SOAKED IN RIGHTEOUSNESS #3

GETTING DRUNK AND BOUNCING BACK

August 24, 2008

with Adam Waters

INTRO
· Children have an amazing talent that adults DO NOT HAVE!
· Tell a story of Zeke/Ethne recovering quickly from pain.
· Dogs have an amazing stubbornness… tell story of Layla.
· Adults have that same amazing stubbornness.
· READ Genesis 9
· DID YOU REALIZE THAT GOD IS LOOKING FOR PEOPLE LIKE NOAH?
· Did you realize that sometimes we’re a whole lot more like Ham/Canaan?

BODY
Sometimes we forget what God has done for us…
Ø What had God done for Ham and/or Noah?
Ø What has he done for you?
Ø What has he done for the Orchard church?
What will it take for us to react like Noah for the rest of our lives and not like Ham?
Ø It appears Noah came back in line (no more stories of sin). It appears Ham did not (from him cane the Canaanites, the Babylonians, the Philistines… enemies of both the Jews and the world. (chapter 10)
Ø What will it take for us to jump back into the vision God has for our lives? (Noah’s depression v. our own)
Ø What will it take for us to jump back into the vision God has for our church?


WRAP IT UP
Do you realize that God is looking for people like NOAH?
· Are you ready to commit?
· Commit to a life of obedience, closeness… righteousness?
· Are you ready to sacrifice?
· Are you ready to live a life of worship?
· Put yourself on the altar?
· Put your most precious things on the altar and give them to God?


Are you ready for confession… tell God all your sins and move forward into his way… into the Way… into a life spent chasing Jesus…. Sometimes, confession of sin is what holds us back!
Sometimes it’s just a life spent on self.

SOAKED IN RIGHTEOUSNESS #2

SMELLING GOOD FOR GOD

August 17, 2008

with Adam Waters

INTRO
· Living in the HOLE in college.
· Tim and Jason’s room… 50 gallons of water.
· Pooty and Todd’s room… who knows?
· Going back years later.
· DID YOU REALIZE THAT GOD IS LOOKING FOR PEOPLE LIKE NOAH?
· He’s looking for people with a certain smell… do you understand that?

BODY
WHAT DID THE BOAT SMELL LIKE? Paint the picture…
Ø 45 foot tall boat only the top 18 inches have an air hole (6:14-15)
Ø Pairs of every kind of animal (6:19-21) + food.
Ø Take 14 more! (7:2-3) “Take 7 pairs of each animal that I have approved for eating and for sacrifice, and take one pair of each of the others. Then select 7 pairs of every kind of bird. There must be a male and a female in each pair to ensure that every kind of living creature will survive the flood.”
Ø Rain for 40 days/nights (7:4)
Ø They had to wait a week for the rain (7:10)
Ø The water covered the earth for 150 days (7:24) or 5 months (8:2-4).
Ø (8:5) after 2.5 more months the other mountains began to appear.
Ø After another 40 days, Noah opened the window he made in the boat (8:6) 272 days!!!
Ø 7 days, Noah sent out the dove…
Ø 7 days later sent out the dove again
Ø Finally, when Noah was 601 (bday on the boat… yuck), 10.5 months after the flood began (8:13) Noah lifted back the cover to look and the water was drying up.
Ø (8:14) 2 more months went by and God finally told them to come out!... a YEAR LATER!
Ø No showers. Hundreds ? of animals. Going stir crazy. Everyone has died! All animals have perished! Alone… smelly… confined… AWFUL!

WHAT DID THE OFFERING SMELL LIKE?
Ø Which animal do you think Noah wanted to kill the most?
Ø 8:20-22 Then Noah built an altar to the Lord and sacrificed on it the animals and birds that had been approved for that purpose. And the Lord was pleased with the sacrifice and said to himself, “I will never again curse the earth, destroying all living things, even though the people’s thoughts and actions are bent toward evil from childhood. As long as the earth remains, there will be springtime and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, day and night.”
Ø God’s Plan for the offering.
Ø What kind of strength would it have taken to do what Noah did on that altar?


WRAP IT UP
Do you realize that God is looking for people like NOAH?
· Are you ready to commit?
· Commit to a life of obedience, closeness… righteousness?
· Are you ready to sacrifice?
· Are you ready to live a life of worship?
· Put yourself on the altar?
· Put your most precious things on the altar and give them to God?

BANNER SIGNING…

SOAKED IN RIGHTEOUSNESS #1

STANDING OUT IN THE CROWD
August 10, 2008
with Adam Waters


INTRO
•Football season is fast approaching.
•One of my favorite things to do is look for crazy fans who stand out in the crowds.
•The orange storm trooper (Cin), the pirates with spiked shoulder pads (Oak), the dogpound in Clev, the Hogs/Hoggettes in Wash, MATT JOHNSON today.
•As we retreat over the next 3 weeks, we will be looking at a man who stood out in his lifetime...

BODY
WHY DID NOAH STAND OUT? (6:8 “Noah found favor with the Lord.”)
 He was RIGHTEOUS
 Blameless (among the people of his time)
 He CONSISTENTLY followed God’s will
 Enjoyed a close relationship with God.
 He had 3 sons?
 6:22 He did everything EXACTLY as God had commanded him.
 Hebrews 11:7 – His faith developed his obedience in the impossible.

DID YOU REALIZE THAT GOD IS LOOKING FOR PEOPLE LIKE NOAH?

HOW DOES HE REACT WHEN HE FINDS HIM?
 Blesses him with children!
 Talks to him (shares the relationship with Noah!).
 Rescues his family (1Corinthians 7).
 7:16 “The Lord shut them in.”
 GOD RESCUES those like Noah (1Peter 3:21).


WRAP IT UP
HOW DO WE STAND OUT IN THE CROWD?
• Live differently from the rest of the world!!!!!!!!!!!!
• Walk with GOD (Enoch – Genesis 5/Hebrews 11).
• OBEY even when what he asks you to do seem ridiculous… remind us of our disciplines… bible college/ministry/Corrie and I leaping to plant the church… next?

TODAY, is a call to righteous living. Blameless, consistent, close to God, obedient living.
Will you commit to standing out for God?
Take this week and pray (fast if necessary) and decide.
Where would we be without NOAH?
God is looking for more people like Noah... could YOU be 2008's Noah? Could the history of the world hinge on your commitment to righteousness?

SOAKED IN DISCIPLINES #6

RETREAT
August 3, 2008
with Adam Waters



INTRO
• How many of you are busy?
How many of you have every just wanted to "run away from it all?"
SCIENCE EXPERIMENT: Golf balls and corn… (you'll have to ask someone who was there)

As a swimmer, I will…
 SATISFY the Spirit’s leading.
 WIN the battles of the flesh.
 INHERIT the Kingdom.
 MANIFEST the character of God.

As swimmers, we should lead lives “Soaked in Discipline.” Being disciplined OR discipled means to follow the teacher. What disciplines have we learned from Jesus so far?
 Worship
 Giving
 Prayer
 Study
 Fasting
 Today?

Training Technique #6 ~ RETREAT
Luke 6:15 ~ “Jesus often withdrew to the wilderness for prayer.”
 NIV: “lonely places”
 Mark 1 tells of Jesus going to “secluded” places away from crowds!
 Defining retreat à to withdraw from danger; to retire; to curve backwards; security;
 DAILY
 WEEKLY
 EXTENDED (Jeff called these intense and fulfilling)


WRAP IT UP
All of our disciplines have been about our relationship with Jesus…
1. Loving him on a personal level.
2. Loving him in your everyday life.
3. Loving him along with other disciples.
RETREAT is no different except that it incorporates almost all of the others into itself.