Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Hey, guys, this is naive. And you've reached the Mosaic Church Podcast. So excited that you're part of our listening community, and I'd love for you to be even more connected. So check out our website. There's more content there and there's more opportunities for you to get connected in our ministries and events as well. Also, love for you to share this content if this has blessed you. I know that God wants to use you to bless other people with it, so share this podcast.
[00:00:28] Lastly, would you consider supporting this ministry? This is made possible by other people's generosity, and I'd love for you to pay it forward.
[00:00:39] Join us to reclaim the message and the movement of Jesus together. So would you consider giving to this ministry? I know that God is able to do immeasurably more through us when we come together. Thank you so much. God bless you and enjoy.
[00:00:59] Good morning.
[00:01:01] Hello. Hello.
[00:01:02] Hello. Hello.
[00:01:05] Tell you what, we should just give it up for Lucia because she's like. She's like, make sure you make some noise for naive. I was like, girl, we love. She's awesome. She's amazing. She's great. We've got the best people. We got the best people. Hey, so we are. We are wrapping up the series Old School. We've been kicking the Old School this summer, so we're wrapping it up. And we're wrapping up basically what it is, if you don't know, it's Old Testament stories that we've been talking about and kind of like, looking at them through the lens of Jesus. And so we're really reclaiming some of these stories because some of these stories are really out there, and sometimes we wanna just ignore them. But it's been a difficult series, but we've gotten so much great feedback, like when Pastor Christian has talked about it as well and preached and myself and all. It's been really fascinating, the comments. And people are like, I just gotta text the. This morning between services about someone saying, man, thank you so much for, like, redeeming the story that you, you know, for this morning. And so I was like, man, this is great, but I gotta tell you, it's not been all great.
[00:02:02] Several weeks ago, I was outside and this guy comes up to me, and I'll tell you what, there are people who come up to me, and I feel like. I don't know, they feel like they can say anything they want to. You know what I'm saying? And sometimes I'm like, filter this, bro. Filter this.
[00:02:16] Because I've had people say all kinds of things to Me, because I speak different places. They're like. I've heard people say, I don't like you. I'm like, okay, but I love you. Anyway, so it's been complicated, but this guy comes up and he was kind of nervous and younger guy, and he was like, I just really feel compelled to come talk to you. I was like, oh, it's all good. It's all good, man. It's all right. Yeah. What's going on? I just feel compelled. I was like. I was waiting for like, okay, what's going on? I can help, you know? He was like, I just didn't get anything out of that message.
[00:02:43] And I was like.
[00:02:44] And then he kept on going. He was like, I don't know. What was the whole point?
[00:02:48] And you know what's so funny about that? I was like, fair.
[00:02:55] Yeah, there have been messages. I kid you not, okay? I've been speaking for a long time. There have been messages. I've walked off the stage and I go, what was the point of that whole thing? But this time, though, I was like, hey, listen, I actually had points, you know, but most of my messages are pointless. But this one, I had five points. I was like, what? Okay. So I started.
[00:03:16] I was like, okay. And so we started talking. I was like. I knew he was kind of nervous. Probably not great communication skills, interpersonal communication skills. I'm like, I'll give you good grace. And so he was like, yeah, I don't understand any. Like, I don't understand this. And I said, okay. And so I kind of walked through the message. And what I realized in that conversation was that the stories that we've been talking about, some of you grew up with them. Like, you grew up with, oh, like, you know, the job story. We kind of know the idea of, oh, the Adam and Eve. And there was a garden, there was a fruit and this. We kind of know the. Like, the Veggie Tales. If you grew up with Veggie Tales. Anybody grew up with Veggie Tales? Good. I did not. Okay.
[00:03:56] I grew up Muslim, so I grew up with these stories, though, because they're the similar stories. The Old Testament stories exist in the Quran as well. But so we have the general idea of what they are about. And so today I wanna talk about the story about the flood. Anybody know the main character when it comes to the flood? Anybody know for extra credit? Extra credit? Okay. Yes.
[00:04:15] Noah. Yes. So we're gonna talk about Noah and the flood. If you're like, who's Noah and the flood? Remember the ark, guys? You're like, yes, the two by two, you know, the, you know, we've made movies about them, we've had cartoons about them. So we're gonna talk about that. But I realized that here's the deal. If we're going to just look at the scriptures, right, we look at the actual Bible. You're like, naeem, you have a Bible up here. Those of you who thought that, shame on you. Okay, whatever. Okay. Because I have it over here on my phone anyways. But if you take the scriptures and you look at all the stories and you don't really get into them a little bit, like, you don't spend the time dissecting them, what you're gonna end up with, you're gonna end up with not like a childlike faith, which Jesus was like, you know, it's good to have a childlike faith. Like, trust you'll have a childish faith, meaning you'll know stories. And you're like, kinda like, yeah, I know the Disney version of this. I kind of know what happens there.
[00:05:15] But I don't know for a fact or you don't realize that when you really look at the stories and even people who love the scriptures and they've gone into seminary, I've got people, people like that gone into seminary believing certain things, and they come out not even believing in Jesus anymore. The reason is because when you go into the scriptures and you really look at the actual text, actual language and context, you go, hold on, what is happening here? Because there's so much more and it seems kind of like unnerving. And for some people, what happens is they take the scriptures, they go, I don't believe in any of this stuff.
[00:05:53] Half of this God is good. And then in the middle there's a therapy session and then he gets better, like, or something. Or Jesus is the best version of God, you know what I'm saying? Or what happens and you don't understand it. So what we've been trying to do, and if you haven't, this is the first one that you've. The first series, this is the first one. You might want to go back and go on YouTube and look at all our stuff, because what we're trying to do is reclaim each story. And it's hard because you got to really think through this.
[00:06:23] And as I was talking to this guy, I realized something because he said, oh, I just live my life based on the Bible.
[00:06:30] And he said, I believe everything in the Bible is true. And I was like, that's awesome. And that's cool. But there are made up stories in the Bible, by the way. And he was like, what are you talking about? I was like, come on, yo, you know this, right? And he was like, what are you talking about? I was like, well, Jesus made up stories. He was like, jesus never made up stories. I'm like, okay, all right, let's. I said, you know, so I encouraged him. I said, read.
[00:06:52] Not just hear about the stories, read the scriptures. Because Jesus said, hey, let me tell you a story. And he would make up a story.
[00:06:59] All that to say, when we look at these, there are things in the scriptures that are complicated, and some of them leave, you go wondering. And it's a good thing.
[00:07:11] It's a good thing. See, Western world wants the truth. They want facts. And in the Eastern world in which the scripture's written, they want meaning.
[00:07:20] So what they do is they ask the Scriptures, what does this reveal? What is this showing us? What does this mean versus what's the truth? What's the truth? What's the truth? No, no, no. It's storytelling.
[00:07:32] There's a deeper truth to it. They tell you a deep truth. Jesus did that so wonderfully. He would make up a story and then tell the Good Samaritan. Everybody knows about the Good Samaritans. If you don't, it's a Good Samaritan. We have organizations call it the Good Samaritan. Okay? But it's a story that he made up to make a point, and that is to love your neighbor. And that's a deep seated truth that we need to live by. So what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna get into the story of Jonah, and you're gonna go, hold on, what now? And I'm just gonna read this. And you're like, I have never read this before. And I'm like, yeah, yeah, yeah, Disney left that out. Yes. Okay. And I'm not even gonna go all the way through it, because at the end of the story, and if you don't know, the. The gist of the story is this, okay, there's a flood. God destroys everybody except the people on the flood. He destroys all the animals except the people and the animals on the flood. And then after that, after the rain has gone down and everything, they send a bird, and the bird goes up and finds this leaf or a twig, and it's like, okay, now the waters have subsided, and then they come out, and then they start a brand new existence in, you know, of humanity. And that's how God cleanses evil people. But the problem is they continue to be evil. So I don't know what happened there.
[00:08:54] So now let's read what actually the scriptures say, okay? And then we ask ourselves, what in the world is going on?
[00:09:01] Genesis happens. The story of Genesis happens or is written in Genesis, chapter six. Chapter what? Six. Six. Chapter one, if you remember, is when Creation happened. Creation story. Chapter two is when Adam and Eve happened. Okay? Adam and Eve were created and all that. Chapter three is when the.
[00:09:20] The fall. The charades. Okay, Fall happened. Okay? Then after that, you've got. After the fall, things went really bad because then it was the first murder. Two brothers, right? One brother killed another brother. Anybody remember that?
[00:09:34] Cain and Abel. Yeah, we get that famous quote, am I my brother's keeper? Yes, that comes from there. Chapter seven. I'm sorry, Chapter five, after that is just a list of all the people that were like Cain and Abel and all families and all that. By chapter six, where we find the story, God who created the world, said it was good. All that jazz. By chapter six, he is done.
[00:10:02] He is done. Have you ever. Have you ever had a conversation and you're like, oh, I am done with this person? Have you looked at a person and you're like, I am so done. Have you looked at. Have you walked out of your job? And you're like, I am so done.
[00:10:16] I'm not gonna quit, but I am so done. I so badly want to quit. I don't. Have you ever gotten to a point, you're like, why did I say yes to this?
[00:10:24] Okay, maybe it was a date. You're like, why did I.
[00:10:27] Why did I swipe whatever you had to swipe left or right? I'm not even sure anymore. Okay, why did I do this? Well, I like, ah.
[00:10:34] By chapter six, God. God who loved humanity is done.
[00:10:40] Based on this story.
[00:10:42] Based on this story. So here's what the story is, because this is where the writer starts telling a flood story that God was done. Now, I just want you to know that this flood story is not like this. Wow.
[00:10:57] Never been happened. The story is brand new. Not brand new, unfortunately. This is maybe fourth or fifth rendition of this story.
[00:11:06] The Epic of Gilgamesh actually started off this whole flood story and talks about the gods wiping out humanity by a flood. Picking a chosen person picks up a chosen person. So this is a familiar narrative for us. We're like, no, no, no.
[00:11:23] It's.
[00:11:24] It's familiar to these people because this is ancient Mesopotamia and they believe in gods. Not just one God, in many gods. So this is the context. So it says here, then the people began to multiply on the earth and the daughters were born to them. Okay, got it. Why would you mention that? Why? Because. It says here, because the sons of God. I'm sorry, the who? The.
[00:11:47] I thought there was only one son of God. Name is Jesus.
[00:11:50] No, the sons of God saw that the women saw the beautiful women, and then they wanted them as their wives. I'm sorry, what? I thought you were gonna go into Jonah story. This is the Jonah. I'm sorry, this is the Noah story says. Then the Lord said, my spirit will not put up with humans for such a long time, for they are only mortal flesh. In the future, their normal lifespan will be no more than a hundred and twenty. What? Years. That's it. Okay, so the Epic of Gilgamesh, which is really interesting. It says that the gods were. This is so funny. It says the gods were annoyed because the humans were. There's so many of them, and they would make so much noise that the gods could not fall asleep.
[00:12:38] Kid you not. And so the gods decided to wipe them out.
[00:12:42] Very interesting. But here in the Noah story, this is what happened. Okay? And then it says, next verse down, same story, it says also in those days, for some time after. Great, I'm sorry, giant. Nephilim. Nephilim, who are these people lived on the earth? Nephilim. Who are those?
[00:13:01] For whenever the sons of God had intercourse with women, they give birth to children who became the what heroes and famous warriors of ancient times. This isn't Greek mythology. This is this.
[00:13:22] What are you, demigods?
[00:13:26] What is happening here? Let's get to the story. Yeah, this is the story.
[00:13:32] So what happens? So God, it says here, the writer says the God looked at all this and now you've got angels or other gods doing.
[00:13:46] Having situationships with human women and they're making these Titans, these superhumans.
[00:13:56] You're like, this is in the Bible? Yeah, this is in the Bible. They missed it in Disney, but this is in the Bible.
[00:14:02] Okay, so then what happened? Well, then God said, here's the deal, here's the deal.
[00:14:10] I don't know if I can do this. I'm done. Because he says here, says, then the Lord observed the extent of human wickedness on the earth, and he saw that everything they thought or imagined was consistently and totally what evil God. You know me so well. Okay, all right, so. So the Lord.
[00:14:31] The Lord was sorry he had ever made them.
[00:14:42] He'd ever made them.
[00:14:44] The God of Genesis 1 was like, it's not good.
[00:14:50] It's not Good. I said it was good, not bad. Humans? No, I just. There's too much. And then he says, and he was so sorry that he put him on Earth. And then it said this. And did it do what?
[00:15:03] It broke his heart. You wanna have a moment of like. Yeah. See, God felt it. I get that. I get that. But don't you worry. Don't hold onto that feeling, because the next verse is even.
[00:15:14] Wow.
[00:15:15] So it broke his heart. So here's what the Lord said.
[00:15:20] I will wipe the. This human race I have created from the face of the earth. Yes. I will destroy every. Every living thing. All the people, the large animals. What, the small animals. Yeah, those guys. The cute ones that scurry along the ground. And even. Even the birds, because they poop on everybody. The birds of the sky, because why? I am what I am. Sorry I. What I ever made them.
[00:15:49] So here's the big question.
[00:15:51] What kind of God reacts to feelings with anger?
[00:16:00] So it's in psychology if your first response is anger, you're not mature, because there's something else going on.
[00:16:13] His first reaction is, I want to kill all of them.
[00:16:17] Now I have kids.
[00:16:20] That's all I'm going to say. Okay.
[00:16:23] Okay. There have been points. I'm like, I am so done.
[00:16:27] I am so done.
[00:16:28] I am so done.
[00:16:30] I was like, why did we. Why did we have. Why we.
[00:16:34] We should have just borrowed them. You know, like, going back. Go back, like, what? This is forever. Oh, God.
[00:16:42] What?
[00:16:44] What? Now I have adult kids.
[00:16:47] Pray for me.
[00:16:49] Yeah, but God, this God, wants to kill them all.
[00:16:55] Wow.
[00:16:56] Question. What kind of God is okay with that?
[00:17:01] And have you been believing that that is the God that loves you? No wonder we got it all twisted. And then the story says, here's what I'm gonna do.
[00:17:13] I'm gonna find this person. Because in verse eight, apparently everybody was evil. But then Noah found favor with what, the Lord.
[00:17:24] And so what happens there? What happens there is. He comes and he tells him, hey, here's what I'm gonna do. I want you to build an ark. And here's what I want you to do. This is my covenant. And so he spells it out. This is the covenant. He says, I will confirm my covenant with you. This is what I'm saying. So enter the boat. You and your wife and your sons and their wives. Bring a pair of every kind of animal. That's where we get that from, male and female, into the boat with you to keep them alive during the flood.
[00:17:52] Pair of every kind of bird of every kind, every kind of animal and every kind of the small animals that what scurries along the ground will come to you to be kept alive.
[00:18:09] So verse, right after that, chapter six, he builds the ark. They put all the two by two happens and all that.
[00:18:18] And chapter seven is when the ark, when the floods start, it starts raining and it rains and rains and rains and rains and rains. And God drowns everybody and everything except the fish, apparently.
[00:18:37] Kills them all.
[00:18:39] Kills them all. And we're like, yes, that is the kind of God we know.
[00:18:45] Is it?
[00:18:46] What's interesting about that is because in chapter eight is when there's like, okay, there's this new world. They come out of the boat, they look around and all that, and they start the thing.
[00:18:57] So if you take those numbers and you link it to the seventh day of creation, what's interesting is that it's kind of ironic how this story says that the first seven days, God.
[00:19:14] Seventh day, God rested, looked and said, oh, I'm so proud of everything. And day eight was the first day here on the seventh day, God destroyed everything he created. Apparently he wanted to start all over again.
[00:19:32] And the new beginning was this. Ironic how the story is playing with the Genesis first account. Now, if you're like, I'm lost in aim. I don't know what you're talking about. Forgive me. I'm just gonna go a little nerdy here, but because I want you to see something that there's so much more going on in this story. Here's why we think, okay, so Genesis happened, and all these chapters we read. And if you read like. If you read, like, the scriptures, right, you start off right, you read Genesis, and you keep on going and keep on going and keep on going, keep on going and all that. And then all that. And, you know, okay, that's great. That's great. That's great. Okay, all this, all this. But then over here, around. Right around this section, we find out that the Jewish people actually went through this crazy exile that we've talked about here before, and they get exiled into Babylon. And it was so dramatic. It changed everything about the Jewish people.
[00:20:33] The temples were destroyed. I mean, it was a big deal. And they were exiled to Babylon. They stayed there for 70 years. The book of Jeremiah tells us, which is right here. Okay. And the book of Ezra tells us the new beginning. So right here is when they started, actually. When they came back from exile, they said, let's write all our history down that point. They wrote Genesis.
[00:20:57] They wrote Genesis five centuries later.
[00:21:02] Yeah.
[00:21:04] Yeah.
[00:21:05] Oh, how? Yeah, they wrote it after the fact. They wrote it all this after the fact. Now what does that mean?
[00:21:13] What that means is they wrote it five centuries later. That's all I'm saying.
[00:21:18] So they were trying to figure out their human story of how. Who God is.
[00:21:25] And so when they come out of the boat, God, through the story tells them something which is really fascinating again. And if you know anything about what God told Adam and Eve, you might see a little bit of that in there. So this is what God tells them in the story. He says when they come out, God says he blesses Noah and his sons and told them this. He says, be what, be what fruitful. And have you heard that before?
[00:21:52] Yes. Adam and Eve, be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth. Okay, got that. But then it changes a little bit. All the animals in the earth and all the birds of the air and all the small animals. That again, that's our word. Scurry around the ground. And all the fish in the sea will look on you with what fear and terror this story is. You don't have a responsibility. No. You have power and privilege. You can force.
[00:22:20] It's little twisted. It's a little darker. It's a little darker. I have placed them in your power. I've given them to you for what?
[00:22:29] Food.
[00:22:30] Okay. Just as I've given you grain and vegetables. Treat them just like that. You can slaughter them, you can do whatever you want to, but you must never eat any meat that still has the lifeblood in it. And I will require the blood of anyone who takes another person's life.
[00:22:46] Okay? This is serious. And if a wild animal kills a person, it must what?
[00:22:51] Die. And anyone who murders a fellow human must die. And if anyone takes a human life, that person's life will also be taken from them by human hands. You killed them.
[00:23:06] Okay.
[00:23:08] For God made humans in his own image.
[00:23:13] Whoa.
[00:23:14] So that is what we're supposed to do.
[00:23:17] This story tells us you are made like God in his image. You're okay to kill.
[00:23:23] You're okay. Eye for an eye. You're okay for doing all that. But now be fruitful and multiply and repopulate the earth. And then he gives them this thing. And if you know the Noah's story, you're like, when are you gonna talk about this? When are you gonna talk about the rainbow? Okay, here, let's go to. It says, then the Lord said, I'm giving you a sign as a covenant with you, with all the living creatures for all generations to come. I have placed my. What?
[00:23:51] Rainbow. Okay. So the word in the original language there is the word. The Jewish word is kashed. You guys want to say it? Kashed. Kashed is the word for rainbow. In Hebrew, the word kashet means a bow, an archery bow. Of weapon.
[00:24:14] Of weapon. So you're like, oh, rainbow. No, it's a bow. Like bow and arrow.
[00:24:21] That's what it is.
[00:24:23] And I've placed a rainbow. But it's so pretty. I know.
[00:24:27] Just saying it's a bow. It's not a straight line. It's not a triangle. It's not, you know. No, it's a bow on purpose in the story. So I've placed a rainbow in the clouds. It is the sign of my covenant to you and all the earth. When I send clouds over. Over the earth, the rainbow will appear in the clouds. And I will. I will. That time I'll be like, oh, I remember. I remember my covenant with you and all the living creatures. Never again will I flood water, destroy all life. It's kind of like a timer for me. Siri, remind me. Don't kill everybody. Okay. That's what it is. Rainbow. Every time it's triggering. Okay, okay, I got it. That's it. I will remember the eternal covenant between God and every living creature on earth. This is what God says. The rainbow is a bow. That basically God's saying, I am going to take my wrath and point it to the heavens and not on you. Because before it was on you.
[00:25:18] That's the sign.
[00:25:20] You're like, well, I didn't know any of that. Yes, because the story is really complicated. And for some of you, you're like, you know what, Naeb, thank you for telling me this, because that's why I don't believe in the Bible.
[00:25:34] That's why I don't. Here's the good news.
[00:25:38] You don't have to believe in the Bible to believe in Jesus.
[00:25:42] I'll say it again.
[00:25:43] You don't. Why? Name blasphemy.
[00:25:47] Really, though?
[00:25:49] Because the Bible wasn't really put together for hundreds of years.
[00:25:54] So all those, you know, like Peter and Paul and all those people, they didn't have a. What?
[00:26:01] They didn't have a Bible.
[00:26:03] So what are you saying? The Bible is so important? Friends, the Bible records so many things we know about God.
[00:26:10] It contains the word of God in it.
[00:26:14] All of it is complicated, but it does. You can't just go, that's why I don't believe in Jesus. Because I don't believe in the Bible. No, no.
[00:26:26] The Bible is not God, nor is it Jesus it is pointing to it. It's pointing to it. Let me explain this way because the Bible is complicated, right? So I don't know if you guys know this, but I am double jointed.
[00:26:43] Anybody else know what that means?
[00:26:46] Yeah. So I'm gonna show you something, might freak you out. So sorry. Okay, so if you can focus on my hands right here, maybe camera can get closer, right? Can you get closer maybe?
[00:26:57] Working on it. All right, good, that's good.
[00:26:59] Oh, the other way. Yeah, that's good. So this is my finger.
[00:27:02] So this is my problem right there.
[00:27:07] This is natural to me. So if I go, hey, who am I really pointing to?
[00:27:14] Yeah. The other problem is if I don't, if it's not that intense, I just go like normal, like, hey, man, what's up? If I do, hey man, look at this. It's over there.
[00:27:23] Well, the problem is it's going. You see what's happening here?
[00:27:28] I remember the first time I didn't even know. I wasn't, I didn't know this. I thought everybody was like that. I was like, everybody's good. It's good for scratching. And I was like, this is.
[00:27:38] And someone was like, I was pointing at something and they were like, look at your hand. I was like, what?
[00:27:44] They're like, you're pointing. I'm like, here, there it is. Like, look at your hand. They were making fun of it. It was a joke.
[00:27:51] And I was like, it doesn't matter what my hand looks like, dude, I'm pointing at something. That's the point.
[00:27:57] That's the point.
[00:28:00] So sometimes the scriptures look like this.
[00:28:05] They just look like this.
[00:28:07] They're like, what are you doing? If you keep focusing on this, the scriptures are actually pointing somewhere.
[00:28:14] They're pointing to Jesus.
[00:28:18] Jesus is the whole point of this thing.
[00:28:21] It's not this. I mean, if it's this, then go be Jewish, but it's not this.
[00:28:28] If it's about this, then take part of it and then be a Muslim. But it's not this.
[00:28:33] It's what they're pointing to. It's what it's pointing to.
[00:28:37] So here what we understand is you have this ancient Mesopotamian culture who had many gods at the point. Because before then, when this story came to being, Abraham didn't show up till later. Abraham is the one who said, oh, there's one God or one God. Okay, it was focus. Okay, so it was after that. What is it really showing us? Let me tell you what it's telling us. Because Jesus would do this often.
[00:29:04] He would do this often, he would look at the Scriptures and they used to call him Rabbi the. Let me just let you know this. They weren't rabbis till later on.
[00:29:14] Rabbis were teachers of their.
[00:29:18] Just imagine if this is the Jewish Torah and the Book of Wisdoms and the prophets, okay?
[00:29:25] If it was their Bible. Jewish Bible rabbis didn't have anything to teach from.
[00:29:33] It happened centuries later. And so this rabbi tradition started off or started evolving. So when Jesus shows up, people would call him Rabbi. Here's why. Because what he was doing, what Jesus was doing, he would take the Jewish Bible, talk about stories and reframe them.
[00:29:53] And that got him killed.
[00:29:56] Because he would say stuff like, you have heard it say in here.
[00:30:01] But I tell you, you've heard this. But I tell you, I know you've heard eye for eye, eye for an eye.
[00:30:11] I'm saying, turn the other cheek. And they're like, are you greater than all our prophets?
[00:30:16] And they would physically just tell him, are you greater than Moses? What are you saying?
[00:30:21] He's like, I'm saying what I'm saying.
[00:30:24] I'm saying I'm the fulfillment of all this.
[00:30:28] You got it wrong.
[00:30:30] That's what I'm saying.
[00:30:32] I'm saying, you want to know what the Father's like?
[00:30:38] I'm him.
[00:30:39] Like, the grace and mercy, the forgiveness and healing, what I'm doing, the way I'm living my life, that's what he wants to do.
[00:30:48] So Jesus would come in and goes, hey, I know you got the commandments and all that. Let me give you a new commandment.
[00:30:54] Oh, no, no, we already got the one. We got the one from Moses. We got the one. Love the Lord God with all your heart and soul and love your neighbors and stuff. You got that one down. He goes, yeah, yeah, that's good. That's good, that's good. I'm giving you a brand new one. What is it? Love each other the way I have loved you.
[00:31:11] Oh, no, no, no. That's why the rabbis had issue with him, because he was taking the scriptures, their scriptures, and going, I know you've heard the story, but there's something else that you missed.
[00:31:25] So what have we missed in this Noah story? Here's what we've missed.
[00:31:32] God doesn't give up on humanity.
[00:31:36] We do.
[00:31:39] We do.
[00:31:40] We give up on each other.
[00:31:42] We do.
[00:31:44] It doesn't even matter how much you love that person. At some point they can do something and you're like, I done, man. I'm done.
[00:31:54] I'm done, I'm done. It's not healthy to be in the relationship with you. I'm done.
[00:32:02] God never has that moment.
[00:32:05] You know what? You're too toxic for me.
[00:32:08] And I'm out.
[00:32:10] We think that and we project it.
[00:32:13] And sometimes the stories we tell, God does not give up on people.
[00:32:18] And we think that sometimes because when we have like a perpetual sin that we're struggling with and we can't find ourselves trying to master it, the first thing that happens is after we've asked for forgiveness and repentance and all that, we started hating ourselves. And we give up on ourselves first. Before we think God gives up on us, we give up on ourselves first. Always happens.
[00:32:43] We feel like God is giving up on us because sometimes we go through a season and there's back to back stuff, man. There's back to back suffering and loss and you're like, oh my gosh, what happened? The floodgates open and God's wrath is coming for me and he's punishing me for all the things God has done with me. Oh my gosh. Sometimes we feel that when we have a relationship, maybe even with a spiritual person or a person that we've cared so much and it just goes south so bad and they don't even wanna be friends. I mean, they don't even. They don't. What's the worst, right? And I've been in this relationship. What's worse is when someone leaves you and they don't tell you why there's no closure. And where you feel like, oh gosh, if that person can give up on me and that person loved me, God will do the same. You just think, and some of you believe that. Some of us believe like, hey, God is done with me.
[00:33:37] And rejection of people is like, oh man, God will reject me. Some of us sadly have so much anxiety because you're like, you're one or a couple of decisions of behaviors away from being rejected forever.
[00:33:53] Why? Because you fundamentally believe that everyone at some point just gives up on everybody.
[00:34:03] God doesn't give up on people.
[00:34:05] He does not give up on people.
[00:34:07] He does not. He takes sin and injustice seriously, but he doesn't give up on people. The other thing that the Noah story tells me is when humans grapple with this, they sometimes think that God's solution is just like our solution. Our solution is when things don't work out right, we just want to level it all up. And start what over? When you start over, you know what? I'm done. I'm going to start over. I just want, I'm going to move somewhere I'm going to do this, I'm going to do that. I'm going to start over New Year, new me. Going to do the thing.
[00:34:40] We do that.
[00:34:42] We do that. We think the solution is destruction.
[00:34:47] God solution is never destruction.
[00:34:51] It's what.
[00:34:53] It's redemption.
[00:34:55] It's redemption. See, that's what Jesus was saying, hey, hey, I've come to redeem this.
[00:35:02] That's why he was like, I'm not even come here to destroy your covenant. And I'm not come to. I'm not come to like, throw this whole Bible away. I've come to complete it. I've come to redeem this, reframe it, revive it to.
[00:35:19] For you to have a more nuanced understanding of what humanity was going through and who God truly is. Like, God is not.
[00:35:28] Wasn't angry, and now he's good. God's been consistent. It's just that we've got it twisted along the way. And Jesus is like, I'm coming to let you guys know, you guys have it twisted all the way.
[00:35:41] I'm trying to untwist this thing. And let me just tell you, God's plan has always been redemption. So when something happens to you, the first thing, he doesn't think, okay, I'm kind of done. No, no, no, no. He thinks of redeeming it. We come up with things like we associate God with destruction. I mean, we do this even in insurance, right? Insurance. What, there's a clause that says, hey, we'll cover it unless there's a. What, act of God? Which means good stuff.
[00:36:12] No, no.
[00:36:15] What is it, bad stuff?
[00:36:18] If everything gets leveled, God did it, so we'll cover it.
[00:36:26] What kind of twisted, twisted theology is that?
[00:36:31] It believes that God, God doesn't mind sitting around and waiting for all of his creation to drown.
[00:36:42] What kind of God? I, for one, reject that kind of God or that idea of who God is. No, I will go with Jesus view on it. And lastly, the story of Moses, the story of Noah tells me this.
[00:36:59] We can't save ourselves.
[00:37:02] We can't save ourselves.
[00:37:05] We need Jesus. And the story of Noah is so interesting because even if it was like, if an atheist looked at it, and if you're just mentally just kind of trying to figure this out, you're like, what a social experiment? Let's try this. Okay, so here's the thing.
[00:37:20] We've got a group of people. Let's just say there are 10 people and they're all kinds of bad.
[00:37:25] Here's what we're going to do.
[00:37:28] Save one, kill them all.
[00:37:31] Oh, save two. Let's save two. Let's just save two. Hopefully they can repopulate. Save two.
[00:37:38] Let's do that.
[00:37:39] And then let's make a pure race.
[00:37:43] If you can make a pure race, everything is good.
[00:37:47] The idea that humanity thinks that we can make ourselves pure, the idea that lingers even now to this age, that there can be a race or we can be part of a race that's purer than everybody else is not God at all.
[00:38:08] But God's saying you could. Basically, he's saying you could take the purest people, the purest animals, obviously, not including cats.
[00:38:20] You can take all the purest, save them, start a whole new thing. And you're going to end up with even more nonsense and more nonsense, because the story of Noah ends with him. Yeah, repopulating. And then a whole lot of awful things happened that I don't even wanna talk about happen. And it just does not. So Jesus comes in and goes, hey, no, guys, this is not it. Paul understood this and he writes about it. He says, guys, he's writing to the people who used to believe the whole, you know, Jewish Bible. He's like, let me just tell you guys, here's what Jesus was. He says in Colossians, he says, jesus Christ, he is the invisible image of the invisible God.
[00:39:09] Guys, the life of Jesus, he's the actual, in flesh, like, what he did, the way he talked to people, what he spent most of his time on, on relationships, on healing people, on giving us values. They're so hard to live by. Turning the cheek. Oh, God, I don't want to do that ever.
[00:39:30] He's like, he changed. He was teaching us how to be human because that's how God is like. And then he says he existed before anything was created and supreme over all creation. And through him, God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth. Guys, this is not a new thing. This is before Genesis and before exile, before all these people, before the Talmud, before all this. No, no, no. This is before the rainbow sign. No, no, no, he existed before. We've gotten it a little twisted here. He made everything we can see, the things we can't see, such as thrones and kingdoms and rulers and authorities in the unseen world. Yes, there is a world that's beyond our imagination, but we don't know a whole lot about it. Then he says everything, though everything was created through him, and what for him, he existed before anything else. And he holds all creation together.
[00:40:23] Friends, I'm telling you, this is a big Deal. Then he goes on. He goes, in Colossians 19, he says this. He says, for God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ.
[00:40:37] And through him, God. What did he do?
[00:40:41] The word there is again redeemed.
[00:40:45] Reconcile the world. Everything to him self, reconciled everything to himself. So as we end this series, my hope is you understand that through the lens of Jesus, what the Old Testament stories tell us is that they might look like this and they might be weird.
[00:41:08] And you're like, I don't even know if it's true or not. That's not the point. The point is what they're.
[00:41:15] I know you guys are still looking at that. I know it.
[00:41:19] What's the point?
[00:41:21] Dang it. Look at that. Look at that.
[00:41:25] Look at that. The point. The point. I don't want to do that. But this. This is good. Okay, the point.
[00:41:31] You know what I'm talking about the point.
[00:41:35] That's the point. The point is who?
[00:41:38] Jesus.
[00:41:39] And we have it all twisted.
[00:41:43] The Great Commission, which the modern church loves. The Great Commission. Go out and tell the world everything, right? Go make disciples. Let me just read it to you for once. Not any other, just the actual.
[00:41:56] In context.
[00:41:58] This is what he's saying. This is why this was so offensive to Jewish people, to the rabbis. The rabbis spent their lives based on this thing.
[00:42:09] This is why they were so mad at him. And they believed that. They believed that their Bible was okay.
[00:42:18] Was so okay to kill Jesus, to murder anyone who comes against this. They were okay with that. Here's the Great Commission. This is what he said.
[00:42:31] He got him in so much trouble. He says, I've been given all what authority in heaven and on earth.
[00:42:40] Therefore, he says, go and what? Make disciples of what?
[00:42:46] All nations? Not just the Jewish people. No, for all nations. Baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples, these new people right. To obey. Here's here. Or to obey. To obey. To obey what? Okay. Obey everything. What I have commanded, I have given you.
[00:43:14] Obey the commands I have given you. And be sure of this. I'll be with you to the end of the age.
[00:43:23] This ticked off a lot of people. Why? Because Jesus was like, I know, I know. I know it. But let me just tell you, these Scriptures are so precious. They are so complicated.
[00:43:36] They're going to be used in so many different ways and have been used in so many ways to inflict so much harm to society. Let me just tell you.
[00:43:46] I'm just telling you. Just do what I have Commanded you to do.
[00:43:50] Just live out the values and the words that I have given you.
[00:43:55] And you're good, and you're good, and you're good friends. Do you know that in the 1400s, the church at the time passed a law that back in the day, this Christian Bible was not translated in English.
[00:44:13] And there are some people who are trying to translate this in English. They made a law, justified it in all the courts and all their prayer meetings and everything, that they would burn people at the stake, burn them if they interpreted or read the Bible in English.
[00:44:32] This is our history.
[00:44:35] We've done some awful things.
[00:44:38] Burned people. Some of the translation, the Wycliffe translation, he was burned alive.
[00:44:48] Burned alive. Because he took this and just made it more understandable.
[00:44:54] Why? Because when you understand it, you get deeper understanding of who Jesus, what it's really pointing to.
[00:45:02] And so here's my prayer as we end this series. My prayer is that if you've ever been like, man, I don't know if I believe in all this.
[00:45:09] It's no excuse. It's just pointing to things. Let's look at what Jesus pointing to, and he's.
[00:45:15] What the Scriptures are pointing to is this person of Jesus.
[00:45:20] The person of Jesus is God himself coming down in human form, being born, born supernaturally, and then declaring to the world by action, by healing and forgiveness that God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son that no one should perish, but everyone should have eternal life.
[00:45:47] That was the idea.
[00:45:49] And he gave us the Holy Spirit to live inside of us. My prayer is that you no longer, if you're watching, if you're listening to this, if you have friends, no longer make the Bible, the whole library of these books as an excuse not to really look into the life of Jesus and our relationship with Jesus, because that will change everything.
[00:46:16] And that's what all these young early Christians died for. They didn't die for the Bible because they wanted any. They died believing that their friend was in fact the Christ, the Son of God who came down to rescue them, that God had redeemed the world, reconciled it. He had done something that no one else could ever do. And he did something for the entire world once and for all.
[00:46:42] And so that God could be reconciled with humanity and that we could understand who God really is like and not come up with our own stories of who he is and what he justifies.
[00:46:55] No, he's the God who's motivated by love, never gives up on us, is waiting for you because he's the one pursuing you.
[00:47:07] So that's my prayer that for some of us, we would say, you know what, Jesus, I think. I feel like you have.
[00:47:13] I feel like you've given up on me, my friends, I want to tell you that's not true. He's not giving up on you. Like, name you don't know. I don't need to know.
[00:47:21] I don't need to know what this stuff you're into.
[00:47:25] I just know he doesn't do that.
[00:47:27] He doesn't. You haven't fallen from grace. That's something we came up with.
[00:47:33] No, you fall into it.
[00:47:35] You always fall into it.
[00:47:37] So can I pray for you? Let's pray together. Lord, God, thank you so much for this morning.
[00:47:43] God. For some of us, we need to.
[00:47:45] Yeah, we need to just pray this prayer.
[00:47:48] And the prayer is, God, Jesus, I don't know if I know you.
[00:47:52] God, I don't even know if I know you.
[00:47:56] Jesus, I don't know if I know you.
[00:48:00] So today I'm asking you to.
[00:48:02] Yeah, fill me up.
[00:48:05] Come into my life.
[00:48:08] Would you forgive the stuff that I've kind of thought, believed and lived, but would you fill me with your presence, with your holy spirit, God, for some of us, God, we desperately need, need to develop an adult faith, a faith that says that I want to know. I want to know God. I want to know the God that Jesus talked about.
[00:48:37] This heavenly Father who pursues us.
[00:48:43] God, I pray you change the game for us this morning.
[00:48:46] I pray as we respond, as we go to the candles maybe and say a prayer, or we take communion or we go to the cross. God, would you do something that only you can do by your spirit in Jesus name, Amen.
[00:49:03] Thanks for listening to this message from Mosaic church in Charlotte, North Carolina.
[00:49:09] For more audio and video content, visit us at MosaicChurch TV.
