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[ Music ] ♪ Blessing I have, thou wonderful King ♪ ♪ That shall at last and set me free ♪ ♪ Silently now I wait for thee ♪

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♪ Ready for God, I live to see ♪ ♪ Open my eyes, illumine me ♪ ♪ Still every night ♪ ♪ Open my ears and I may hear ♪

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♪ Voices of truth I've sent this day ♪ ♪ And as the angels fall on my ear ♪ ♪ Everything falls still this of me ♪ ♪ Silent and now I wait for thee ♪

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♪ Ready my God, thy will to see ♪ ♪ Open my eyes, we move in thee ♪ ♪ Spirit divine ♪ ♪ Open my heart and let me bear ♪

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♪ Gladly the one true everywhere ♪ ♪ Open my heart and let me prepare ♪ ♪ Love with my true and lost descent ♪ ♪ Silent night, all is calm ♪

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♪ Really, my heart, I will to see ♪ ♪ Holy night, all is blue ♪ ♪ Spirit, be mine ♪ Gracious God, our Father, speak now to our hearts.

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In Jesus' name, amen. Two passages of scripture to which I call your prayerful attention. The first is in Genesis chapter six, verses 13 and 14.

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Genesis chapter six, verses 13 and 14. And God said unto Noah, "The end of all flesh has come before me, for the earth is filled with violence through them,

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and behold, I will destroy them with the earth. Make thee an ark of gopher wood. Runes shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch."

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The next passage is in Genesis, Genesis 7, verses 4 and 5. For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights, and every living substance that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the earth.

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And Noah did according to all the Lord commanded him. The subject, ready for rain. Ready for rain. It's gonna rain.

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My grandmother would say, glancing up toward the sky, there was a ring of certainty. It was a proclamation. It's going to rain. It's going to rain. It was as if it were a declaration from a royal palace.

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As if she had received the word straight from the throne of heaven, "It's gonna rain." I would say as a little boy, "But, Grandma, how do you know?" She says, "You just listen to me, boy. gonna rain? Well the proclamation she delivered was positive, it was definite,

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it was certain. The proclamation was a divine declaration delivered with unwavering faith, it's gonna rain. Well, this is a word that Noah received. The proclamation is a promise and a warning.

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He is advised by the Lord to get ready for rain. Now rain is a part of the economy of nature. Arabs have a proverb, all sunshine and no rain makes a desert.

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Rain is a divine arrangement. It's gonna rain. Make no mistake about it, it's gonna rain.

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As children we used to say, "Rain, rain, go away. Come again another day." But no matter how often you say that and how often you may pray that prayer, it's gonna rain.

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We must encounter some rainy days Rainy days. Listen to Henry Wordsworth Longfellow's poetic description of a rainy day. The day is cold and dark and dreary.

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It rains and the wind is never weary. The vine still clings to the moldering wall. And at every gust, the dead leaves fall, and the day is dark and dreary. That's the way life is.

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My life is cold and dark and dreary. It rains and the wind is never weary. My thoughts still cling to the moldering past, but the hopes of youth fall thick in the blast, and the days are dark and dreary.

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Be still, sad heart, and cease repining. Behind the clouds is the sun still shining. Thy fate is the common fate of all. Some days into each life some rain must fall, some days must be dark and dreary.

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It's going to rain. "My faith is the common fate of all into each life. "Some rain must fall." It may not have rained in yours up to this point,

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but believe me when I tell you, it's gonna rain. God has promised rain. He hasn't promised us a day and a week and a year all through our lifetime.

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He hadn't promised us that it was not gonna have some rain. In fact, the scripture says, "He sends the rain upon the just and the unjust." It's gonna rain.

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Noah, get ready for rain. Make yourself an ark of gopher wood. divine discloses to Noah the future. It's a divine judgment against the human race. God has passed judgment against the old order. It is corrupt and doomed to

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destruction. It's gonna rain. Noah is an exception. He has found favor with the Lord. See, Noah and the Lord are partners. They walk together. Noah is acquainted with the Lord's will and way. Noah is obedient to the divine Word. He does what God says. He hears the divine command, "Make yourself an ark of gopher wood."

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Because it's gonna rain, Noah. The design, the material, the construction specifications are included in the divine order. An ark is a boat, a ship, a shelter from the rain and storm. It's a boat that floats on the waters. Make thee an ark, make yourself an ark, a ship to sail the tempestuous seas of life, a

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shelter from the raging storms of human existence. Make yourself an ark. Everybody needs an ark, a place of refuge, a safe retreat, a means of protection from the vicissitudes of human existence, a secure shelter from disappointments, defeats, calamities, and disasters.

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Make yourself an ark. That's a good word. That's a word of wisdom because it's gonna rain. Well, we have an old saying that some people don't have sense enough to come in out of

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the rain. It is said that the rain in Spain stays mainly on the plain. Now that may be true of the plain in Spain. The kind of rain I'm talking about comes everywhere

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to everybody. There's nowhere you can live and escape the rain. And Noah does not attempt to engage in debate with the divine declaration.

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He does not say, "Lord, I have a house. "What do I need an ark for?" He doesn't say that. "I have a house with lightning rods and storm windows.

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"I have flood insurance. "Why build an ark?" No, he doesn't say that. The word is make yourself an ark.

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It's gonna rain, Noah. And Noah begins to work. After hearing the divine proclamation, Noah begins to work with divine passion.

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Working on that ark. Everyday, working on the ark. In the movie Green Pastures, there is a scene of Noah working on the ark and people come by and they ridicule him.

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"Noah, what you doing up there on that ark, man? What you doing up there working on an ark on this dry land all around?" You'll be able to know this man is foolish. But he kept working on the ark with passion.

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on the ark, seeking to follow the divine command. So the pilgrim of faith needs an ark as a shield from a wicked and perverse generation. Make yourself an ark. We need a shelter from the storm that is tailored to our situation. Make yourself an ark. And just as Noah was addressed by the eternal word, so are we. This word

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comes to each one of us in the here and now. Make yourself an ark because it's going to rain. You need a hiding place. Work out your own soul salvation with fear and trembling. Make yourself an ark. Now the sons are not commanded to build an ark for their father. The father is commanded to build an ark for himself

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and the family. Make yourself an ark. So the ark is a means of survival. Without the ark, we perish in a watery grave. Without the ark, we are submerged in criticism and doubt. Without the ark, we will succumb to the depths of despair. Make yourself an ark. Now the name Noah means rest, comfort, cheer. We need rest

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in the midst of our labor. Make yourself an ark. We need comfort in the midst of our sorrow, make yourself an ark. We need cheer for the weary traveler, make yourself an ark. That's the divine word because it's gonna rain and you need to be ready for the rain. As a boy I remember certain things that were done

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in preparation for rain. The windows, doors were shut. And then my grandmother would put some tubs out to catch the rainwater,

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because there were certain things they wanted to do with the rainwater. Other preparation included carrying your raincoat, carrying an umbrella,

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be prepared to be ready for the rain. Well, Noel heard the word that it was going to rain. He heard the declaration, he heard the promise, he heard the warning, and the record reveals that the rains came. It rained 40 days, 40 nights without stopping. The rains descended and the floods came. Now when it rains it

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pours. Just don't get a few raindrops and that's all over it, it pours. One sickness, One physical ailment is often followed by another. Some months ago my wife went down to Atlanta to be with our oldest daughter who was undergoing a very critical operation. and while she was staying with her and going back and forth to the hospital and the like,

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and she came home and while she's there with the daughter, she falls in going to the restroom one morning and breaks an ankle. And so three months later she got over that and we decided to take a delayed vacation to Hong Kong and we're walking together down the streets in Hong Kong and she falls steps in a little pothole and

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breaks the other ankle. And then after she gets over that just a few weeks after that she's out watering the lawn and she cracks her knee. It rains, it pours. It just, it pours. Job has word brought to him that his sons and daughters are having a feast and that a whirlwind has come and smote the four corners of the house and all ten of his children are left dead. dead. And while he is receiving that word, he gets another word that the

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Chaldeans have come and they have taken two-thirds of his cattle and another third has been consumed by a tornado. It just keeps coming. And before he gets through with that, he has a very critical illness and his wife tells him to curse God and die and all of his friends misunderstand why he is going through all of this. It just

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pours. And if it hasn't ever happened to you, just keep on living. Because it's going to rain. It's going to rain. And when it rains, it pours. You see, it's the constant rain that gives birth to the flood. But it just keeps on raining and raining and raining. We know that in Austin, then comes the flood.

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We had some rain here not too many weeks ago and there was hail. One of my friends tells me that there was hail where he was living the size of a golf ball and he went out and got some of it to put in the refrigerator to keep so he'd know that this is what happened.

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It just pours, pours. So there are limits, however, and that's a good word. He said, "Noah, it's gonna rain 40 days and 40 nights." In other words, that's the limit, Noah.

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You're gonna have some trouble. All of us are gonna have some troubles, no matter how good we are, because you see, Noah found grace in the sight of the Lord.

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Good man, it's gonna rain but 40 days and 40 nights. You know, as the song says, "I'm so glad troubles don't last always." Gonna rain, but the limit is 40 days and 40 nights. The lightning flashes, the thunder rolls, contrary winds blow and beat against us.

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We need to be ready for the rain. you see the ark provides security in the rain. When the rain came and the floods were beating against the ark, Noah was in the ark. In the midst of the raging floods and the howling winds he settled in his ark. Even though the rains are pouring,

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Noah is in his ark. You know there's this saying when it rains it pours Martin Salt uses that as a kind of motto that where there were other brands that may be at the time affected by the moisture and the salt didn't flow freely because of that that this was a brand of salt that when the rain came it would

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still function in a normal way. So what really I'm talking about brothers and sisters if you hear me this morning I'm talking about each one of us having a a kind of faith, a kind of faith that will enable us in abnormal situations

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to conduct ourselves in a normal way. That in abnormal situations, we can conduct ourselves in a normal way. Well, Noah obeyed the Lord

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And we need that kind of faith. The faith that enables us to respond in a positive way to the commands of our Lord, to take advantage of the opportunities

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that are available to carry out the divine command. So the word comes, make an ark. Sun is shining now, but make yourself an ark because it's gonna rain and you can find a place of refuge and strength inside the ark,

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even though it's raining outside. That's good news. And that's all I want to say. Leave that with us. That's good news. As a boy I remember when Franklin Roosevelt was elected president he was elected and served, he was elected four times in fact more than any other person, any other president in our history. Elected four

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times and I remember quite well when he was running for the fourth term as president of these United States that the news media indicated that Franklin Roosevelt would not be able to serve out at that term. His health was poor. He was He was already a victim of polio, and he had begun to show some signs of the strain of

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the presidency, human frailties and the like, human weaknesses. And Roosevelt was scheduled to participate in a parade in New York City in connection with that fourth term campaign. And there was some speculation as to whether he would participate, as to whether his health

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would permit him to participate in the parade because it was raining. It was not only raining, but it was cold. One of these rainy, cold, dreary days that the poet talked about. And Roosevelt decided that he was going to participate anyway.

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And he was determined to participate in the parade because you see, rains, if you let them have a way of spoiling the parade. So he participated in the parade. It was raining during the parade.

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He went in what the news had called his feeble condition, they said his weak health condition. participated, rode in the parade, and was in rain-soaked clothes. And in the course of the journey he had it arranged that he changed clothes. And he took some alcohol, put on some dry clothes, and completed the parade. And the next day

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when he was interviewed he said now what do my enemies, my critics have to say. He didn't even catch a cold because he was prepared for the rain. Well we need the Spirit of God in our lives. We need the Spirit of God to somehow strengthen us against all of the rains that may fall. We need the Spirit of God

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to prepare us for the howling winds. We need the Spirit of God to prepare us to stand against the floods that come in the midst of the rain and in the midst of the storm. So what we really need my brothers and sisters is a partnership with God. And that's what Noah had because if you listen to this passage

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this morning it says that I'll make a covenant with you Noah. In other words Noah we're gonna be partners. I'll be in the boat with you and no matter how the winds and the waves may come I'll be there Noah and all will be well. Well thanks be to God he's with us in the rain and in the storm and because he's

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with us in the rain and the storm. We can come through the rain and we can come through the storm. Oh I don't know about you but I've been in the rain. I've been in the rain and I've heard the howling of the winds. I know I've seen the lightning flashing. I've heard the thunders roar but I've heard the voice of Jesus telling me

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still to fight on and he's with us. He never forsakes us and so we're never alone. No, we're never, never alone because he's with us not only to comfort and strengthen us in the rain but to bring us through the rain safe and sound. Well, this is really what is provided, the kind of ark, the kind of faith for those who

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accept the good news of God through Jesus Christ. To have an ark, an ark of safety, an ark of security in the church that he gives, in the life that he fashions through his son. And so if you accept him, the invitation is extended.

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You may come by profession of faith, by letter, by restoration of the candidate's baptism. You may come, as we sang, the old ship of Zion. We invite you to come.

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Go in the church this way. (piano music) ♪ If we all ♪ [MUSIC]

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♪ Shema Zion ♪ ♪ Here we go ♪ ♪ Shema Zion ♪ ♪ Miracle ♪

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♪ Miracle ♪ ♪ There's no danger in the water ♪ ♪ There's no danger in the water ♪ ♪ There's no danger in the water ♪

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♪ And in the water ♪ ♪ Gilmore, Gilmore ♪ ♪ Gilmore, Gilmore ♪ ♪ She has landed ♪

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♪ In your power, sir ♪ ♪ She has my breath ♪ ♪ In your power, sir ♪ ♪ She has my breath ♪

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♪ In your power, sir ♪ ♪ Here I'm born ♪ ♪ Here I'm born ♪ ♪ Jesus ♪

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♪ Jesus ♪ ♪ Jesus ♪ ♪ In the capital ♪ ♪ Jesus ♪

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♪ In the paradise ♪ ♪ Hail, oh Lord ♪ ♪ Hail, oh Lord ♪ (choral singing)

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[Music] [Music] [Music] [Music]

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