So I rode my bicycle for a year in 2010 from Canada to Columbia. And as part of that journey, I discovered that basically a billion people in the world didn't have access to clean drinking water. So I began this journey and did some higher level education and then on a series of trips with my friends in the last six years. That's all led us to this spot now we've become very interested in small scale decentralized desalinization projects. It's really the future. I want to.
Music All systems that turn ocean water into drinking water for small, marginalized rural communities all around the world. There's 108 countries that have direct ocean access like behind me here in California. Now this water is given away for free and the savings that cost people can go to help them with their lives in the future. Now we do this while starting easy to go to beach churches revolving mostly around reading the Bible together, having food together, spending time together.
We'd love for you to be involved as we continue to grow. Please email me at ryan.oceanwatergmail.com. I'd like to send you a little book that I wrote. It documents the time of a one year bicycle ride that I went on from Canada to Columbia. It's how I learned about a global water problem. It's a very fun read and it documents our beginnings here at Ocean Water. I'd like to get that to you as a free gift for watching today's beach talk.
Now in the next 12 months, we're gonna go to El Salvador, Indonesia and Bangladesh. We'd love for you to be on one of those trips. Now when I teach, I'm pretty straightforward. This is my approach because it's very important that you understand every word of God in the word of God. Now I love to laugh and catch waves, go on motorcycle rides, go camping, go get on airplanes, go around the world, grab coffee. That's all really fun.
But when I teach the Bible, I accept the responsibility to make sure that you learn the most important book in the world. So every time you watch a beach talk, I want you to come ready to learn and ready to grow because it's my job as your pastor to help you grow. Because our objective is simple. It's disciples making disciples who plant churches then plant churches. Now today we're gonna look at Genesis 7 from our daily reading plan. Like you to read it together with us.
And each of these beach talks goes along with a chapter that we cover as we read together. So today is Genesis 7. Now God actually destroys the world with the flood. Now the final preparations of Noah for the flood, God invites Noah into the ark. Then the Lord said to Noah, come into the ark, you and all your household, because I have seen that you are righteous before me in this generation. Now come into the ark. The idea was that God was in the ark and he would be with Noah in the ark.
So he called Noah to come into the ark with him. Notice that the Lord didn't say to Noah, come into the ark, but come, plainly implying that God himself was in the ark waiting for him to receive Noah and his family into the big ship that was to be their place of refuge while all the other people in the world drowned. Now I've seen that you are righteous. Noah spent the years before the flood in active obedience to God.
He not only believed God would send the flood, but he obeyed God that told him to do in preparation for it. Now verses 2 through 9, Noah gathers all of his animals and his family. He says that you shall take one of every clean animal, the male and the female, two of the animals that are unclean, a male and his female, and seven for each of the birds of the air, male and female, to keep the species alive on the face of the earth.
After seven more days I will cause it to rain on the earth forty days and forty nights. I will destroy from the face of the earth all living things that I have made. And Noah did according to all that God had commanded him. Noah was a hundred years old when the flood waters were on the earth. So Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons' wives went into the ark because of the waters of the flood of clean animals, of animals that are unclean, of birds, and everything that creeps in the earth.
Two by two they went into the ark to Noah, male and female, as God had commanded Noah to do. He says you shall take with you some wonder how the animals came to Noah or how Noah gathered them in. Genesis 620 says that God sent the animals to come to Noah by migration. In some animals God has created migratory instinct which can operate in an amazing manner.
Now he had no difficulty for him to miraculously put these urge to migrate into these animals and that they knew that it was the time to come, just like birds know when to fly north and south. The largest, most complete gathering of animals that had ever been accomplished were gathered into this ark. Two by two they went into the ark to Noah. God's never had a problem getting the animals to do what he wants. Only man is more stupid than the animals.
The ox knows its owner and the donkey its master's crib, but Israel does not know their place as they have one dream. Now verses 10-12, God brings the waters upon the earth and it came to pass after seven days that the waters of the flood were on the earth and the 600 year of Noah's life in the second month, the 70th day of the month, on the day of the mountains and the great deep were broken up and the windows of the heaven were opened and the rain was on the earth 40 days and 40 nights.
After seven days that the waters of the flood were on the earth, Noah the animals and his family had to wait in the ark seven days for the rain to come. They had never seen rain up until this time. This was a real test of faith to wait a week after more than 100 years of preparation. God always prepares us for what he wants us to do.
Now the windows of heaven were opened, this was the heavens containing the great waters that were above the firmament, Genesis 1-7, they opened up, boy did it open up ever, it rained for 40 days and 40 nights. Now the fountains of the great deep that were broken up, the waters came up from under the earth also, so no doubt accompanied by a great geological catastrophe.
40 days and 40 nights to the number 40 becomes associated with testing and purification, especially before entering into something new and significant. We'll learn more about this later as we go chapter by chapter through the Bible. Moses went through this in Exodus and Deuteronomy, the spies went through this before they went into the land of Canaan in Numbers. Israel's time in the wilderness is talked about in Numbers.
Elijah's miraculous journey to Sinai in 1 Kings, Jesus's temptation in the wilderness in Mark 1, all 40 days.
All entered the ark in verses 13-16, on the very same day Noah and his Noah's sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and Noah's wife and the three wives and their sons with them entered the ark, they and every beast after them, all cattle of all their kind and every creeping thing that creeps along the earth, and every bird of its kind and every bird of its sort, and they went into the ark to Noah, two by two, all of the flesh which was under heaven.
And so they entered male and female, for all flesh went in as God had commanded them to do, and then the Lord shut them in, went in as God commanded him. This is a summary statement that describes how everything was fulfilled exactly as the Lord had spoken. All things were ready for the flood God would bring upon the earth. And the Lord shut him in, Noah did not have to shut the door on anyone's salvation, God did.
The same pattern is never our job to disqualify people from coming to Jesus or into the church. God brings people in. God kept the door open until the last possible minute, but there came a time when the door had to be shut. Now the door is open, it is open, but when it's shut, it's shut. Jesus is the one who opens and no one shuts, and shuts when no one opens in Revelations 3.7. Now the ark was salvation for Noah, but condemnation for the world.
There were no second chances for those who left out. Yet when 120 years were over and God's Spirit would no longer strive with man, there stood the great ark with the vast door open and still Noah continued to preach and to declare that this would pass and that they could come into the ark and be preserved from destruction. Now outside that door death would reign universally, but all would be at peace that were in the door.
Now Noah and the ark during the flood, verses 17-23, the flood described, the flood was on the earth forty days, the waters increased and lifted up the ark and it rose high above the earth. The waters prevailed and greatly increased on the earth and the ark moved about on the surface of the waters and the waters prevailed exceedingly on the earth and on the high hills under the whole heaven were covered.
The waters prevailed fifteen cubits upward and the mountains were covered and all the flesh that moved on the earth, the birds and the cattle and the beasts and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth and everything and all those whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life, all that was on the dry land died. So he destroyed all living things that were the face of the ground, both man and cattle, the creeping thing and the birds of the earth, they were destroyed from the earth.
Only Noah and those who were with him in the ark remained alive. Now the waters prevailed and greatly increased on the earth. The description of the flood in this passage is so complete and specific that it's impossible to reconcile a local flood with the biblical record despite the claims of some, this is the description of a global flood. If this were not a global flood then the ark itself would be unnecessary.
If this were only a local flood then God's promise to never again bring such a flood is false. If this were only a local flood the Bible is wrong when it traces all of humanity back to Noah's sons and other passages that speak of a universal flood such as Psalms 104 in 2 Peter chapter 3. Only hundreds of people groups have their own accounts and legends of the flood. One of the most remarkable is the Babylonian account which is similar to the Genesis account.
In many ways it's clearly drawn from since all mankind came from Noah's sons, all mankind remembers the flood. Specifically cites the legends of the Samo Kubu tribe from New Guinea and the Athaphaean Indians of America and the Papago Indians of Arizona and the Brazilian tribes, Peruvian tribes, Hawaiian Islanders, Chinese and Egyptians, Australians, Druids and Lithuanians. All of these cultures have records of a flood. It is common.
Eighty-eight percent described a favored family, seventy percent attributed survival to a boat, ninety-five percent say the sole cause was a catastrophic flood, sixty-six percent say that the disaster is due to man's wickedness, sixty-seven percent record that animals are also saved, fifty-seven percent describe that the survivors ended up on a mountain. Many of the accounts also specifically mention birds being sent out and a rainbow and eight persons being saved and the mountains recovered.
This took a lot of water but there's plenty of water on the earth today to do this. But because of topography of the earth the water is collected into oceans. If the earth were a perfect sphere the oceans would cover the land to a depth of two and a half to three miles. Before the cataclysmic flood the earth may have been much nearer to a perfect sphere. Now it says that Moses had meant to prescribe just a partial rain upon only a small part of the earth.
He used very misleading language but if he meant to teach that that was the universal flood he used the very word which might have been expected that he would use. In all those whose nostrils was the breath of life of the spirit all that was on the dry land died. Now in the Scopes Monkey Trial in 1925 Clarence Darrow humiliated William Jennings Bryan by asking him if he believed every word in the Bible. When Bryan said he did Darrow asked him how the fish drowned in the flood.
Bryan didn't know the answer gave a long and confused speech and died the next day. If only he would have known the Bible better he would have known it says this about the breath of the spirit of life. The fish did not die in the flood only animals with the breath of life in them died. The animals on dry land. There's the answer. Bryan did this just as he said virtually all of Noah's contemporaries did not believe that God would do just that.
Though it took 120 years God demonstrated that he keeps his promises and is totally faithful. Verse 24 the flood lasted 150 days without seceding and the waters prevailed on the earth 150 days. 150 days some suggest that God put some or many of these animals into a period of hibernation for this period meaning that less food space supervision would be needed. Now God provides many animals today with an amazing instinct for hibernation.
It would be no difficulty for him to miraculously impart an instinct for these particular animals just like they do in the North Pole. Now 150 days safe in the air God sustained Noah and his family through this time of catastrophe and judgment shut in and sheltered from the storm and flood they were safe. And Noah underwent burial to all the old things that he might come out into a new world and even so we might die in Christ that we may live with him.
Now this concludes our time today looking at the chapter in the book of Genesis. Now I'd like you to pray with me just like we do at the end of every beach talk. Would you pray with me now? Just say God would you help me to be like Noah? Would you help me to be righteous? Would you help me to be faithful? Would you help me to follow you even when I am ridiculed and criticized? Forgive me and help me to follow you today in Jesus name.
Amen. At the close of every beach talk we know as we grow that part of our worship is the giving of the resources that God has blessed us with. In every part of your life I want you to pray that the Holy Spirit will guide you and that you'll be obedient to what he's putting on your heart. Would you pray right now, God what do you want me to give as part of my worship? And then go do it at Oceanwater.com. Thank you so much. Please pray for me. I need your prayers in teaching God's word every day.
Thank you so much and I hope you have a beautiful day. Thank you for your time. We would love to partner with you. Water is a global problem. It's going to take as many partners as we can to help solve this problem. We'd love for you to partner with us. You can go to our website at Oceanwater.com. That's O-C-N-W-T-R.com. We'd love that. God bless you all.