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June 2, 2002
Sun Lakes United Methodist Church
Sermon: "When God Speaks"
Scripture: Genesis 6:11-22; 7:24; 8:14-19
Reverend Larry Gerber

When God warned a faithful man named Noah of an impending judgment, he took risks and planned and acted - against the tide of popular opinion.

Tidilick the Giant Frog. And Noah, the builder of a giant boat. What do they have in common?

Both got wet, according to ancient tales of cataclysmic floods.

Noah you know. But Tidilick?
In aboriginal mythology, Tidilick the Giant Frog is said to have drained every drop of water in the Outback. His friends, the kangaroos, grew thirsty, as you might expect they would, but they didn't know what to do.

Finally, one smart kangaroo thought to tickle Tidilick. When the frog laughed, he released all the water he had consumed, creating an enormous flood that washed everyone out of their homes. It was a wet, wild day.

Of course it's just a story. It never really happened. A giant frog? Naah. But a giant flood? Absolutely.

The Outback, as you may know, is desert. Dry. Dusty. Flat. Big horizon. Nothing much there. But it wasn't always that way. Long ago there was water, and plenty of it. And a terrific flood once flowed out there in the Outback about 5,000 years ago.

Dr. Mary Bourke, a geomorphologist for the Smithsonian Institute, who is also known in her professional circles as "Mary, the Mother of Floods," found proof of the flood while trying to understand and predict floods all around the world. She finds that the biggest clues about the biggest floods come from the least likely places of all - deserts, like the Outback.
While working in the Australian Outback among the Aborigines, Bourke heard the myth of a giant frog called "Tidilick."

Although the white settlers had long dismissed Tidilick as a campfire story for children, Bourke drew meaning from the native recounting of a frog of long ago that drank all the water in the desert.

By digging deep holes in deserts to examine sediment layers, Bourke discovered an undamaged record of floods dating back 5,000 years.

There are ancient tales of floods in nearly every culture. And now, sometimes, like in the Outback, there is proof, too.

Bourke's research gives rise to the question: "What sort of modern person thinks to look to ancient biblical stories, while using contemporary science, to propose that a mythic flood actually occurred?" And what kind of a woman looks for ancient flood evidence by digging holes out in the driest, most remote deserts, and finds what she seeks?

They are people whose minds are as large as the floods they seek to understand. They are the ones who see what others don't see. They look where others don't look. They think thoughts others don't dare to ponder. They are people who take risks, who think, and plan, then act. They are persistent, counterintuitive, revolutionary people. Their successful work speaks for itself.

Rewind to Genesis 6. There are two principal characters in this drama supported by a cast of extras (herding those cats into the ark wasn't easy). So what sort of ancient man builds a boat at the command of a God he cannot see? And what sort of God asks him to do it?

First, Noah. Like our scientists, he was a man who saw what others didn't see; heard what they didn't hear; looked where others didn't look. He thought things others didn't dare to ponder. He took risks and planned and acted, no matter what anyone thought or said. WhenGod spoke, Noah listened!!!

Did it matter to Dr. Bourke that no one ever looked for evidence of a flood in a desert before? No.

Did it matter to Noah that no one else dared build an ark where there seemed to be little need for one? No.

Let's get up close and personal. What sort of man was Noah? The words "eccentric" and "patient" come to mind. The man's building a boat, the first of its kind, on dry land, in anticipation of a natural phenomenon that had never occurred before; moreover, he's cooped up in cramped quarters with his wife and family, not to speak of a boat load of animals, for 40 days and 40 nights.

That aside, the Scripture records that he was a faithful man, so much so that he's listed in the Bible's Who's Who of Faith Heroes in Hebrews 11, because he trusted God, pouring his time, efforts and resources into a project. Did Noah have doubts? Probably. Did he sometimes question himself? Likely. Wouldn't you? But faith, a lamp in the darkness of unbelief, gave him enough light to carry on.

Noah was a risk-taker, a man who wagered his reputation, his wealth and all that he had on an idea - the idea that it is healthier to listen to what God says, than not to listen. Noah's character was strong enough to endure ridicule, tongue-clucking, name-calling and derision. He must have had high tolerance for public embarrassment.

Noah was a righteous man, living in an unrighteous time, yet he was able to make good choices, instead of succumbing to the wicked ideas of his day. It is always hard to be righteous and countercultural. It is as difficult now as it was then to choose God, and to stick with God, no matter what.

Noah was a persistent man. Mrs. Noah might have called him stubborn. How much work does it take to build a huge ark without power tools or a lumber mill when you are 600 years young? How many years, how much effort, how much wealth, did it take to build that thing in his back yard? It is obvious Noah was persistent. He didn't give up. He stuck to it. He never quit.

Finally, he was a man who "walked with God," 6:9. He knew the companionship and fellowship of God, and when you have that in your life, you can put up with just about anything else.

As for God. What sort of God commissions the building of a boat in anticipation of a flood that will destroy, but for Noah and his family, the human race?

A righteous and just God. One who hates sin and unrighteousness.

A merciful God. One who extends mercy for those who live by faith.

A faithful God. One who stands by his promises.

A personal God. One who seeks the fellowship and companionship of his people.

When it was all over and when the sky had cleared, and the seas calmed, then came God's promise to us - that there'll be no Tidilick regurgitating flood waters to drown the earth ever again. Instead, God put his promise in the sky for all to see, for all to remember that promise, and to remember Noah and what character traits it takes to be a woman or man of faith.
Giant Faith is what matters. Not Giant Frogs.

When the consecrated elements of the loaf and the cup are passed your way, remember Jesus. Remember that His cross is bigger than the ark that Noah built. Remember that He died on a cross of a common criminal, on a hill far away, in a remote part of the world. How big is the cross? how empty is the tomb? How much does Jesus love you and me? When God spoke, Jesus listened!! It cost Him His life, but it spread God's love. To God be the glory, because beneath the cross of Jesus we will take our stand. God is speaking to you today, to take up your cross and follow Him. God is speaking!! Are you listening?????

Pray the prayer of Humble Access with me...............

Source:
Johnson, Robert. "Looking for floods and
hearing tales in unlikely places," The Wall
Street Journal, September 28, 1999, A1.

Let us pray..........

Let me know what you think. The church Email is: SLUMC@att.net, Phone: 480.895.8766