January 4
Gen 8-10 | PS 4:1-8 | Prov 1:20-23 | Matt 4:12-25
When Noah and his family left the ark, God made a covenant with them and with humanity which we read in Genesis 9:12-17, "Then God said, “I am giving you a sign of my covenant with you and with all living creatures, for all generations to come. I have placed my rainbow in the clouds. It is the sign of my covenant with you and with all the earth. When I send clouds over the earth, the rainbow will appear in the clouds, and I will remember my covenant with you and with all living creatures. Never again will the floodwaters destroy all life. When I see the rainbow in the clouds, I will remember the eternal covenant between God and every living creature on earth.” Then God said to Noah, “Yes, this rainbow is the sign of the covenant I am confirming with all the creatures on earth.”" This sign, this rainbow consists of seven colors. Seven is the number of perfection of completeness in Scripture. Sadly, this beautiful rainbow has been corrupted by the LGBTQ community, with their pride flag which consists of a rainbow containing six colors. Six in Scripture often represents the number of man and often signifies imperfection. What God made beautiful has been corrupted. Whenever you see a pride flag hanging from a church building, realize they are celebrating man, not God. If God is not celebrated, if God's word is misrepresented, then if one finds themselves in such a place, even if you grew up there, it is time to flee. Misrepresenting God is a serious offense.
When Jesus embarks in His public ministry, take to heart Matthew 4:17, "From then on Jesus began to preach, “Repent of your sins and turn to God, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near." Repent means to change one's mind about sin. The gospel message rests on repenting of our sins, accepting Jesus' payment for our sins, and turning to Him as Lord of our lives. We often make the mistake of ranking sins. In the first paragraph it might seem as though this sin is being raised above all others, but this is not the case. In fact, often we are harshest on those sins which we do not personally struggle with. But make no mistake, we were all sinners, we are all sinners, and we will continue to sin until the day we leave this earth. The difference rests solely in what we do with this sin. If we explain it away, justify it, point out sins we deem worse in others, then we are in danger of not emptying ourselves of our pride and seeing ourselves rightly before a perfectly holy God. He is perfect, we are not. Emptied of pride we can come to Jesus and accept His payment and enjoy life with Him, no matter what we did in our past.
As an aside, for any who question the narrative that we read in Genesis 8:4, "So the floodwaters gradually receded from the earth. After 150 days, exactly five months from the time the flood began, the boat came to rest on the mountains of Ararat." Interestingly, in the same year that Israel once again became a nation, 1948, an earthquake shook the area of Ararat in current eastern Turkey and a massive ship was noticed in a mudflow. This ship does not rest on the peak but in the lower mountains of Ararat. The dimensions are exactly those given to Noah by God in Genesis 6:14-16. As time went on and archaeological tools became more sophisticated with radar and electrical-resistivity tomography it was shown that the ship contained levels with multiple compartments or rooms also consistent with how Noah was told to build the ark with rooms for the various animals. God's Word can be trusted. Archaeological findings have consistently verified what the Bible states. When we get to know and trust the God of the Bible, we can have peace as we read in Psalm 4:8, "In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, O Lord, will keep me safe".
Messages from Pastor Lloyd Pulley: