Pastor Samuel Sharing

Brother William Sharing

Transcription of Pastor Samuel's Sharing

We have come to Genesis chapter 8. What can you conclude? What can you draw from the text of Genesis chapter 8? I want to share with you the way and the approach of our Bible study. We call this a big picture and we can see it in all of chapter 8:

What can you draw, what can you get, and what does God want to speak to us? There is one of the major pieces; regardless of what kind of translation, you want to catch the main meaning of the whole chapter. There may be words or sentences which are not translated accurately, but if you look at the big picture, it always paints the whole thing in a clarity. So, I will call this approach of the Bible study as “seeing the main topic that the author tries to tell us.”

If you read Genesis chapter 7, all the animals and human beings are wiped out by the flood, and that is horrible. If you read this, I think you will easily get the feeling that God is so cruel; God is the God of destruction. Is that true? But when we come to Genesis chapter 8, we will see that God is the God of mercy, and God is the God who remembers Noah. God is the God who does not want to curse and does not want to destroy . But the problem of this kind of conclusion is not that easy. The main problem is getting the main topic and seeing the big picture. If we see the big picture, we will not be misled by certain things God has done.

When we come to chapter 8, one of the main topics we are talking about, it is God's desire is for us to be able to multiply on the earth, and to be fruitful and increase in number. But the statement is too long: God's desire is not to curse us; his desire is to bless us*.* When you see from this kind of perspective, you will see a controversial view from chapter 7. Because in chapter 7, a lot of people died. Some may probably just born for a couple of days and then wiped out from the earth. Some animals, whether old or young, were all wiped out. So, this controversial view will give us some confusion. But if we do not understand God's desire, that will be a problem.

Let us look at Genesis chapter 8.

You know the first sentence is: “God remembered Noah, and all the wild animals, and all the livestock that were with him in the ark.” You know what happened to Noah and his whole family after entering the ark; it is a boring life. And do you know what happened? The flood came, Noah waited for one day, two days, three days, four days, one month, two months, three months. They do not know what day it will be, and when will the flood be over. And in the ark, people get really bored.

During the quarantine of COVID-19, some people were trading in certain cities and because of COVID-19, the people somehow were in the quarantine. After they were in the quarantine, after one day, two days, three days, they started to get a little bit crazy, because it was really boring! But for Noah, being inside the ark, the first thing that came into his mind was when will be the day the flood is over. You and I would probably do the same thing. When we are lived in such a boring time, or when we are getting out of Egypt living in the desert, such kind of life is very boring. Therefore we may want to end this kind of life earlier and asking for God of His where about: God do you still remember me? Do you forget us?." This kind of concern will surely come into our mind. Even in the mind of David, the great man of faith. When he was in trouble, he cried out to the Lord:"When will be the day you come and help me?"

Noah lived this kind of boring life inside the ark. 150 days passed. Do you know how long it is for such quarantine? 150 days then this verse comes in; the first verse in chapter 8 is that “God remembered Noah”. That is really comforting; God remembered. For you and I, always remember that God will never forget.

What would happen if God somehow forgot Noah? God: “I handle the whole universe; Noah is such a small thing. I have so much to work on, I am so busy." Suddenly, a thousand years passed. A thousand years to God is just 1 day. What would happen to Noah, after a thousand years passed? Noah would just be a dry corpse. All the animals inside the ark would be dead.

But God remembered. God not only remembered Noah, He also remembered all the animals and the livestock that were with him in the ark. God remembered. So, you and I are waiting in the darkness or we are waiting in the time of trouble. We want the time to be as short as possible. But Noah was a man of faith. He waited and waited, another day, another month, 150 days passed. In the ark he kept the faith. Living in the ark, you do not know when it will be the day to leave; when will be the day the whole thing is over? Inside the ark it is so boring.

And God receded the waters. He shut off the springs of the deep, and the floodgates of the heavens. And He shut it off so the water stopped. Then it started to dry up. But remember, that a whole year, 150 days passed by, then the water stopped. But it lasted a lot more days before the dry land came up. Noah wanted to see the day comes as early as possible by sending out a raven and later a dove. He tried to figure out what was happening. Though God did not instruct Noah to send out the raven or the dove, his action represent his eager heart to get out of the Ark. He waited and waited and he did not know when will it be the day. That is why he tried his approach.

Remember that in the time of trouble, or during the time of waiting, you can try this and that, God will not blame you. Because waiting by faith is a tough job. If you go through a tunnel, go through a valley of death and you go through the whole tunnel of darkness, you want it to be as short as possible. You do not know when it will end until God saves you. But the faith will drive us onto the Lord. God remembers you and I.

And that is the message God wants to send to us: God remembers you and I.

You know Noah stayed in the ark for nearly a year, probably more than a year. In a year's time, imagine how much struggle Noah and his whole family were going through in the ark. The wife might complain, the son might complain, the son's wife might complain as well. They might ask thousands of one question to Noah, and Noah sometimes tried to keep quiet, and sometimes built up their faith and let them know that God will remember them (you and I). For Noah, this time of waiting is the time of faith. Are you with me? I know some of us probably may not suffer much but are living in this darkness. You do not know when God will save us from this trouble. We do not know when will be the time God gets us out of this kind of darkness, or out of the kind of trouble.

People like David [in the Bible], in the time of trouble, he was trying to figure out why he needs to go through all this trouble. That is why he says “Oh Lord do not rebuke me in your anger, or discipline me in your wrath, have mercy on me, Lord, for I am faint.” (Psalms 6:1-2). That kind of question David asked: he said, “God do not rebuke me.” He was trying to figure out : "Why do I need to go through this kind of trouble?." Someone like King Saul was trying to catch him, trying to kill him. He was constantly living in this kind of fear. Today he might have food, tomorrow he might not have food. Today he had this trouble, tomorrow he had another trouble. He was leading about 600 people and running here and there, hiding here and there. And that kind of life lasted for 13 years. And in the 13 years while David was waiting,he tried to figure out if that because of something he did. Did God rebuke David? No. He was trying to figure it out. No, God never blamed him.

David said: "Lord, do not rebuke me in your anger or discipline me in your wrath.” (Psalms 6:1 NIV)

Was that so? Did God really wanted to rebuke David? No! God put David into this training, so that he can be trained by faith, and sustain in that kind of trouble. He continued to say: "Heal me, Lord, for my bones are in agony. My soul is in deep anguish. How long, Lord, how long?”

Are you with me? For the people who were in the ark, the salvation may take some sort of test. It was not like the end of the test would come tomorrow, not even next month. The test probably last pretty long, longer than what you could take. But David cried out to the Lord: "Turn, Lord, and deliver me; save me because of your unfailing love. Among the dead no one proclaims your name. Who praises you from the grave?” Sometimes, when I went through the days of darkness, I know that kind of feeling. That kind of feeling is not so good. But, I always remember God's unfailing love: God will remember me, God will not forget me, God will save me. God is not is a God who curses me; God is the God who has mercy and grace. He put me into the test so that I would sustain my faith one day after another day, until I see God bring me out of that ark, bring me out of the days of darkness, bring me out of the valley of death.

Every time, my brothers and sisters, every time we go through the tough days (No one wants toughness), but every time, we will see God’s unfailing love. Those days is a good training for faith. Inside the ark, Noah was facing the family. I believe Noah is indeed a man of strong faith: Even the wife may complain, or the sons and their wives may complain (They may ask a thousand and one questions), but Noah still remembered God's unfailing love, and he would sing praises. Probably there was no entertainment inside the ark, but Noah made the days in the ark as an entertainment of exercising faith. Every time he may exercise faith waiting in that kind of situation.

We can't do anything inside the ark. Outside is the flood. Either you go out and get drowned in the flood, or you stay in the ark waiting for the day to come. The same thing applies to those people who have faith. They exercise faith. The faith is in the Lord's unfailing love. God remembers you and me. God always remembers me. After going through the tunnel of darkness, I will see the grace, the glory of Almighty God.

Sometimes I remember those days, those kinds of struggle. The only thing, which was able to sustain me to the day, was to see the glory of our almighty God. This is the faith. That is, the righteous men live by faith.

Righteous men live by faith. If you are a man of faith, or a woman of faith, You will live until the day God comes and save you and me. God always remember you and me.

The first sentence of Chapter 8 is:

But God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and the livestock that were with him in the ark, and he sent a wind over the earth, and the waters receded. (Gen 8:1 NIV)

God did not just remember Noah, but He also remembered all the animals that were with him. Somehow, I know that God is indeed the almighty God, and God is a merciful God. I used to keep a little pet dog. One day, the whole face of the dog was swollen. When the dog was in agony, I would rather see my face swollen. I know I can bring him to see the doctor, or I can look for all kinds of treatment. But when I see the dog’s swollen face, and I said to myself: "Oh, my God, is a the God who remembers me, and is a God who remembers my animals.” So, I held the head of the dog in my arm, and I prayed for an hour.

After an hour, I released my hand, and I saw the dog’s face was healed and became normal! I said: "Oh, God, you are really a good God! Your desire is not to curse us, but Your desire is to bless me, even the pet dog which was with me!”

Therefore, Noah, by exercising faith in the ark, he really pleased the Lord. One hundred and fifty days passed by, and the flood was roaring outside the ark. Inside the ark, probably it was only darkness. Every day and night, what you could see is only the rain was pouring, the flood was roaring, and a lot of dead bodies outside the ark floating in the water. Probably the smell also got into the ark. They could smell death and the animals inside the ark. That was not a good feeling. He didn't know when the whole thing would be over. But by faith, he was able to please the almighty God.

So come with me! Go with me to be a man of faith, or a woman of faith! As men and women of faith, as long as you can sustain and you trust in the Lord's unfailing love, even that might be one month, that might be a year, or thirteen years, thirty years…, I would still sing praise to the Lord. I would praise his unfailing love. I know He will remember me. He will surely remember. He will not forget I'm still inside the ark.

God is a good God. God is not the God who wants to curse, but the God who wants to bless us. God is a God who wants us to multiply on the earth and be fruitful, and increase in numbers. God wants us to not live in poverty, but God wants us to live in his blessings and abundance. So, if you and I know the desire of God, you will not be full of doubts towards God in the ark. Your mind will not be wavering. Your mind will not be swinging from left to right, or struggling with changing mind. Because of the faith, I believe our God is a good God, our God wants us to live in abundance and our God wants to bless us. God wants to lead us to prosperity instead of poverty.

That's why the more I read the Bible, the more I love God. Every time I read this, I would always say: “Oh my God, you are the almighty God, yet you remember me, a tiny creature on the earth. Who am I? But you still remember me! I'm not worthy, but God still remembers me!”

God has a great plan to lead us into prosperity. Some people ask me: “Is your gospel a ‘Gospel of prosperity’"? I would ask them: “Oh yeah! Do you want to live in poverty?” Their answer is definitely “No”. Then why do you ask me this kind of silly question? Our God is a God of prosperity, right? Our God is not a God of poverty. God has a great plan in me. Why do you ask this kind of silly questions?

God's desire is for us to be blessed. That's why I trust in Him and I follow the words of God. I keep on moving forward. For every step I move, I want God's word to be able to guide me along the path of life. Because of the God's desire, I want to sacrifice my whole life for Jesus Christ.

When Noah finally came out of the ark, the first thing he did was to give offering and sacrifice to our almighty God. His faith has sustained, and he exercised his faith successfully to reach the day. God let him out, saved him out from the ark, and he made the offering to the Lord. This is the man of faith. Noah is the man of faith. That's why God was pleased by Noah's offering. If you are not a man of faith, even if you give offering and sacrifice, probably that would be more like the offering from Cain in Genesis Chapter 4.

So, what we are doing is if you and I go through the toughness, go through certain kind of difficulties, go through certain kind of darkness, or even the valley of death, exercise faith until we walk with God. I'm sure when the day come, you and I will make one great decision. That is, to offer myself to the almighty God.

I am sure when the day comes, you and I will make a great decision, a decision to consecrate ourselves to mighty God. I would say: “Oh God, I only live for you and I would die for you. You are my God and you are everything in my whole life." You know when Noah came out from the ark, some people might think in this way: "Finally...I finally came out from that boring ark. I have to enjoy my life because this world is so beautiful, I have so many things to do."

When these people came out from the ark, they just put the God aside. Do you think God would say:" As long as the earth endures, seed- time and harvest, cold and heat , summer and winter, day and night will never cease, I will not destroy all living creatures, as I have done."

Would the God do that? Absolutely not! I believe the God will destroy all living creatures again.

Our God knows who actually love him and God has prepared the things much more than we think for those who love him: what no eye has seen, what no ear has heard and what no human mind has conceived. Our God will never again curse the ground because of Noah, a man of faith, well pleasing to God and that God is also pleased with Noah's offerings. Noah sacrificed burnt offerings; God smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: “Never again will I curse the ground because of humans, even though every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done." This is all because Noah loves God.

Today, I would like to encourage you to make an offering just like what Noah did. Probably you haven't experienced or gone through difficulty, frustration, grief and pain. No matter how many trials and tribulations we have undergone, we make offerings to the God. The aroma will please the God and said in his heart: “Never again will I curse the ground because of humans.” How encouraging all these is to us, when I was reading these lines in the bible, I also said in my heart: "God, I love you. I want to be a man of faith. I want to be such a man pleasing you even though every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood, you will not curse them."

When I was leading others, a lot of people living with the sickness, evil and selfishness and came to me . I prayed for them.: cried out to the God when these people were healed and blessed by the Lord. I said to the Lord: "Lord, I know you remember me. Because of me, you forgave them and you healed them." When the Jesus was on the earth, a lot of people came to Jesus with full of desires, but the bread was the only thing that these people were looking for.

How many people came to the Jesus for healing and seeking the meaning of life? How many people want to live for Jesus Christ? I can tell you there is only a few, but God still healed those people because our Lord Jesus can get rid of the illness and curse. God healed them not because of any other thing, it was because there is a man called Jesus Christ.

Brothers and sisters, how inspiring for people to hear that? God is love and this is the desire of our God, God can get rid of the curse for us. We should know how to be grateful! You know every time when I was praying for some people, I know their heart of desires. That's the reason why in my prayer, I am always hoping they are willing to renew their mind and heart, as well as to know the desire of mighty God. Because of the love of Jesus Christ, we should always have a grateful heart to our God. For certain people, I really don't understand what they are thinking in their mind.

Once upon a time, I prayed for a lady who is going through life and death issue and God healed her. When we were discussing about the tithing, she just walked away and rather to spend all her money to the hospital with different treatments. I said to myself:"How silly can that be? The year I know the desire of our God, I would never make such silly decision in our whole life."

The wise decision which I have ever made was to pray to the God and God spoke to me: “Are you willing to die for me?” All in a sudden, I cried out to the God with my tears dropped down from my eyes: "Lord, thank you for choosing me. I am willing to die for you." I would never said something like: "Oh God, give me a day to think about it, okay?"

For me, I just wanted to make my decision as quick as possible. I said to God: “I am just a tiny creature on this earth, who am I? God, you have asked me a great question and I don't want to wait.” For some people, when they were asked if they are willing to die for Jesus Christ or if they are willing do tithing for Jesus Christ or if they are willing to serve the Lord. The most common answer is: “Oh, let me consider.” Some people even said: "Sure, but wait until…when I achieved my financial freedom." A lot of people do not understand our God is actually our financial freedom! Whether I am rich or poor, sick or healthy, no matter what kind of situation I will be in. I always trust in God because I know the desire of our mighty God is to bless those who love him, those who want to live for the Lord Jesus Christ and those who exercise faith until we see the day God reach out his hand and bring us out of the valley of darkness. This is all because of this man – Noah.

God included Noah in the Genesis Chapter 8, it was to demonstrate what kind of people God loves and what kind of people pleasing to God, so God remembered Noah and his family. When Noah came out from the ark, he did not choose to enjoy his life. The first thing which Noah did was to burnt offerings to the Lord because Noah was so grateful to God.

Brothers and sisters, if you and I know the desires of our mighty God, can you and I satisfy the desires of God and pleases God like Noah did? If you are a man like Noah, I am sure that your life will never be the same, your life will be filled with excitement, joy, miracle and you will be the one blessing other people on the earth. We can all walk out from our meaningless life, walk into the life and death destiny, and understand the meaning of life! This chapter is mainly focused on the desires of our mighty God. Thank you everyone for listening my bible study for Genesis Chapter 8. God bless!