I preached on Noah from the Old Testament this past Wednesday night. You
remember Noah – the ark guy. My message was part of a series we are doing
called
Chosen, a series about leaders of the Bible who were reluctant
or unqualified or even downright unwilling. In breaking down Genesis 6-8 from a
leadership standpoint, the Scriptures had this to teach me about Noah’s
leadership style:
Noah led by simple obedience to God’s unusual
instructions.
God told Noah in Genesis 6:14-21 to build an ark and how to build it.
Genesis 6:22 (ESV) says, “Noah did this; he did all that God commanded him.” In
Genesis 7:1-4, God gave Noah instructions on which animals to bring on board the
boat and how many of each. Genesis 7:5 says, “And Noah did all that the Lord
had commanded him.” God told Noah when to exit the ark, and – though after a
year on a boat with a lot of animals and his closest family, this probably
wasn’t much of a stretch of his faith – Noah left the ark.
I found it interesting that the very next verse after Noah’s family left the
ark, Genesis 8:20, begins like this: “Then Noah built an altar to the Lord…” In
our culture of entitlement, we might look for recognition for our obedience, some outward indication that we did the right thing. Noah, however, worshiped.
I think it was no accident that I was preparing for this message when the
need for a new, permanent home for the House of Abraham in Jacmel, Haiti, came
to my attention. Understand that as pastors, we see no shortage of needs. We
don’t sit around trying to find them. We’re inundated with them to the point
that it’s overwhelming when we look at our resources vs. the needs that are out
there. Sometimes, though, we come across one where the Holy Spirit clearly
says, “That one. Meet that one.” Sometimes it's a simple need, easy to meet. Sometimes, it stretches our faith.
We can’t just write a check for a new home for House of Abraham, even if we wanted to. Like many other churches,
we are behind on budget; unlike most of them, we are stepping out by faith to
launch a second campus. (That, too, is a step of obedience.) We can make
bracelets, though. We can sell them for $10 each and encourage others to come
alongside us in this effort (
Check out the 4theVoiceless Facebook page to see the areas across the country that are already on board.), as they are already beginning to do.
To look at
raising $35,000 that way is daunting, to say the least; we need to sell 25 just
to recoup the cost of materials so far. We don’t have a machine that produces
these bracelets; they are each hand-made by people who have jobs and
responsibilities. And real skin. My son looked at me last night about 11
bracelets in, skin dangling from one of his fingers, and said, “I’m done.”
Noah didn’t build the entire ark at once. He worked on it
one obedient day at a time for many years. And though we don't have many years to make this happen, we will work our Hope for Haiti campaign the
same way, one obedient step at a time.
Join with us in praying every day that
God would provide $35,000 for these orphans that we know He loves. Join with us
in doing something – making bracelets, buying bracelets, selling bracelets,
opening doors for us. I would ask you to do one more thing: When this project
is over and the new home is complete, let’s covenant together to worship. The
Father to the fatherless is worthy. It is His resources given to His children
walking in simple obedience to His unusual instruction that will build this
home.
Thanks for reading,
Al
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