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Noah obeying the Lord courageously
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in this podcast, we will hear
Noah obeying the Lord courageously
recorded february 2, 2025
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Transcript
Introduction to 'MyGolf' Episode
00:00:02
Speaker
like ah Hey there, folks. Welcome to another episode of MyGolf.
Preview: 'Noah, Obeying the Lord Courageously'
00:00:24
Speaker
my ah It is now February 2nd, 2025. And in tonight's recording, I'm going to play you a file that I just procured recently called like
00:00:50
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my god Noah, obeying the Lord courageously. I hope you are blessed by this 43 minute presentation and that you are inspired. Enjoy and thank you for listening.
Jana's Experience with Bible Study and Worship
00:01:02
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like um
00:01:19
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Welcome to Compass Online. My name is Jana and I lead worship here at the Compass Church. Lately in my time with God, I have been using the Bible study book called From Beginning to Forever. And it takes you through the entire Bible so that at the end of the Bible study, you can summarize the entire Bible in just a few sentences. I've learned so much, but I also was reminded about how much God loves us all. So I encourage you to check it out. But right now, let's take some time to worship our God together.
Church Planting in Albania: Tony Manelli's Story
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free, free indeed.
00:06:12
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I am a child of God
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Friends, God loves the whole world and his church is beautiful around the world. We're here in Southern Europe, in Albania, in a country that up until 30 years ago was dominated by communism. When communism fell here, there was literally zero churches in the entire country.
00:06:40
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Now ironically, one of the first churches that got started was able to meet in the former mansion of the dictator of the country. Here in Toronto, the capital city of over a million people, today there are just under 100 churches in the city, all of them small but mighty and excited to affect their culture and to bring the good news about Jesus Christ. And all of this is made possible by church planting pastors that have given themselves over to this life's work.
00:07:08
Speaker
Hello, my name is Tony Manelli. I am from Tirana, Albania. I have come to know the Lord in 1997 and in the year 2000-2001 I got involved in church planting ministry. We went and planted the church in one of the suburbs of Tirana where they are still living a lot of young families. We started through children's ministry and younger people and since the desire to reach this family, we organized summer camps since 2014. And since that time, till now, more than a thousand people have come to our camps, have heard the gospel. Many of them have come to know the Lord, and some of them are part of Agape Church, which is growing. And we have a appointed leaders because since we saw the Agape Church growing, then we decided to go to another area to plant another church among students and young adults.
00:08:02
Speaker
When I think of Agape Church, I think of a place where it's important for us that people would feel welcomed since when they visit our church, this is their very first time in a church. So when I think of being welcomed, I think of Roni, who when he visited our church at the beginning, he was not a believer or a Jesus follower. But because he was welcomed and he was taken care of,
00:08:31
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Then he took the decision to be, to believe in Jesus and to be a Jesus follower. He's still attends Agape Church now and he is really a Jesus follower.
00:08:45
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The second church we have planted is called City Church and that is located in the center of the city. It's near a campus university because we are reaching university students and young adults. As we all know, those are the future leaders of our country and also the to the Christianity in Albania. Since Christianity in Albania is very young, we need to focus on them in order that we could preach the gospel but to every aspect of society and then we have been able to see God's hand as we were doing summer camps, we were doing other projects with them, helping them to how to shine the light of Christ in their workplace. So we are thankful to what the Lord has been doing so far and we can't wait to see how the Lord is going to use us to reach the entire society of Albania.
00:09:36
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God loves the whole world and his church is beautiful around the world. And we love partnering with pastors like Tony and Fation to see God's will done in places like this.
Introduction to Biblical Heroes Series: Noah's Ark
00:09:47
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You know, it wasn't too long ago that the apostle Paul said, I am not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is the power of God for all who would believe. And we love helping people find and follow God. And we love partnering with other churches of like kind.
00:10:46
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Thank you for being here. So grateful for each person at the Compass Church. Want to say hi to everybody at the Wheaton Campus, Naperville, South Naperville people, Hinsdale, Three Rivers, Bolingbroke. We got the Sheridan Prison friends and everybody online.
00:11:05
Speaker
How about we dive in to week three of our series called Hall of Fame. This series is studying this famed chapter, Hebrews chapter 11, which takes a look at these Old Testament biblical heroes, so much fun. Week one, we we took a look at Abel, and then last week Enoch, and today Noah. Finally, we're at one that's very famous.
00:12:03
Speaker
noah's Noah's Ark, friends, this particular set was, it well, it belongs to my mom and she used to put it out back when my three kids were little and they loved it. They were mesmerized by this set, would play with the animals and get caught up in the wonder of of this drama. As I pulled it out for this message, my kids were like, oh, we remember that so well.
00:12:30
Speaker
Noah's Ark and all the the color is making it very popular. It has been for centuries as people decorate the preschool room at churches with wall coverings of Noah's Ark or nurseries in people's homes got Noah's Ark decor or children's books love to cover Noah's Ark. It's it's just the perfect image, isn't it? It's got exotic animals and unprecedented nautical engineering and and divinely created pageantry with all of the choreography of the animals coming in two by two as God guided them into the ark. It's got high seas adventures. Yeah, it's perfect for kids.
00:13:18
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until it gets to worldwide annihilation of humanity. Yeah, there's a certain irony, isn't there? the The kids love the story, and yet as we dive in, we realize that it's terrifying what God needed to do, what he felt required to do because of the epic evil on earth is rather disturbing. That said, we're going to study this great story together and we're going to focus in on the moment that God announced to Noah a flood's coming and you need to build a boat.
00:13:52
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That instruction God gave to Noah is what's focused on in Hebrews chapter 11. And since that instruction and the prophecy of the coming flood, since that's what's focused on, I thought it good for us to turn back to Genesis and read that portion of the narrative as it's found in Genesis chapter 6. You ready? Here's what the Bible says.
00:14:16
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Noah was a righteous man. In fact, the only blameless person living on the earth at the time. And he walked in close fellowship with God. Now, God saw that the earth had become corrupt and was filled with violence. Everybody on the earth was corrupt. And so God said to Noah, I have decided to destroy all living creatures, for they have filled the earth with violence.
00:14:45
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Noah, build a large boat from cypress wood and waterproof it with tar. Construct stalls throughout its interior and make the boat 450 feet long, 75 feet wide and 45 feet high. Put a door on the side and build three decks inside the boat, lower, middle and upper.
00:15:13
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I am about to cover the earth with a flood that will destroy every living thing that breathes. But I will confirm my covenant with you, Noah. So enter the boat, you and your wife and your sons and their wives. Oh, and bring a pair of every kind of animal, a male and a female, into the boat with you.
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pairs of every kind of bird and every kind of animal will come to you to be kept alive. And be sure to take on board enough food for your family and for all the
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know Noah's decision to obey this wild instruction was heroic. It got him in the Hall of Fame. And friends, we need to understand that the story of Noah and his ark is not there for our fascination or for our home decoration.
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but for transformation and inspiration. That's what we're going after. God wants us to know what happened, so we'll never be the same again. Are you ready? Can't wait to dive into with you the story of Noah and Eve.
00:16:46
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You know,
Noah's Obedience and Its Significance
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when we come to the story of Noah's Ark, a lot of questions abound. Maybe you've got a lot of questions. You know, your folks ask, ah was was it a worldwide flood or is it possible scripture allows for it to be a regional flood? Or others ask, you know, Wouldn't, if it was global, the topography of the Earth need to be flattened compared to what it is today? Or others ask, is it even possible with ancient primitive tools to construct a boat that big? Or others ask, with two of every kind of animal, would there be room on a boat, even a boat that big? And others focus on the excrement and say, what would you do with all the stuff?
00:17:37
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Friends, I would love, I'm tempted, to dive into all of those questions, but I'm gonna focus on what our text focuses on. Those questions are good, and there's lots of good research to be done out there, so dive in and really wrestle with those, but we're gonna stick with Hebrews chapter 11 verse 12. Seven. You ready? It says this. It was by faith that Noah built a large boat to save his family from the flood. He obeyed God who warned him about the things that had never happened before. By his faith, Noah condemned the rest of the world and he received the righteousness that comes by faith.
00:18:28
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Friends, you'll notice I've highlighted He obeyed God. That's going to be our focus, the the faith expressed in obedience. God said, build this huge boat and Noah did it. That obedience, again, is our main topic. But with the celebration of obedience, there's a danger that we might hint that people get right with God and earn a place in heaven by fully obeying.
00:18:57
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And that's not the truth with anybody. It wasn't the truth with Noah. In fact, I'd like to just for a moment look at that last phrase in that verse. It says, He, Noah, received the righteousness that comes by faith.
00:19:13
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Righteousness, that means being right with God. Noah was right with God and it came by faith. If anybody had works to earn their way to heaven, it would have been Noah. I mean, he did amazing things. And yet even in that passage, it reminds us that it's faith trusting in the saving work of God.
00:19:36
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that gets us right with Him. It's true that works, or good works, are an evidence of faith. That's ah true in the case of Noah as well. But it's not the works that get us right with God. The Lord is looking for faith, that trust reliance on Him and Christ as Savior. It says in Ephesians 2, 8, and 9, you have been saved through faith, not by works. It's always been the the case, even with Noah, right with God because of his faith in the Lord. Okay, with that clarified, let me turn now to this question of obedience. Noah obeyed God. This obedience of Noah is so fascinating because it's remarkable
00:20:27
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You know, there's some obedience that says good. And then there's others that was, oh, that was really good. And then there's some obedience that's like, wow, Hall of Fame worthy obedience. And so it was with Noah. but Let's do this. like Let's let's ah build ourselves a little outline based on this phrase. We must obey even if it's in the first is hard, even if Obedience is hard. It says in that verse, it was by faith that Noah built a large boat. Is that an exaggeration to call the ark large? No, not at all. You may recall when I read Genesis 6.15, it says, make the boat 450 feet long.
00:21:22
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Friends, a football field is 300 feet long. So that's one and a half football fields. This is a barge. This is a massive boat. 75 feet wide, 45 feet high. This model, though adorable, does not do justice to the massive size that this boat was to be by God's instructions. And when Noah heard this, he must have thought, how in the world? Friends, it it took him decade upon decade upon decade working with his sons, possibly hiring a crew. But the difficulty of this assignment is hard for us to imagine. And though difficult, Noah said, I'm going to do it. Let's do it, God. Grab the hammer. Let's get going.
00:22:18
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Friends, ah I would argue that when obedience to God is difficult, most difficult, He is most glorified. I think of that sometimes, you know, when I realize, I don't want to do this, this is going to be hard. Hey, that's an opportunity to glorify God by obeying in the difficult things. My wife, you know, I watched her for years care for her mother who struggled with dementia.
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and dementia, you know, a terrible disease where my mother-in-law was not herself. She was the most loving and kind. Well, that loving and kindness was gone during that era, and yet my wife, day after day, poured herself into that difficult job. And I just tried to remind her, baby, you're you're obeying God in a very challenging calling.
00:23:13
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Feel the smile of God. He is most pleased when obedience is most difficult. And so we need to keep that in mind. Obey God, even when it's really challenging.
00:23:26
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The second is undesirable when when obeying is undesirable. we We see that alluded to here in verse seven. It says, it was by faith that Noah built a large boat to save his family from the flood. God explained why Noah needed to build a boat. God didn't have to do that. God could have said, hey, build a boat. I'm not telling you why.
00:23:54
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But God elaborated in this prophetic message to Noah. God said, Noah, here's the deal. I want to try to get your heart into this project. I'm going to send a flood that's going to wipe out the world. I imagine that God explained. I know that doesn't sound very loving, but the world is so wicked.
00:24:14
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So evil that if I, in future generations, am I going to have any chance of winning people to fidelity? I gotta start over. I can't permit the existing world's evil influence.
00:24:29
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I'm going to start over. I'm going to bring a flood. This boat is to save your family. No idea. Do you want to save your family? Of course he did. And so God was trying to make it desirable for him to motivate him. And God does that. He he often tries to help us want what he wants.
00:24:52
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But sometimes we don't. Sometimes we do. And if God were to say, you need a vacation. I'm ordering you to take one week in Florida to lie on the beaches in paradise. You'd say, all right, Lord, if I must. Sometimes obedience is desirable.
00:25:12
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But sometimes, no matter how much explanation God gives, it's still not desirable. I think of Christ going to the cross. He prayed in Gethsemane, Lord, not my will but yours be done. What he's saying there, you know, it doesn't matter what I want. I don't want to be killed on the cross. But I'll do it, Father, because you have asked. And we need to follow Jesus in that same direction to say, when I want to do what you want? Fantastic. Oh, that's fun when desire matches the call of God. But Lord, my desire
00:25:55
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ultimately isn't a factor in whether I will obey or not. You make your will known, and no matter how undesirable it may be, I'll do it.
Challenges and Rewards of Obedience
00:26:08
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We got hard, we got undesirable. And the next is unreasonable. Sometimes the commands of God seem unreasonable. There's no reason or logic that builds a case as to why this should be done. Look at verse seven. It says, Noah obeyed God who warned him about things that had never happened before.
00:26:35
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This notion of a flood that was so broad it was going to wipe everything out? No, I was like, really, God? This doesn't even make sense. I don't understand how you can bring about an event of that. It it just didn't logically fit his categories of experience or expectation.
00:26:58
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And yet God said, I know it doesn't seem reasonable, but do it. I also think of what we read in Genesis 6 20 where God said you're going to want to bring a pair of every kind of animal, a male and a female into the boat with you.
00:27:14
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And I can imagine Noah going, how am I going to find every kind of animal and then figure out which is the male and which is the female? and And how am I going to get him into the boat? I mean, there were so many logistical questions regarding this assignment. And as unreasonable as it was, Noah said, I'm going to do it. This doesn't add up. I don't see how I can make it happen.
00:27:40
Speaker
But Lord, you clearly commanded it, so I'm gonna do it. You may have noticed in the Genesis account that what actually happened was that God miraculously brought the animals. Out of the forest, he saw these species that he had never seen before show up in pairs, led by a miracle of God into the boat. Oh, did the Lord save the day? But back when the command was first given,
00:28:09
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You can bet that Noah was just scratching his head going, how am I going to accomplish this? Unreasonable. I have a a dear friend of mine. ah Dan Huffman is the children's pastor at our Naperville campus. Here's a photo of Jen and I and Dan and his wife, Kim, at the Bears game.
00:28:28
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ah Dan it just has an amazing story. I had breakfast with him decades ago. He was an owner of a small computer programming company and he was making a ton of money.
00:28:44
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And yet I had this sense that God was leading me to ask Dan if he'd pitch his career in technology and join a call to ministry with children. And and I had to articulate, this was at my previous church, I had to articulate the salary that we could offer him. And it was one fourth of what he was making in technology, just laughable.
00:29:14
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But I asked and I said, Dan, would you just pray about it? And he kind of was like, Jeff, I've never once considered shifting to a career in ministry, but sure, I'll pray about it.
00:29:28
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Wouldn't you know, God spoke to Dan by his spirit as God spoke to Noah. And even though Dan was like, how in the world can we make that work financially? Maybe I can do a little work on the side. Maybe we need to radically reduce our lifestyle. Even then, I'm not sure how it's going to work. But Dan did it. It made no sense from a worldly point of view.
00:29:51
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But Dan did it and I'm so glad he did. Friends, sometimes it just doesn't make sense. It's unreasonable. The next one, embarrassing. Sometimes obedience is embarrassing, but we gotta do it anyways. This is alluded to at the end, towards the end of verse seven where it says, by faith Noah condemned the rest of the world.
00:30:16
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No, that's easily misunderstood. He wasn't screaming at them saying, you're no good. No, rather what happened was as for decades he was building this massive boat on dry land. It drew a crowd. You could imagine it would. And it drew questions and people go, what are you doing?
00:30:37
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And apparently Noah explained, in fact, it says in 2 Peter 2.5, Noah warned the world of God's righteous judgment that was coming. That is the flood. God said, listen, people, I'm building the boat because God told me here's what's coming. He's going to flood the world because nobody's interested in following him or bowing the knee to him as Lord.
00:31:02
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And if you want salvation, the boat's the only way. Nobody took Noah up on an opportunity to repent. They continued to rebel. In fact, now we're speculating, but I think it's obvious. They ridiculed him.
00:31:19
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And they said, OK, buddy, yeah you build your boat in the middle of the field of floods coming. And they thought it was ridiculous. Oh, the scoffing that Noah and his family would have endured over the decades and decades it took to build this massive boat. Sometimes obedience results in mockery from the world. I remember back when I was working in college, my co-workers found out that Jen and I were abstaining from sexual intimacy until marriage. God had called us and we were committed to His path.
00:32:01
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They thought that was hilarious. They're like, you guys have been dating for six years and you haven't slept with each other. What's wrong with you? You know, we we took it. And I can tell you this side of marriage from this perspective, I see the beauty and the superiority of God's plan with crystal clarity.
00:32:25
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But to the world, God's ways sometimes seem laughable. And so we've got to be willing to say, you know what? Laugh at me. I'm obeying God. And i I don't want you to scoff. But if you must, do what you must. One more. It's costly. Can you imagine what this project cost?
00:32:50
Speaker
Noah and his family, the materials, the hours. yeah Here's a little allusion to cost that I didn't even think of. It's found in Matthew chapter 24 where Jesus speaking about Noah says this, in the days before the flood, the people, that is people of the world, they were enjoying banquets and parties and weddings right up to the time that Noah entered his boat.
00:33:17
Speaker
as As Noah was working, focused on this task God had given him, the rest of the world was saying, eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow we may die. Yeah, tomorrow they will die. But they were pouring themselves into a self-centered lifestyle, just asking, what do I want to do? What would make me happy? And much of that Noah had to forego because obedience required him to pay this cost. Sometimes obedience is costly. you know It's the time where we start gathering our documents for taxes you know to present it to an accountant or start crunching the numbers if you do it yourself. And when it comes to that, one of the things we do is look at how much we gave to the Lord.
00:34:09
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I used to go through an experience like this. I used to look at the number that Jen and I had given to the church. And I used to say, oh holy le cow, if if if I hadn't given that, oh, what I could have done, what where we could have gone, what I could have bought with that amount of money. And I used to say, don't think like that, Jeff. If you think about all the exciting things you could have done with that money, it will make you inclined to not give.
00:34:40
Speaker
But recently I've been saying, no, no, think about it. Think about all that you could have done. This is helpful. You know, we need to be a people of sacrifice, people who are willing to obey even when it's costly. And so for me to think about where we could have gone or what we could have bought or what we could have done and say, yeah, you know, I missed out on that, but I'm okay with that. I have a better treasure. That is obedience to the Lord.
00:35:09
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Friends, Noah obeyed the Lord. It was hard, undesirable, unreasonable, embarrassing, and costly, and yet he obeyed the Lord. May we do the same.
Personal Story of Faith and Obedience
00:35:25
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Friends, I want to end by just sharing a moment in my life, 11 years ago,
00:35:31
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i had I felt like a trapeze artist. too you know Sometimes trapeze artists will let go of one trapeze before they grab the next and they're kind of in no man's land there in the air. That's what I felt like. I felt led by God to resign from my position at my previous church before the Compass Church offered me a job.
00:35:55
Speaker
I was already applying for the position and I had been told that the candidate pool had been reduced down to seven, that I was one of seven. But the timing of such just made it evident that God was calling me to let go and resign from my previous church, even though I didn't have the next trapeze. And it was terrifying. Right around that time, this song came out called Oceans, and it has this line in it. Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders.
00:36:29
Speaker
I just clung to that phrase. Spiritually, you know, when when your trust is with borders, that means, oh Lord, I will trust you as long as it's not too hard. And then I got a border there that I won't cross.
00:36:42
Speaker
Or, Lord, I'll trust you as long as it's what I desire. If it's undesirable, that's a border I won't cross. Or, Lord, i I'll trust you as long as it makes sense to me. you If it doesn't make sense, you understand. I can't go there. Or, Lord, if it's embarrassing or if it's too costly,
00:37:01
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And I was like, no, no. It's easy to obey God when everything makes sense. It's easy. It's what you want. It doesn't cost you anything. Obedience is beautiful when it scares you to death, when you're stepping way out of your comfort zone, when you're letting go of one trapeze before you have the other.
00:37:20
Speaker
And I remember that song just ministering to me so powerfully. Lord, I want your spirit to lead me, where my trust in you is without borders, wherever you lead. Whether it be big things like career you know options or small things like having a difficult conversation. you know Sometimes God's saying, go talk to this person. And you're like, no, I don't want to. Lord, I'm a people pleaser. I'm a conflict avoider. And I don't want to do it.
00:37:50
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do it Obey him whenever you believe he is calling you to a certain path. Noah did. Got him in the Hall of Fame. Brought him the pleasure of God. And we too can please the Lord through radical obedience. Let's pray.
00:38:12
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God, I thank you much for the example of Noah, that decision he made to pick up the saw and hammer and say, let's build a boat. Oh God, teach us to be courageous like him. Help us to be people of faith who see you, who hear you, and who know you know what's best.
Conclusion and Prayer
00:38:35
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We want to obey you and all. Spirit, lead us.
00:38:39
Speaker
where our trust is without borders. We pray this in Christ's name. Amen.
00:43:54
Speaker
Thank you so much for joining us. Please let us know you're here by filling out the connection card. Because of your giving, we are able to share the good news of Jesus around the world. Thank you for your generosity. Be sure to join us next week as we continue our series with the message entitled, Abraham, looking forward to heaven.
00:44:26
Speaker
like Well folks, this completes another episode of... like on Until next time, thank you for listening, and may God bless you and keep you.