Pastor Brian K. Brown, St. Mark M.B. Church
Genesis 9:18-22
God has spared our lives in this pandemic that we may do something in service to him. Remember that the one worthy of praise is God. As we start to do things that we haven’t for over a year, we should be careful, cautious, and concerned because it’s not over just yet and we shouldn’t be careless.
As we look at the text, Pastor Brown pointed out that there was some carelessness on Noah’s and one of his son’s part that caused problems for all. In chapter 8 and verse 20 one of the first things Noah did as the waters had receded and they emerged into normalcy again was Noah marked the moment with praise. But here in chapter 9, we don’t see praise, instead Noah started working, growing crops, tending the beast, planting grapes, harvesting them, and creating wine from the grapes. The first point offer is from this, Believer, Be Careful with Your Time.
It’s not for us to spend all our time in worship or working but have good time management, spending time worshipping God while we spend time working for God. The question to ask is, how am I managing my time. Noah failed to commune and connect with God because he was so busy doing work for God that he forgot to worship him. Most of the fatal mistakes we’ve made in our lives, we can source back to something that was awry when we decided to disconnect our time with God. As the world opens up, be careful that we don’t spend less time with God and more time for ourselves. We shouldn’t be such a great worshipper that we are of no earthly good, nor should be so consumed with the earth that God can’t use us. We need to live balanced lives.
Point 2 comes from verse 21, Believer, Be Cautious with Your Talents. Noah had a talent for growing grapes and from them he started making wine. The question for us is are we drunk off our own success. Noah was successful growing grapes and making wine but then he started drinking his success. As we become successful, we should not become of no good to God. What good is it to gain the whole world and lose our soul. Our success is not because of the way we do things but what God does though us when we yield ourselves to his control.
The final point from verse 22 & 23, Believer, Be Considerate with Your Team. What can you handle that might cause someone else to trip is the question we should ask. Noah could handle his own nakedness, but his son could not. This changed the dynamics between father and son. We must be considerate of others. Many times, we display things we can handle but others can’t. If they saw, they might not be able to handle it like us. There are things God knows that we will never know, and he is always considerate about the team and does not put us in a space for us to know some things that will trip us up. Be considerate to others and let others see good by modeling good before them.
Live stream services are on YouTube @ St Mark MBC at 10:20 for Sunday School, worship service at 10:45 a.m. each Sunday and bible study on Wednesdays @ 7:00 p.m.
