on a future message we're gonna preach on, and I'm looking at a man who's a left-handed hero. So we're gonna look at him in the near future as we're looking at fascinating lives of forgotten people. We learned that a forgotten life is not necessarily, or excuse me, a life that's forgotten is not necessarily insignificant. That a forgotten life can be a significant life, and we learned that last week as we looked at a man by the name of Enoch, the man God took. Verse number 5 of Genesis chapter number 6, we're going to meet the ark builder. That's the first book of the Bible. Genesis chapter... that's alright. There we go. Alright, y'all are awake. And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the faults of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the Lord that He had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air. For it repenteth Me that I have made them, but Noah." Aren't you grateful for those two words? But Noah. But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Let's pray together. Lord, we thank You for Your truth tonight. I thank You, Lord, for the good time we've had together already in the service. I thank You for lives that are being touched and changed all over our property tonight. I pray that in here, Lord, that You might meet with us. I pray that Your name would be magnified and glorified. I pray, Father, You would help me as I preach and guide my thoughts. Help me to say exactly what needs to be said. And we'll thank You for what You do for us. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Well, Noah was a man of great historical significance. His name meant rest or rest giver. Look back at chapter 5, if you would, and look at verse number 28. His daddy was a man by the name of Lamech. And Lamech lived 180 and two years and begat a son, verse 29, and he called his name Noah. saying, This same shall comfort us concerning our work and the toil of our hands, because of the ground which the Lord had cursed. And so he named his son Restgiver. He's a descendant of the godly line of Seth that you read about in Genesis 5. His grandfather was Methuselah, the man who lived the longest, 969 years. His great-grandfather was Enoch, the man that God took. He was not, the Bible said, for God took him. He translated him to heaven. Somebody called him the first grave robber. Noah is mentioned some 50 times in the Bible. Nine different books in the Scriptures mention him. I'm just going to give you a few of them tonight by way of introduction. In Ezekiel chapter 14, Noah is mentioned two times as one of the most righteous men in history. Matter of fact, Ezekiel said if Job and Noah were alive, God would still not and I think he also mentioned Daniel in that group. If Noah was alive, God still wouldn't spare you as a nation because of your unrighteousness. He used him as an example of righteousness. Luke mentions him in the genealogy of the Lord Jesus in Luke chapter number 3. And then the Lord Jesus is going to reference Noah in the Olivet Discourse in Matthew chapter number 24. And he's going to attest to the fact that Noah is a historical person. He said, But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be. And he relates the days in which the coming of the Lord will take place to that of what it was like in Noah's day. And uses him as an illustration. and the days in which he lived. And in those few verses, the Lord Jesus validated the historical significance and existence of a man by the name of Noah, that he's a real person. And somebody that doesn't believe Noah lived, well, if you have a problem, it's not with me, it's with the Lord. He's the one who said he lived. and the flood, the worldwide flood, the ark, the destruction of an entire civilization up to that point, the Lord validated every bit of that. When you come to Hebrews chapter 11, Noah is inducted into God's hall of faith, that listing of the great men and women of the Bible who believed God. When you come to Noah's life, it's recorded in Genesis 6-8, and the significant point of his life that everybody remembers, and he's the man who built the ark. Well, let's look a little more in detail about his life. And the first thing I'm going to learn about Noah, he's a converted man. He's a saved man. We're going to see his conversion. You think the day we live in is bad. Can I tell you that's a walk in the park compared to Noah's day. Noah was living in a time when the entire world was wallowing in wickedness. Look, if you would, verse number 5. And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, every imagination, I mean every impulse of the thoughts of his heart was only evil. Notice the Bible said continually everything about it. Man had departed from God. There was no place for God in their lives, no time for God in their minds, no desire for God in their hearts. And we find that society as a whole had apostatized it and turned away from God. Notice the Bible said that the wickedness of man was great, that were great, spoke of the intensity of their sin. It was a time of obscenity and immorality and violence. And listen, the people of Noah's day were so committed to their sinning that the very thoughts of their heart was evil continually. They were continually thinking up new and better ways to sin. The viler the better. They had made filthy fashionable. What was abominable in the eyes of God was applauded in the eyes of men. Does that sound something like 2023 America? Does that just sort of ring in your ear as something that we're seeing happening in our own land? When we're living in a day when filth is fashionable, when obscenity is accepted and applauded and desired more than righteousness and godliness and holiness. Look down, if you would, verse number 12. And God looked upon the earth, and behold, it was corrupt. For all flesh had corrupted His way upon the earth. One evil generation had produced another evil generation. It produced an even more evil generation. God said that the end of all flesh, look at verse number 13, God said, No, the end of all flesh has come before Me, for the earth is filled with violence through them, and behold, I will destroy them with the earth. It's interesting that here, the end of all flesh, Look up verse number 6. Notice the heart of God, and it repented the Lord that He had made man on the earth, and it grieved Him at His heart. Can I tell you that word repent doesn't mean that God made a mistake. It means that God lamented what man had become. The Bible said it grieved Him at His heart. When you think about the word grieved, it is a love word. Man's rebellion and wickedness had literally broken the heart of a holy God. Young people, let me just remind you tonight that God cares about your life. And that our sin, when you and I sin and disobey God, it breaks the heart of God who wants more for us than we want for ourselves. Sin grieves God. It stabs Him at His heart. Sin not only breaks the heart of God, but it also brings about the judgment of God. Look at verse number 7. And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from off the face of the earth, both man and beast and creeping thing, the fowls there, for it repenteth me. It stabs me at the heart that I've made. Do you realize all of human history would have ended right here? And we wouldn't even be here today except for the very next verse. For one man that stood out as a beacon of grace and faith in an age of wickedness and unbelief, and that man was Noah. Look at verse number 8. And all of the wickedness, all of the violence, all of the ungodliness, but Noah. Can I ask you a question? Could God put our name in this day? Could He do that? Could God say as He looks down on America and sees the wickedness and the filth and the obscenity and the apostasy and everything going on in our day, could God look down and say, but, and put some names of some folks right here at Calvary Baptist Church and other believers in our area, could He put our name there? Could you and I be making a difference like Noah made it? Are we a beacon like Noah was a beacon in his day? But Noah found grace. Isn't it amazing that all of human history is going to hinge on two little words? But and grace. but and grace. You're going to find that again in Ephesians chapter number 2. You're going to. You're going to find that God lists the depravity of man and the fallen nature of man and the sinfulness of man and all of that. And then He's going to say, but God is rich in grace. Aren't you glad that our God doesn't just have grace? He's rich in grace. But little hinges, great doors, great trues turned on little hinges. Noah was a spared man because he was a saver. He found grace. Noah wasn't saved because of his goodness. He was saved by grace tonight. Can I tell you, everybody that's saved, saved the same way. We're saved by grace. Could I just go ahead and remind you that this is the very first time that grace is even mentioned in the Bible. Isn't it amazing that in the midst of man's sin that God mentions grace? God's love lavished on undeserving... Can I tell you that anybody in Noah's day could have found grace? It wasn't just for Noah, it was for everybody in that day. But Noah was a man who found grace. I am so thankful out of the billions of people on planet earth that I am a person that God allowed to find grace. Now listen, anybody can find it, but thank God that you and I tonight, listen, if you're saved, we found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Isn't that a blessing? Can I remind us that when you go all the way back to the Old Testament, God didn't have two ways of salvation. People in the Old Testament weren't saved one way and us saved a different way. They weren't saved by law and by their own goodness and us by grace. No, everybody's saved the same way. It's always been and will always be by grace through faith in the person of Jesus Christ. The Bible said He was a just man. Isn't it amazing that salvation by grace and justification by faith is all found in the opening chapters of the Bible? Look at verse 9. He said, These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a just man. Do you know what that means? That means he is a man who has been declared right with God. That means there was a day in Noah's life, I don't know if he was a little boy, I don't know if he was a teenager, I don't know at what point it was, but there was a point in his life that he put his faith in God for salvation, and the gavel dropped, and God said of Noah, not guilty. I'm glad there was a night in 1984 that I believed on Jesus Christ, the gavel dropped, and God said, not guilty. You're righteous before me. Are you just? Have you been justified by God? Have you found grace in the eyes of the Lord? Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amazing! There's wickedness, there's turmoil, there's restlessness because of the wickedness on the earth, but here was a man that he found grace and he had peace with God. At some point in his life, he came to know the Lord. The Bible said, by faith, Noah being warned of God. Can I remind us, Noah wasn't saved because he built an ark. Noah built an ark because he was saved. Noah believed God when no one else was willing to. Can I help us to understand tonight? The further our nation goes away from God, the more you and I need to be willing to believe God when nobody else will. Did you know that? Hey, let's just determine we're going to believe God. Noah was a saved man. There was a day in his life that he found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Aren't you glad, dear friend, tonight that if you're saved, you found grace in the eyes of the Lord? And I can say this, if you're not sure you are, and have His grace tonight. Amen. But not only I see something about His conversion, I see something about His conduct. Look at verse number 9 again. It said, These are the generations of Noah. Noah is a just man and perfect in his generations. Now let me tell you what that doesn't mean. That doesn't mean he is sinless. That doesn't mean that Noah never sinned after he got saved or never did anything wrong again. It meant that he was blameless. The Word has the idea of being without blemish. It comes from a Hebrew word we get our English word contaminate. Noah was uncontaminated by his generation. Can I just stop and say something to us? We talk about how hard it is to live for God, how difficult it is. Well, I tell you what, our world is so bad, it's just hard to live for God. Can I tell you, our world is nothing like Noah's world, and if Noah was uncontaminated by his generation, you and I don't have to be contaminated by our generation. Just because everybody else does, doesn't mean we have to. The more degenerate the time, somebody said, the more definite the testimony. The darker the night, the lighter the bright shines. And can I promise you, the darker our nation gets, the greater the light that you and I have to shine for Jesus Christ will be. Noah's a bright light in a dark world. And can I tell you right now, in America, 2023, God's looking for some Christians that'll be like Noah in bright lights in a dark world. Maybe on your job, out in the community, at school, when it starts back, wherever we go, whatever we do, at the grocery store, wherever we're at, we ought to be a bright light in a dark world. If you have a verse in your notes, Philippians 2, verses 15 and 16, the Bible said that you may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke. That means nobody can point an accusing finger in the midst of a crooked and perversion nation among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding forth the word of life, that I may rejoice in the day of Christ and I'm not run in vain, neither labored in vain. And so God said that Noah was a man that nobody could point an accusing finger. It didn't mean he was a sinless man. It didn't mean that he never did anything wrong or never had a sinful thought or never said anything he shouldn't, but what it does mean is that nobody could point an accusing finger at his life, that he was uncontaminated by his generation. Can I tell you, not only do we need to be a converted people, we need to be a people whose lives are mature and godly and uncontaminated. We need to be bright lights in a dark world. Amen? But then I want you to notice not only his conversion, his conduct, but I want you to notice commitment. Look at verse 9 again. He said, these are the generations of Noah. Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations, the day in which he lived. And Noah, watch this, walked with God. You know, there's only one other person that that's said of. We met him last week. That was his great-granddaddy Enoch. I believe it ran in the family. You know, it ought to run in our family too. Don't you agree? He walked with God. Can I help us understand that walking with God is not just reserved for elite Christians? It's not set aside for super saints. Anybody can walk with God that wants to walk with God. That means you can walk with God tonight. I can walk with God. Noah walked with God. The word walked has the idea of progress, of movement. The world was going one way and Noah was going another way. The world was going away from God. Noah was going with God. Can I help us understand something tonight? We can't be in step with the world and be in step with God at the same time. You say, preacher, why? Because they're going in different directions. That's why the Bible said, Love not the world, neither the things which are in the world. If any man loved the world, the love of the Father is not in him. You know, the more we love the world, the less we're going to love God. But the more we love God, the less we're going to love this world. Noah was determined he wasn't going to let what everyone else was doing set the agenda for his life. He's going to let God set His agenda. Can I say something to our young families and anybody else in the building tonight that we're willing to hear this? We don't have to let the world set our agenda. Let's let God set the agenda of our lives. Noah learned what we need to learn tonight, that any person with God is a majority. It's a majority. It doesn't matter if you're the only one in your family that's saved, the only one on the job that's saved, the only one in the neighborhood that lives for God. We ought to draw the line in the sand and determine that no matter which way the world goes, we're going to go with God. We're going to walk with God and let it be evident in our lives. Wouldn't we agree with that? Oh, he was a man who was converted. He was a man. We've seen his conduct. We've seen his commitment. But I want you to note real quickly tonight, I want you to note his courage. He wasn't just a converted man. He wasn't just a man that walked with God. He wasn't just a committed man. He was a courageous man. Look at verse number 14. God said, Make thee an ark of gopher wood. Rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within, and without pitch. And this is the fashion. And He begins to tell him how big the ark's going to be. Verse 16, I want you to put a window in the ark, and a door in the side of the ark. Aren't you glad there was a door in the ark? Anybody that wanted to go in could go in. It had three stories. Look at verse 17, And behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth. to destroy all flesh wherein is the breath of life from under heaven, and every thing that is in the earth shall die. But with thee will I establish my covenant. And thou shalt come into the ark, thou and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons' wives with thee. And of every living thing, of all flesh, two of every sort, shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee. They shall be male and female, of fowls after their kind, of cattle after their kind, of every creeping thing, of the earth after his kind, two of every sort shall come to me." You know what? We get the idea. I remember I was a kid. No, it was my kids. That was it. Do you ever play your kids video games? Now, I can't do that anymore. Well, number one, they don't have them, but they're adults now. But when they did, when it got into this other stuff, I mean, it just took too many fingers and too much thinking. How many remember Mario? You know, just one button. It jumps, you know. What Lori and I do, we put the kids to bed and we play until the wee hours of the morning. Mom, I want to play. No, it's time for you to go to bed, Mom. I remember Pong. How many of you remember that? Oh yeah, we're dating. Some of you could go Google that. playing different games. I remember that one of their Nintendo, I guess it was early on, they had a Noah's Ark game. It was a little Bible game. You ever notice how those things are so biblically accurate? And the game was that Noah not only had to gather food, but had to go get all the animals. And so you're racing around before it rains trying to gather up all the animals, get the food, doing all this, getting points and all that. And I got to thinking, wait a minute, this is crazy. Noah didn't have to go get the animals. The animals came to Noah. Noah wasn't scrambling around trying to grab every animal. Get that snail over there. Hey, don't let that groundhog get by. Go grab that thing. He didn't have to do that. No, they came. Can you imagine living in that day and here's this great big ark? There's no body of water anywhere around. And all of a sudden all these animals start lining up and going on the ark two by two. Wouldn't it be amazing? Don't you think somebody ought to ask a question of what in the world was going on? And notice that they came unto him to keep them alive, verse 20, and thou shalt take unto thee of all things. Now this is what he did do. He gathered up all the food that is eaten, and thou shalt gather it to thee, and it shall be for food for thee and for them. And you say, Preacher, what's courageous about this? The Bible said in Hebrews 11, 7, the commentary on this passage by the Holy Spirit said, By faith Noah being warned of God of things not seen as yet. moved with fear and prepared an ark to the saving of his house." I want you to catch that phrase, not seen as yet. God said, I want you to go and I want you to do a construction project for me. She built an ark, a boat. It looked more like a coffin than it did an ocean liner. gave him the exact materials, measurements that he was to do. I want you to fill it with all kinds of food and provision. Two of every kind of the animals are going to come to you because, Noah, I'm going to save you, your wife, your sons, their wives, all the animals that I bring to you. I'm going to send a flood. I'm going to destroy every living thing that has breath on the earth, Noah, but I'm going to save you alive in the ark and anybody else that wants to get on the ark with you. I can imagine as God informed Noah, He's going to destroy the earth with a flood. I can imagine. God, what's a flood? He didn't know what a flood was. It never even rained before. God's going to cause it to rain. Look back. I want you to look with me. Look back at chapter 2. Real quick. Chapter 2. Would you do that? Genesis chapter 2. And I want you to look at verse number 5. Chapter 2 and verse number 5. And God's giving us a spotlight of creation, verse 5, and every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew. For the Lord God did not cause it to rain upon the earth. You're talking about faith. He didn't have a Bible. He didn't have all the miracles of the Bible. He couldn't read Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. He didn't have any of that. All he had was the Word of God. I'm going to destroy the world with a flood, Noah. I want you to build an ark. And the Bible said he was moved with fear. God's Word so impacted Noah's life and he believed Him and it moved him to do something. He built an ark. And it never rained before. Did you see that? but caused it to rain upon the earth, that there was not a man to till the ground. But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the face." It's sort of like a giant sprinkler system, and the water came up from beneath, sort of like a rainforest situation, like an underground sprinkler. God said, I'm going to destroy the world with a flood, and I want you to build an ark, and I want you to save your family, and anybody else that wants to get on the ark. And I want you to go back to chapter 6 verse 22, and I want you to catch this. Thus, are you there? Chapter 6 verse 22, Thus did Noah, according to all, not some, not part, not most, but all that God commanded him, so did he. You know what he did? He did exactly what God taught. He didn't argue with God. He didn't say, God, let me pray about it. God, let me figure this out. God, let me get some scientists and let them really check this thing out, make sure that this thing's really a fact and a phenomenon. He didn't do any of that. He just did what God... You know, it would behoove us, dear children of God, if we wouldn't argue with God and we'd just obey God. Life would go so much better. He had enough courage and confidence to believe God. Isn't that amazing? For the next century, Noah's going to build an ark. No doubt he was made fun of, scoffed at, scorned, ridiculed by the people of his day. I can imagine the evening news as they have their analysts come on, and the scientists, the experts of that day. I can hear them being interviewed and saying, well, we've done all the calculations and we've went back through history and nothing of what Noah has ever said has ever taken place. And from what we can gather from our scientific, it will never take place. You don't have to fear. It's not going to rain. Noah's crazy. By the way, if you watch the evening news tonight on certain channels, And you talk about the coming of Jesus, you know what they're going to tell you? You're crazy. All things have continued as they are. That was the message. But yet Noah was unmoved by the world. And you say, Preacher, why? Because he had been moved by the fear of God. Noah being warned of God. He feared. He had a reverential fear. He stood in awe of God. He is willing to believe God rather than men. Can I tell you, we need to live in a day when we'll believe God rather than men. Wouldn't we agree with that? Very quickly, Noah's confidence. Noah's family and animals are safe in the ark. The ark was an unsinkable ship. You say, Preacher, why was that? Because it wasn't the pitch. It wasn't as good that he waterproofed the ark. Can I go back to those little kid things? We bought our kids a series of Bible... Y'all are going to think we're terrible parents giving our kids heretical videos. And we'd give them little Bible videos. And there was one about Noah's in the ark, and the kids are on the ark, and everybody's on the ark. And of course there's time travelers. Did anybody ever see these? You were the only ones. I guess we're the only ones, okay. So we were back. But anyway, so they were watching this little video. It's a cartoon and these kids were time travelers and they go back in time and they would experience whatever was going on at that time. And so they had all of them on there. And there was the ark and suddenly the ark sprung a leak and the rhinoceros saved the day. It went and took its horn and stuck it in the hole in the ark and it stopped the ark from sinking. Can I tell you, all the waters in the world couldn't have sunk that ark. It didn't spring a lake. There's never a moment that they ever worried about the water in the ark. You say, preacher, why? Because God was in that ark. I want you to look at chapter 7 verse 1. And the Lord said unto Noah, I love this, come thou. And all thy house into the ark, for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation. Come. Come. Do you know that's the first invitation in the Bible? God didn't say go, He said come. Why? Because God was in the ark and Noah and his family went to where God was. Look at verse number 16. And they that went in, went in male and this chapter 7 verse 16, male and female of all flesh as God had commanded, and the Lord shut him in. Hey, it was God that shut the door of that. Could you imagine that? As a matter of fact, Noah and the animals would be on the ark seven days. You know what God was doing? He said, now listen, I'm going to leave the door open. Noah and his family is in there. I'm going to leave the door open seven more days. Anybody wants to get on, you can. And then suddenly, one day, supernaturally, that door shut. And I want to tell you something. Once God shut that door, there wasn't anybody who was going to open it. Frank, can I tell you that the day of salvation is now. Once the door is shut, we can't open it. We can't open it. That's why we need to be reaching the people we love, our community, our world now. Because when the door is shut, we can't open it. And the Lord shut him in. I want you to look at chapter 8 verse 16. I'm going to have to throw it in hyper drive, okay? Look at chapter 8 verse 16. This is after it's all over with. I mean, the flood's gone, the water's gone, the earth's dried. I love verse 16. Go forth of the ark, thou and thy son, and thy son's wives with thee. Did you catch that? Go. In chapter 7, verse 1, He's come. Now it's go. You say, preacher, where was God? He's still in the ark. God was with Noah the entire time. You know, there's never a time that God wasn't in the ark with Noah. Never a time. Noah and his family were as safe as God was safe. For the ark to go down, God would have to go down, and that wasn't going to happen. Matter of fact, as I mentioned, it was an unsinkable ship. God was on that ship, and all the waters of the flood couldn't sink it. God didn't nail eight pegs on the outside of that ark, as one preacher said, and hang Noah and his family on those pegs, and then promise that if they hung on to the end, they'd be saved. No, they were saved and safe and secure in the ark. What was for Nodom in the ark, Christians, what it is for you to be in Christ. Christian, you're in Christ, and Christ is in the Christian. And if you're in Christ, and Christ is in you, our ship can't sink. No doubt that storm tossed the ship. I know doubt it's to and fro. I love what one person said, God didn't promise a smooth sailing, just a safe landing. Noah probably fell in the ark, but he never fell out of the ark. Christian, can I tell you tonight, we'll never fall out of Jesus Christ. Noah was safe in the ark. We're safe in the Lord Jesus tonight. It doesn't matter what happens. We're safe. We're secure in Him. Isn't that a blessing? What encouragement that is. Hey, can I just tell you, when you got on the gospel ship, you're going to make a safe landing. Let me give you the last thing. I want you to see His contagiousness. His contagiousness. Did you know faith in God can be contagious? Noah's faith rubbed off on his family. Now watch this. Look at verse 16, "...go forth to the ark, thou and thy wife..." There's two. "...thy sons..." We know there's three of them. He named them. "...and thy sons' wives." All three of them were married. We don't know their names. We're not told what their names are. But we know there's eight people got on the ark and eight people got off the ark. Everybody was safe in the ark. Now if you count numbers, Noah was a colossal failure. Here's a man preached over a hundred years and nobody got saved. Nobody got on the ark. Nobody listened. But Noah, listen, he may have been a failure so far as what others would concern or preachers in our day would concern, but he was a success with his family. He was a success with God. You say, preacher, why? Family circle went unbroken. He took his family on the ark with him. Could you imagine what it must have been like if Noah had been on that ark and one of his boys wasn't on the ark? Mom, can I tell you the best thing you can do as a dad is set an example and have a contagious faith because you want all your children on the ark, so to speak. Isn't that right? I know that God wants her children on the ark. We ought to pray, live in such a way as to influence our family and loved ones for God. We want to take them to heaven with us, don't we? Faith makes a difference, it does. Leonard Ravenhill, a great revivalist, wrote a book and in one of his books he told of two families. He told about the Max Jukes family. Max Jukes was an atheist. He lived a godless life. He married an ungodly girl and from that union they calculated there were a number of descendants and 310 of them died in abject poverty. 150 of them were criminals, seven were murderers, a hundred were drunkards, and more than half of the women were prostitutes. Of his 540 descendants, they cost the state one and a quarter million dollars in the day they lived. Can you imagine that? On the other hand, there was another man that lived in that time. We're talking in the 1750s. He was a man by the name of Jonathan Edwards. He lived at the same time of Max Jukes. He married a young woman that wanted to serve God with her life. They investigated his 1,394 descendants, of which 13 were college presidents, 65 college professors, 3 United States senators, 30 judges, 100 lawyers, 60 physicians, 75 army and navy officers, 100 preachers and missionaries, 60 authors of prominence, one a vice president of the United States, 80 become public officials in other capacities, 295 college graduates among whom were governors of states and ministers to foreign countries." Now this is Jonathan Edwards, a great revivalist and responsible for the Great Awakening in early colonial America. 1,394 descendants. Isn't it amazing what runs in the family? I'm just saying how we live and who we follow is contagious. It's not a guarantee that everyone of Jonathan Edwards' descendants were Christian. Wasn't. But they had character. Many of them were. But I'm just saying that mom and dad, what we are rubs off on those that are closest to us. His descendants didn't cost the government a single penny. I tell you what, it just matters how we live, doesn't it? We ought to be like Noah and be a person whose faith in life is contagious. Let me ask you a question. If you were to rub off on somebody, what would they be? If your children were like you, what would they be? Well, that's a question I want to ask myself. You say, well preacher, your kids are grown. I understand that, but I still rub off on them. I sure do. Matter of fact, the story isn't written until we all get to heaven. Isn't that right? I want to be like, no, I'm a converted man. I want to conduct that's just and upright, to be committed and walk with God, to be courageous in the day in which we live. You know what? God's looking for a generation of courageous Christians who will be confident in His Word and live for Him and have lives that rub off on other people. I don't know about you, but I want to rub people for God. Don't you? That's what I want to do. Let's have contagious lives spiritually. I don't know about you, but I'm thankful for the example of a man by the name of Noah. Let's bow our heads in prayer.