pray for a refreshing and the order of God for Rob's steps and we'll rejoice in the victory that is won. We'll be praying tonight for the team that's heading on to St. Kitts. That's going to be a great time in the Lord. Ministry there will bear some great fruit. Elston and the fellowship are excited and looking forward to what Father has. Preparations are going to start full swing for Africa. We were just going over the list and some of the different things that we were looking at. We're going to do something along the lines of having two teams. One that primarily will be a team of evangelism, and the other one will be a team that emphasizes discipleship. The discipleship team will be involved with the established churches in Eldoret and Kakamega, Umoja, Kwa Njenga, those different areas. They will have some opportunity to do some evangelism also. The others will be evangelizing and bringing some discipleship to the newer churches in Buhuru and Busia and some of those areas. We're in the process of dividing these teams. Just believe with us for God's wisdom in the preparation of all of this as it goes forth. We're looking for a lot of good fruit to manifest in that, great times ahead.

Hebrews, Chapter 11, we were talking about the man Noah. His father, of course, gave him that name, meaning the rest, divine rest. In the day of God's judgment, when His wrath is at hand, there's a rest to the people of God. Amen? We saw this morning that we're living in that hour that was prophesied. "But as the days of [Noah] were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be" (Matthew 24:37). I believe we are that generation that is going to see the coming of the Lord. Isn't that going to be a great time? Just think about it. It could be tonight! Amen? The trumpet of God sounds! Think about it. The voice of the Lord just speaks and says, "Come up hither." Hallelujah! We just lay it all down. Amen? Changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, we just set it all aside and corruption takes on incorruption, mortality takes on immortality, the dead in Christ will rise first. Those of us that remain, praise God, changed and we go to meet Him in the air. Every man that has that hope purifies himself, even as He is pure. Do you think about it every day? Does it consciously enter your mind? Are you aware that this could be your last day here? Jesus is coming. It changes the way we walk. It changes our conversations. It changes our priorities. It's one of the greatest, I believe, contributors to a life of holiness and to fulfilling God's plan. You can't believe that Jesus is going to come back at any moment and not live in conscious awareness of His presence. You can't live believing that Jesus can come back at any moment and not tell somebody. Amen? How many of you were able to share the Lord with somebody this last week? Let me see your hands. Praise God! Amen. Just keep it up. Just keep throwing seed out there and let them know that day is sooner than when we first believed. That's where our joy comes from, fulfilling the task that's before us, this exciting thing that we have to boast about and to hope in.

God is dealing with man in this time of corruption and evil. Turn over to Genesis for just a second and let me show you the wording of the Scriptures here. I think it will help you appreciate, as we get ready to go back to Hebrews. In Genesis, Chapter 6, verse 5: "And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." I believe we're there. I believe that we're living in that same hour, as we are that generation that's going to see those calling good evil and evil good. We look at the decisions that are made in our country. It's insanity, the things that people are demanding as rights. Whether it's pedophiles, the gay movement, same sex marriage, or an education system that makes way for Islamic prayer time and forbids young people to bring their Bibles to school. It's insanity! I heard one guy say, "Well, you know, in Islam, they're compelled to pray three times a day, so we have to give them that opportunity." Well, Christians are to pray without ceasing. Amen? That's who we are, praise God! So, I'll take all day off, thank you. The problem is-and some people say we haven't lobbied for our rights. No, that's not the problem. The problem is the spirit of antichrist that has so saturated the thinking of men that good has become evil and evil is good. We're contending with this. Don't think that you can approach this thing rationally, because these people that we are dealing with are insane. Only one thing can free them and that's the scales falling from their eyes when we present the power of the gospel. The power of man's salvation is in the simplicity of the gospel, in the authority of the name of Jesus Christ. So, don't try to approach people with some logical argument or some traditional heritage that we have as a people, but cause them to understand that the warfare between the kingdom of light and the kingdom of darkness, that Jesus is not another god. All things were made by Him and for Him. Amen? Supreme. "Every knee [shall] bow...and that every tongue [shall] confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." As we boldly declare that name of Jesus in this generation, we're going to be hated of men for His name's sake, but His grace is going to be sufficient to cause us to stand and we're going to see a remnant delivered, as we talked about this morning.

In the days of Noah, we see that man's heart "...was only evil continually. And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart." It is quite a statement here that God looks at His creation, looks at His creatures made in His image, and it repented, it just grieved Him. It sickened Him to see that man, who was made to have fellowship with Him, is now running from Him. His first man, Adam. "Adam, what are you doing?" "Well, I'm hiding in this bush." "Why?" "I'm naked." "Who told you? You were created for fellowship. We used to walk in the garden and now you hear My voice and you run and hide?" How many of you used to walk with God in the garden and now you're not so keen to hear the voice of God? It's not comforting you. It's a threat. These words no longer cheer you up, but they threaten your plans and your agenda, your lifestyle. Those things that used to be words that would cleanse you, liberate you, and free you, you now feel are bondage and shackling you from your rights. It's the power of sin and we need to be freed to fellowship again. So you run to Him and He's there to redeem you and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness, 1 John says. Don't mistake the power of this age we're living in. Don't think for a moment that you're not going to be affected by it.

Keep your finger here and turn to 2 Peter for just a second. Let me show you something. (Goodness, we're already off track, aren't we?) In 2 Peter, Chapter 2, listen to what the Spirit of God says for us. We left off this morning talking about the fact that there was a motivating force in the life of Noah and that was that he feared God. We talked about the loss of fear. We're not just talking about society. We're talking about in the church there is a loss of fear, a loss of reverence. We think of ourselves too highly, that's all-our own opinions, our own evaluation of how we're doing-instead of going to the Word of God. Don't trust in your evaluation of how you're doing. Go to the Word of God and hold it up, and don't forget what manner of man you are. Amen? Constantly, how am I measuring up to the image of Jesus? Not, how am I doing in light of everybody else? Not, how am I doing in light of yesterday? Yesterday, you were going to hell. Let's not talk about yesterday. Let's talk about whether we're measuring up to the image of Jesus at this moment. Let's come back to an understanding of God's expression of mercy to us. The mercy of God is in the person of Jesus Christ. God still hates sin. God will still bring judgment upon anybody or anything that opposes His holiness and His righteousness through self-will. "For if God [verse 4 of the second chapter of 2 Peter] spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment; And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly; And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly; And delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked: (For that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, [in seeing and hearing, that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, that righteous man in seeing and hearing] vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds;)" (2 Peter 2:4-8).

The spirit of iniquity is already at work. The spirit of lawlessness that we just finished the teaching on is at work. It's a force that is irresistible in the natural. One thing alone will protect you: the fear of God, the reverence for the holiness of God, the awareness of the vanity of the world, the lies. We spent hour upon hour in these last weeks trying to help you understand that you are not your own. You'll never be free. You're a slave of righteousness or you're a slave of iniquity and damnation. You're a rebel or you're a son of God. We've been looking at these forces and yet so often we think that we can just run around out there and not have our armor on, that somehow we're going to waltz through this thing and be victorious on the other end just because of who we are. Because we made a profession of faith that Jesus is Lord. Because our parents are godly. Because we attend a church that's seeking holiness. Vexed righteous Lot...righteous...vexed...seeing and hearing, vexed with their filthy conversation. That word "conversation" talks about their lifestyle, the way they live, the agendas, the pursuits, the treasures. The filthy lifestyle-we are not just talking about drugs, sex. We're talking about lascivious living. We're talking about that party spirit, the undisciplined and the lawlessness.

We talked about the fact that covetousness was idolatry, and we're living in such a time of materialism. I want to tell you something. The houses, the cars, the clothes, and all the stuff, if they're not gifts from God, they are idols and they will damn you. Everybody wants to argue about "Well, is it wrong to have this and that?" What I'm talking about is, is it of God? Have you been seeking first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and letting Him add to you those things that a father wants to give his children? Or are we pursuing them in lieu of Himself? Do we feel somehow that there is worth in these things, that there is somehow a fulfillment in these things? Can I remind you that Adam still ruled all of the world, but realized that he lost it all when he lost fellowship with God? It didn't mean anything anymore. The vacations didn't mean anything. The garden didn't mean anything. He now had clothes to pick from, designer clothes, and it didn't mean anything. We're warring this continually in our minds as the sons of Adam in the natural man. We war with it. Beloved, it doesn't get easier. It's tougher. This thing is a spirit. It's stronger and we're vexed on a daily basis. We need to cleanse ourselves with the washing of the water of the Word. We need to protect ourselves, as we finished in that session, with people that will come around us, children of light that will reprove darkness in our lives. You can't go out there and not be affected. What are we doing to free ourselves? What are we doing to cleanse ourselves?

"(For that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds;) [but] The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, [Can you say, praise God, for that?] and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished." God will ultimately bring deliverance to His children and He will bring judgment upon those who so many of us think are getting away with something. "Well, look, they're getting away with that!" Nobody is getting away with anything. God is just and they're being reserved to the day of judgment. Amen? There is a day of reckoning, and we're going to stand before God and every one of us will give an account of every idle word that we've spoken, every deed that we've done. We lose sight of that. We're living in a generation that has told us there are no consequences. We are a people that have lived free from consequence. We think we're great because our forefathers were great. Whether it's in the secular or in the sacred, we've had men that have gone before us, a great cloud of witnesses, warriors that have brought about an example and have left us a heritage. We need to come to grips with where we are, we need to begin to dig our own wells, and we need to strengthen our own lives for this hour that we're in.

Jim Kain gave me a gift in Tennessee. It was interesting. He finds some of the most unique things when he's out and about. One of the things that he brought me, this little thing, was a ration book from 1944. I was sharing just the other day that my father used to say, "And they found their ration book and lived happily ever after." A generation that knew what it meant to ration food, to only be able to obtain certain items at certain times, generation that knew what it meant to sacrifice for the good of the whole. These are all spiritual concepts of realizing who we are, placed in the body as it pleases Him. Amen? God has gifted us, and called and placed us for His own purposes and yet the world is constantly telling us we're special. "We deserve more." If there is going to be a place of exaltation, the only one that's going to mean anything is that which comes from humbling ourselves and in due time, God will exalt us. Can you trust God to do it or does it have to be in your own strength, your own time, the pursuit of your own treasures?

We're talking about fearing God and the thing that's going to cause us to fear God and to realize that is that there is a day of reckoning that's coming. The thing that's going to cause us to have this reverence for God and the pursuit of God is the awareness of the power of that spirit that we're opposing that we can't make it out there on our own. We run to Him, the high tower, and are safe. Chapter 6 of Genesis: "And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the Lord 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 the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them. [We want to talk a little bit about this tonight, verse 8] But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord." Praise God! Aren't you thankful for grace? "But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord." He gives grace to the humble. God opposes the self-willed, the haughty, the vain, the proud, but He gives grace to the humble. Who is this man Noah that obtained grace? It obvious, according to this, that there must be humility in this man. What is true humility? Humility is realizing that what we do have is of God. Amen? We can't boast in it. There's nothing wrong with being aware of gifts that may be operating in your life. It's not vanity. It's not pride to recognize and use the gifts that God has given us, but they are to be used for His glory. Amen? That's what keeps us humble. We don't take any of the glory for ourselves. We don't in any way say that what we have, we've earned, but what we have, we've received from God. Noah was obviously this kind of a man, because he found grace. "God resisteth the proud, and giveth [say it] grace to the humble."

Here is a man raised in generational righteousness. His great-grandfather walked with God. Enoch knew God, and God took him. He pleased God and God took him. We see, then, the birth of Methuselah, and Lamech, and now, this man Noah comes on the scene, the rest. In all of this turmoil, in all of this wickedness, there is one place of rest. We talked about the ark, the place of rest, the ceasing from our own labors, laboring to enter rest, ceasing from our own labors. We can't work hard enough to be accepted of God. Our righteousness is as filthy rags. Amen? You need to cease from your own labors. It's not working to please God. It's letting God work in you that pleases Him. "For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of [what?] his good pleasure" (Philippians 2:13). Our righteousness is of God. There's nothing that we can boast in but the mercy and the grace of God. The work can be spectacular, supernatural. The gift is superior to any around us, but it's of God. Amen? That's where our boast is. God will always raise up a man in these hours, and we're living in this hour. God is looking for men. We're encouraging you to become that man, that woman.

"These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations." I think we need to challenge ourselves with that tonight. Are we mediocre in our generation or perfect in our generation? What are you going to settle for? As we're all called as kings and priests, we're all called to become these champions. We need to see, then, that this is what God is searching for. He is looking for men that are just, men that are perfect. What is it that establishes that? Look at the next phrase: "...and Noah walked with God." That's the standard. Are you walking with God or are you walking with the world? Are you walking with the crowd or are you walking with the few, the straight, and the narrow? Who are you walking with? Are you following those who through faith and patience have inherited the promises of God? Or are you walking with a generation that thinks more highly of themselves than they ought to think? The Scripture goes on and tells us here: "The earth also was corrupt [verse 11] before God, and the earth was filled with violence."

The violence began, didn't it, with Cain and Able. Every man doing what is right in his own eyes, that spirit that took place in the time of Judges. What is it that you think in our generation, what is it that's behind all of this violence that we're seeing now? That spirit of lawlessness, that spirit that says, "If I want it, I'm going to take it. It doesn't matter to me that that person has skills, went to school, was diligent to save to purchase that item. I'm going to take it because I want it and I deserve it. Besides, they think they're better than me because they have an education and they're diligent and everything." We look at it and it's bizarre. It's that spirit of violence, that spirit of lawlessness, that spirit of pride and self-worth to the place of perversion, that makes people think they deserve something. You deserve hell! Everything you have is grace and mercy. Amen? We don't believe that. It's in our doctrine. "Well, I have rights." You don't have any rights. You're a slave of righteousness or of iniquity, as we saw in Romans 6. It's to whom you yield yourselves servants to obey. You're a slave. You've been bought; you have no rights. We don't like that. It just doesn't ring true to our minds. When you finally understand what you're worth, it makes you appreciate what God has given you. Amen? It's all a gift. Oh, dear God, if we could only see that! It creates in us a thanksgiving. "In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning [us]" (1 Thessalonians 5:18).

This spirit of violence where everybody wants to take, everybody "deserves" what someone else has worked for and "I'll take it." It's obvious it's the grief of God. It's very difficult, but if you meditate on the phrasing the Holy Spirit uses over and over: "And it repented [God] that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved [God that He made man.]" Does that amplify it for you, this wickedness that we're talking about? When we understand the holiness of God and the immutability of God and that God doesn't make one sin greater than another, what do you think that these decisions that we periodically make for ourselves do to the heart of God? When we choose ourselves, when we choose our own standards and our own agendas... "Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin" (James 4:17). It's not the sin that grieves the heart of God, because He's provided for that through the blood of Jesus. If we confess our sin, He's faithful and just. Do you know what grieves God? Our justification of it. This is a whole generation justifying their iniquity, justifying their right to be in rebellion to God as they embrace the spirit of their father, Cain. God says, "I can no longer use this generation, this people. I'm going to take them all out and I'm going to start this thing over."

God does that same thing in the church. God purges leaven out of the church. We've talked about the judgment within the church of marking those that are causing divisions among us. Remove that leaven from you. Don't fellowship with them. Don't talk to these people. Why? It's the same spirit. Do you understand what we're building here in this ministry? An ark. Amen? A separate, holy generation. Not just to hide out in the ark. God didn't leave Noah in the ark. Amen? He used the ark to separate His just man from sin so that he wouldn't be vexed as Lot, that we're going to see in generations. We come in here to be purified, to be prepared to go out and win a lost generation. We need to see that these things cannot be named once among us. That's why we've taken so much pain here in these last weeks to continue to bring this ministry of light, and this standard of holiness, to realize what it is that we're investing in in this ministry.

The Scripture tells us then that "...all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth [verse 12]." The Lord speaks to Noah and gives him the commandment to build the ark. "In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, [Chapter 7, verses 11-16] in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened. And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights. In the selfsame day entered Noah, and Shem, and Ham, and Japheth the sons of Noah [with their wives] into the ark; They, and every beast after his kind, and all the cattle after their kind, and every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth...And they went in unto Noah into the ark, two and two of all flesh...And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded him: [we left off with this, this morning.] and the Lord shut him in."

In this passage, we see that God will not always strive with man. There is a day when the door is closed in all of our hearts. It's important for us to realize that we don't choose-no man can come to God that's not drawn by Father through the Spirit. There are some in our midst that are in the valley of decision as we're facing this spirit of this age, and we've taken great pains to try to show you you're being lied to by the god of this world. The Scripture says, "...the god of this world [Satan] hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest [they should believe the truth of the gospel]" (2 Corinthians 4:4). You are believing a lie, and we've shown you from the beginning, the liar, the father of lies, the accuser of the brethren. "Go ahead and eat it. You're eyes will be opened. You'll be as gods. You'll not surely die." That message is continually being promoted in our generation. You have been given the opportunity, called to enter in this ark of obedience, this ark of holiness. I believe that for some, that last opportunity is at hand, and it grieves the heart of God, and it grieves our hearts to see the foolishness of rejecting eternal life.

Chapter 8, verse 1, says, "And God remembered Noah." God remembered Noah, the time of trouble, the time of turmoil. He said He would never leave us nor forsake us. He's called us to a task. What am I telling you? Those of you who are warring with some of your children that aren't following, don't look back. Don't be like Lot's wife. When the doors close, rejoice in the goodness of God as he preserves a generation. He's going to start another generation and He'll remember your faithfulness. He'll remember your diligence that Hebrews 11 spoke of, of the fear of God.

Let's turn back there again where we were going to start this evening. "By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith." We see that in this generation, God is preserving to Himself a holy seed, "...a royal priesthood, an holy nation...[called to] shew forth the praises of him who hath called [us] out of darkness into his marvelous light" (1 Peter 2:9). A guarantee of finishing? No. We talked about that this morning. Ham, one who had gone through the purification process, preserved outwardly, but iniquity was still in his heart. He uncovered his father's nakedness. He rejoiced in other people's failures and fallings so that he could look better. No thankfulness, no appreciation of the generations that had gone before and brought preservation and light and life. We're living in a time where people want to point fingers and nit-pick on all kinds of different little areas. I want to tell you something. Our lives are judged on the whole. Amen? On the finished product, on what God sees, on what's been done in abundance in our lives. I want to point out that spirit of Ham because that's one of the very strong spirits that's working in our generation, that's working against a remnant of people that are pursuing holiness. People want to stand back and point at little things, little failures in individuals lives, and say, "What about that, and what about that?" to try to minimize the fact that there are people who are pursuing God. Don't be discouraged by their accusations. Don't try to, in any way, excuse or justify. Just get on board, praise God, and realize that God's going to shut us in and call us His own.

We've paralleled with the ark, and I'm going to finish with this for this evening. This morning we paralleled the ark a little bit to the body of Christ, the church. The ark that is built today, that we are protected in, is the church, as we're placed as members in particular into the body. We've been called and placed as it pleases Him. We've been called two by two, if you please, male and female, if you please. God has called us. He's calling a people to Himself. He's placing us as it pleases Him. As the children of light, we bring about that reproof, as we saw in Ephesians, where our lives are intertwined together and we're being strengthened and edified as we speak the truth to one another in love. That's where your safety is.

A woman came to me this morning and-it goes right along the lines of what I shared with you was going to happen. A lady came in and she said, "Do you remember me?" I said, "No, I don't." She said, "I came here 20 years ago. I'm battling torment and fear in my life right now and knew there was one place I could get help. I knew that this was a place where a strong word [was the term that was used, a strong word], the truth, is preached, a standard being held. I knew I could get truth here and help here. Would you pray for me?" I said, "Prayers won't help you. You came to get prayer, but I want to tell you, you need to come and plug in and get help." Amen? It's not prayer; it's becoming a part. It's imbibing a spirit. It's giving back. Praise God! It's being intertwined. Amen? That's where the strength is. That's where our protection is, and I believe people are going to see that. I believe that something is being done in our midst here that's bigger than we could imagine in this day. I don't know where it's going but, beloved, God's building an ark. Amen? He's building a church and it's bigger than this little fellowship. It's universal. It's numbered in the millions in little groups all over. I guarantee you one thing. It's not found in the super churches of our generation. Oh, there's a remnant in some of those. But it's not in that spirit that built them. There will be a calling out two by two. There will be a holy nation that God is going to build for those that realize the condition of our society today, that it's evil continually. There is nothing out there that's going to edify us. Everything out there vexes us. How do we keep ourselves pure? How do we keep these things from becoming the weights and sins that do so easily beset us? By constantly coming to the house of God and being cleansed and having our hands lifted up, by constantly going to the mirror of God's Word, by constantly listening to the counsel of our friends, that's the ark that's been provided. What do we get out of it? A whole boatload of mess that has to continually be cleaned up and fed. Somebody has to chase the monkeys down, and it's called family, the body of Christ. Amen?

"And God remembered Noah." Some that don't have a real appreciation right now are going to be thankful for this ark that has been built because of the hours that are upon us. I just want to encourage each one of you right now. Go out and cut another tree, and let's build this thing. Amen? It's going to cost us our time, and it's going to cost us our energy. It's going to cost us the redirecting of our treasures. But let's put a little more pitch to this thing and realize we're saving a generation that's following us. Noah didn't do all the work. He got his kids involved. Amen? Don't give to your kids. Make them work and build this thing and be strengthened, a generation that can dig their own wells and resist that spirit of antichrist that's opposing the true love of God and the true mercy of God. "By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, [but only in the spirit]." Not seen by the natural eye, things seen only in the spirit, the humble man. He couldn't see it. He didn't understand it, but he was moved with fear and prepared an ark to the saving of his house. I don't understand it all. The work involved, the diligence involved, the not sparing for the crying, the fact that everybody else is out playing and my kids are cutting wood. How do I explain that to my kids? How do I justify it to my kids when everybody else is running and playing and has gadgets and toys, and everybody else is so blessed? We're cutting wood "...to the saving of his house; [the Scripture says] by the which, he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith."

Father, we thank You for that spirit that's being raised up in our midst. Everything in our generation opposes it, but we're not moved by what we see. That day will not come upon us unawares. It's not coming upon us, because we're not a people that live in darkness. We're very conscious of what's going on today, the spirit that's wooing us, the lulling to sleep of our prosperity. Father, we are not more righteous because we don't have gadgets. We're not more righteous because we don't own a TV, because we drive an old junk piece of car, or because we live in a tent. That's doesn't make us righteous. It's not by our own works. Our works are as filthy rags.

What makes us righteous is fearing God, being about the kingdom business, seeking first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, by honoring God with the first fruits of all of our increase, recognizing that it's of God and not of us. What makes us righteous is casting our care upon Him, of being made righteous with His righteousness, believing that He was made sin with our sin. What makes us right with God and [makes us His] children is our obedience. What makes us right with God is not considering our own natural weaknesses but being fully persuaded that what God has promised, He's able to perform. If we will do the Word, God will raise up in our midst a godly seed. Our children will not run from it, they'll run to it because they'll see the truth of it. Satan has lied to you parents. "If I do that, my kids will run away." If you don't do it, you've already lost them. "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord" (Joshua 24:15). Noah, with that spirit, found grace in the eyes of the Lord.

Hallelujah! Let's stand before the Lord and just thank Him for His goodness and what He's doing in our midst. A great work, foundational decisions, as we shared this morning, are being made in the lives of many households. Heads of house setting course saying, "This is the way it's going to be, praise God! This is the course we're on." It starts with you, men. It starts with you, Noah. You alone can bring rest to your house by the decisions that you're making right now to fear God, to be the one that recognizes the spirit that's out there contending for your household. Listen closely. If you let it alone, they will die. Righteous Lot vexed-the angels had to reach down and pull them free. Lot's wife looked back. This spirit is irresistible in the flesh, but when Satan comes like a flood, the Spirit of God raises a standard up against it. Don't believe the lie that any way other than God's works. "This is the way, walk ye in it" (Isaiah 30:21).

As Gary plays for us and we survey our own hearts and the course that we're on, let me ask you this evening, real quickly. What are you building? I hear the sound of hammers. I hear saws going, but what are you building, really? What are you building it on? If it is not built on a life of obedience, then it's built on the sand and great shall be the fall. What are you building? "Well, I'm building a future for my children. I'm building a beautiful home. I'm building a life of prosperity and ease and comfort." "I'm building an ark, because I've heard it said of God, it's going to rain." As the old Negro hymn says, "Didn't it rain, brother, didn't it rain!" It's coming on this generation. It's going to rain. I don't know at what time God is going to take us out of here. I'm a person that loves ease and comfort. I'd like to go out early. But we may have to go through some stuff. Have you built an ark? Is what you're building going to stand when the wind and the rains come? What are you building it on? "But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord." Humility. Fear. Obedience.

We didn't get to that part tonight, but Noah obeyed and he went and did the work of the Lord. He then went and gathered the food for the animals. He was diligent to be a doer. He didn't just sit back and wait for God. He did what God told him. He built the ark, and he brought in all of the food for himself and all of the animals. On the day appointed, God brought the last pair and said, "Get on board." And He shut the door. They were spared, and the ark set down on dry land, and Noah built the first altar to God. Noah became a vine keeper. There wasn't all of the wickedness and the oppression and all of the masses of folks that were evil continually. Noah had it pretty easy and got drunk. He didn't get drunk one day when there was a bar on every corner. He didn't get drunk one day when everybody was walking by and mocking him and saying, "Curse God." He got drunk when things were easy. Let's put our hand to the plow and not look back.

Let's sing it together and rejoice in His goodness. To Your Majesty. Thank You, Jesus. Oh, Lord, we surrender to You. Oh, You are so mighty, Lord! Yes, Lord! Hallelujah! Oh, we do, Lord, and we just ask for Your grace to order our steps. Go before us and make a way, Lord, and call us to Yourself. Call us and we'll come and walk with You in the garden. Send us and we'll go. Strengthen us and we will prevail. Protect us and preserve us for Yourself and Your glory, we ask, in Jesus' name. In Jesus' name, we ask it, Father. Hallelujah! Amen. Amen.

Before you go, turn to somebody next to you and say, "Cut another tree."

The St. Kitts team, if you'll come, we're going to pray and believe God with you now. Some great things that we're expecting, not only in the lives that you're going to minister to, but in your lives. I'll share with you what we've shared with so many others that have gone. When you go, don't go down there as the answer man. Go down there as a servant. Be humble. Let God use you. Let's expect that remnant to be called and separated for Father's glory. If the other pastors will come, we want to lay hands on these, and the wives, if you'll come and help us pray. For some of you, it's your first trip; others have gone before. It's an exciting time and, not only are you going to affect lives, your life will be affected. You're going to be changed. Go believing for Father to do a work in your life and according to your faith, of course, it will be to you. If the pastors can just lay hands on some of those, and the ladies, just pray God's blessing on them. Each one of you extend your hearts and your hands toward these that have come. Let's pray together.

Father, we come in the name of Jesus. We don't go in our strength. We go in the power of Your might. For it's "...not by might, or by power, but by [Your] spirit." Father, we go as little children, not knowing how to go out or to come in, but, Lord, You're going to show Yourself mighty, for Your strength is made perfect in our weakness. We thank You for Your goodness and Your grace. We pray wisdom, Father, and protection upon each life. Supernaturally manifest Yourself in each heart here, Father, each life, that You might be glorified. We ask it and we receive it done in Jesus' name.

Hallelujah! Let's just lift our hands and thank Him for what He's doing and what He's going to do in each one of these lives. We thank You, Father. We rejoice in the victory won, the lives that will be strengthened, souls saved, Father. We're asking for souls to be brought into the harvest. Be glorified, Father. Thank You, Jesus. We will give You the glory, Father. Hallelujah! You are worthy, Lord. You are worthy. Amen.

It's a great opportunity. Go in the power of His might. Amen? Let's believe for some great things to be done. Praise God! Amen! Now, turn to somebody next to you and say, "Cut another tree." Praise God! Amen!

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