Not only was Noah slow at getting
the family going, but he was not a very good communicator. Peter called him a
preacher of righteousness (2 Peter 2:5). But, let me tell you what, he was
a miserable failure. In his 100 years of being preaching, only eight were converted-
and that was counting his kids and their wives, he also counted his wife! If
the saving of people were the pastor’s job, he was the single greatest failure
in history. Look what happened to Nineveh in the book of Jonah. After being
swallowed by a whale and spit up on shore, Jonah shows up in Nineveh, preaches,
and the whole city repents. God’s intended destruction of Nineveh was abated.
But Noah’s preaching?
Every preacher knows what it is
like to get before a group of people and drop a bomb of a bore. Someone has
described preaching as a slow death in the nude. One of the most disheartening
things for a preacher to go through is in the middle of the sermon to get the
nagging thought- Is anyone listening?
When I was a pastor in Tampa Bay, Florida, a high school kid sat through the
whole service flipping me off.
But at least every once in a
while you say something worth remembering, something that the congregation will
tell their friends about. It doesn’t happen often, but still. Here is a couple
that I have come up with.
~ There are two kinds of friends: there is the friend that you
have, and there is the friend that you are.
~ Don’t worry about breaking
God’s laws, worry about breaking God’s heart.
I know that’s not a lot of memorable
stuff for being in the preaching business for as long as I have, but I’m no
Solomon. By the way, Solomon had over 3,000 proverbs. And then there is Paul
the apostle. Now there is a quotable man. For I am not ashamed of the gospel
of Christ… For all have sinned and fall short…For the wages of sin is death…
But, can anyone reading this give me a quote of Noah. In fact, in
the four chapters given to recording Noah’s life there are only three verses
worth of quotations. And they weren’t from one of his sermons- it was Noah
bawling out his son. Certainly nothing from his preaching notes.
Noah was not a good communicator.
And Noah wasn’t perfect. One of
the first things old Noah did when he gets off the ark was plant a vineyard,
makes some wine, and gets fall-down-pass-out drunk. Listen, getting’ drunk is
not good. Especially if you is the preacher, even a bad preacher!
So what is so special about Noah?
It can be summed up in one little verse in Genesis, chapter six, verse eight.
It says: Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. That’s it! That is
the one thing that makes Noah so incredibly special. It wasn’t his Type A
personality, his great preaching, nor his perfect lifestyle- because he was
none of those!
The incredible thing about Noah
is his God. God just loved him. God just poured grace out on him.
That gives us hope. If an old
loser like Noah can find grace, then so can you and I. You don’t need to be
great. You just need a great God.
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A Few Q's For You
Do you sometimes get the impression that all the "superstar" Christians are all perfect?
Have you ever looked at yourself and thought you could never be all that good of a Christians because you fail so much?
God's grace isn't for perfect people. Does that idea help you to understand that there is hope for you and your walk with God? How so?
Answer the questions in a "comment". If it is too personal, then make it anonymous.
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