The Ark of Noah

[Speaker 1] We give him glory, we give him praise, we give him honor, we give him adoration. We appreciate him for his love and for his mercies. We thank him for all who he is and for all that he is. Today is the 11th month starting today, the first day of the month happened to be our Singles Club day. We want to indeed thank God for another time again. Wow, 10 months gone just like that. We're already in the 11th month of the year. We give God all the glory. We give him all the praise. We give him all the adoration. May his good hand be upon us for good in this month. May he watch over us. May the Lord keep us all in every way and establish all our paths in the name of Jesus Christ. I want to welcome all of us again to our Family Tent Singles Club for the month of November, a program that targets people of marriageable age, undergraduates, people, young men. And sometimes we even have married people joining us on the program, wanting to learn again some of the principles that we discuss under the Singles Club. And as we move on together today, I want to welcome our brethren joining us on Mixlr. I welcome the brethren joining us on Telegram. I welcome everyone, we who are here also reaching out to you physically. We want to welcome ourselves and we trust the Lord again that it will be a time of refreshment in his presence in the name of Jesus Christ. Just before we go into our topic of today, which is the Ark of Noah, I just want to make reference to our topic for last month of October, which was Godly smartness. Godly smartness and just to remind you once again, in everything, don't ever forget you are not a smart person if you don't take time to know what is the purpose and the will of God for you early enough and pursue it. If you don't know what is the purpose of God for you early enough, what is the will of God, Godly smartness is the ability to know what God is doing, to hear what God is saying, to go where he sent, to follow where he leads, and that quite early. That's quite early. The earlier you get into these things and begin to bury your life into them, the better for you. Those who don't take time to walk in that path, they are not smart. It is knowing God's will and walking in the fullness of God's will that makes us to be smart people. Understand smartness. Smartness is not craftiness. Smartness is not being deceitful. Smartness is not being conny and tricky. Smartness from the standpoint of God is quickly, readily understanding what God's will is and sowing our life into it. And I pray that as we become smart in a Godly manner, may our life be blessed in Jesus' name. Today we're taking another very interesting topic again, the Ark of Noah. The Ark of Noah. Let us have a word of prayer. Precious Father, we are grateful unto you. We thank you again for your mercies and love. We appreciate you for your goodness. We say, Lord, be exalted in the name of Jesus Christ. Lord, our God, we come together, all of us this morning again, and we join our faith together. We are praying that Lord, it will be again in your presence, a time of refreshment, a time of encounter, a time of visitation, a time of instruction in righteousness in the name of Jesus Christ. O Lord, I pray, meet with each and every one of us where we need you most in the name of Jesus. Thank you, eternal Father. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. So, we are looking at the topic, the Ark of Noah. And what is drawing that topic to us this morning is because of the statement of our Lord Jesus Christ in the book of Luke chapter 11. The Lord made reference to the days of Noah in that chapter, and it was from that chapter that we actually took our topic from. Luke chapter 17, sorry, not 11. Luke chapter 17. Let's see Luke chapter 17. The statement actually is in verse 26, but I just want us to do a little reading around that chapter. Luke chapter 17. We took our topic from verse 26, but I want us to read somewhere from around verse 20, 20 to 28. And when he was demanded of the Pharisees when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, "The kingdom of God cometh not with observation. Neither shall they say, 'Lo here!' or 'lo there!' for behold, the kingdom of God is within you." And he said to his disciples, "The days will come when you shall desire to see one of the days of the son of man, and you shall not see it. And they shall say to you, 'See here!' or 'see there!' Go not after them, nor follow them. For as the lightning that lighteneth out of one part under the heaven shineth into other part under the heaven, so shall also the son of man be in his days. "But first must he suffer many things and be rejected of this generation. And as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be also in the days of the son of man. They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. Likewise, also as it was in the days of Lot, they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded. But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all." Verse 30: "Even so shall it be in the day when the son of man is revealed." So, we are seeing something very, very important. What we are looking at, the reason why we are looking at the Ark of Noah, what took us to that topic was the statement of our Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lord was saying something about his kingdom and the coming of the kingdom. People were asking him questions as regards the kingdom. He was giving answer to them as regard the kingdom. And the Pharisees were asking him, please can you tell us exactly when the kingdom of God will come? They put a question to him about when the kingdom of God would come. He gave them an answer and said, "The kingdom of God will not come through observation and men will not say, 'See it is here' or 'there,' for the kingdom of God is among you." So, they were asking when the kingdom of God will come. And what they were talking about here, if you look at how Jesus concluded in the verse 30, look at verse 30: "So it shall be in the day of revelation of the son of man." So, which means what they were asking him, when they say when will the kingdom of God come in the verse 20, is not the kingdom of God coming the way Jesus said the kingdom of God is at hand, but they were talking about the end of the age when everything will be cancelled, when there will be the second coming of the Lord Jesus, when it will be that heaven and earth will wipe away and there will be a new earth and a new heaven and the Christ will reign. That was the question that they were asking for. It was not about the kingdom that Jesus was preaching. They were talking about the end of the age because look at how when Jesus was concluding, he said, "So it will be in the day when the son of man shall be revealed," when everything comes to an end. So, and what I want you to see as we look at this matter of Noah's ark is that the Lord Jesus said that the kingdom of God will not come with any observation. As a young man, as a young woman, that becomes very important for you. What the Lord Jesus is saying is that don't be thinking that the end of everything will come in a way that every single person will be aware that it is coming. The way everything will end, it will end in a way that people don't ever think that that is the end. That's what he's saying. The way everything will come to an end, as suddenly as it will be, even if it's to happen by 12 o'clock today, by 11 o'clock today everything will still be normal. Everything will still look very normal. Don't be thinking that there will be some, that's why he said no observation, that you'll just see Angel Gabriel say, "Oh yeah, people get ready." No, everything will just be normal. Everything will be going normally. Don't be thinking of some extraordinary thing that will now make you know that ah, Jesus is about to come, let me get ready, let me... Don't be thinking of any extraordinary thing. That's the first thing. We are talking about the Ark of Noah. And if the coming of the Lord will not come with any observation, then come to think of it. If the Lord wants to give you instruction for your life, are you expecting any serious observation? Some of us, we are used to, I want to see one sign. I want to see one thing fly in the air. When I see, when I just go out this morning and I see our Daddy Kumuyi and Pastor Adeboye and Bishop Oyedepo, they just come and knock on my door to say good morning, God is speaking to you. I will now, that will be the confirmation of what God wants me to do in my life. Don't be thinking that there will be some external observation. If the coming of the Lord is going to come in a way that everything around will look very normal, but however, note what he said, he said the kingdom of God is within you. You'll be able to sense it within. Knowing that the end of all thing is coming is something you will sense within you. Those who will be aware, they will be aware within them. They will know it within them that ah, everything is about to wind up. But externally everything will look normal. So, that tells you something. The Ark of Noah is actually a step further from where we left the matter last month. Last month I was telling you that Godly smartness is to be able to design the will of God, to be able to know what God's will is and key your life into it. To know where God wants you and to understand the will of God. What I'm trying to make you see today is that please understand something. To know what God is doing, to follow where God is sending, don't be thinking that is going to come with some external observation. Don't be thinking that it is when as I'm going now, I just see Angel Michael and he just say, "Matthew, arise, jump up four times and there, that four times means Abuja city, that is where God wants you to settle." Yes, I've received confirmation, I got a sign, Michael. If you are waiting for a sign, you will miss the purpose of God. What I'm trying to make you understand is that if the coming of the Lord is going to come without any external observation, I mean the end of all thing, the way everything will end, boom, Jesus said it's like the days of Noah. They were eating, they were drinking, they were given in marriage, everything was still going until Noah entered the ark. It was just looking very ordinary and rain began to fall. Okay, it will stop tomorrow. It will soon stop so that we can go and dry our clothes outside. But the rain was not stopping. Ah, this rain, is it the seven days type of rain? Seven days it did not stop. Uh-uh, this one is unique. Which type of rain is this one? Uh-uh, wait, wait, what is going on? They didn't know that that day Noah entered the ark, the end started. There was nothing special. There was no lightning, thundering, everything is coming to an end now, people, be ready. No, there was nothing. There was nothing but when Noah entered that ark and the Bible says God shut him in, we are going there very soon, that was the beginning of the end. Noah that was entering the ark knew that the end had come. The generation that surrounded him did not know. So, how did he know? He knew within him. He knew within him. He knew within him. I'm trying to make you understand something about Godly smartness. I'm trying to make you understand something about God's purpose and intention for your life. And I'm taking a step further for you to see something very, very crucial. The topics are deliberate. They follow themselves. They are taking you to a climax of something. That see how deep is your walk with God. What is the depth of your personal walk with God? If you are a man waiting for external observation to know how God wants you to turn, ah, you are not likely to build a ark on time and enter that ark on time. You are not likely to build a ark on time and enter that ark on time. If you are a man waiting for everything to be said from external things to make you know how to turn, you are not likely to be among those that will build an ark and that will enter that ark on time. So, the Lord Jesus was saying something that see when the end of all thing will come, when there will be sudden destruction, everything and the cosmos will be ruined and everything will be overturned. Look at what happened to Sodom and Gomorrah. Look at what happened in the days of Noah. Look at how everything was so normal. And as Lot just left, look at it was just a seconds or some minutes difference, as one person just got out of the city, what could not be related to the next minute happened. What you can never, never relate. I mean you cannot relate that destruction to the minutes that preceded it. You cannot relate it. You cannot. You can't. You know, it's so difficult to relate that. If you want to look at it externally. So, anybody that wants to understand God's will by some external observation will miss God. That person will miss God. Being able to walk with God and follow God is a depth inside you. Being able to walk with God and follow God is a depth in the inside of you. It's not a sign external there. I don't mean that God cannot give signs. No. I don't mean that God cannot do some things. Like of course, you saw when Gideon asked God, let it be that by tomorrow let everything be wet. And by tomorrow, Lord I want to set a fleece. Of course, God gave certain signs to make somebody understand something. But Paul said something that sign is for unbelievers, not for believers. Telling us that God did certain things for certain people because of the level where they are, where they were. You know the days of Gideon was a time when destruction surrounded everybody, nobody even believed God can do anything again. So, somebody was just rising from inside that situation and God was doing everything to help that person out of the city. But we are looking at the reality that God wants us to be able to develop a relationship with him that by that depth of things inside us, we can, we can be able to know him and to follow him. The type of depth that God is expecting from us is the kind of depth that you will see in somebody like Elisha, who never needed to pray that God please open my eyes, I'm surrounded by Syrian army. Who at the instant could see chariots of fire and could tell the young man they that be with us are more than they that be with them. And when the young man was dancing, God please open his eyes. He was not asking God to open his own eyes. He was settled. That's the kind of depth that God is expecting from us. That's the kind of ability to understand you don't need an external sign. Don't be contented with I need 200 confirmation. I need 2 million confirmation. Rather be contented with being able to grow, develop in your spirit man, having a walk with God where you can, you can follow God. There is a depth in there is a reservoir in the inside of you that helps you to design God and to follow God. As a young person that is very important for you. It's important for every dimension of your life: your financial life, your career life, your marital life, your health life, your location. It's very crucial for every aspect or else you will not be building an ark at the time you ought to build the ark, and you will not enter into the ark on time. And so you will be destroyed like the rest of the world. That is, you will find yourself doing what every other person around you they are doing. That's what I mean by that. "Oh, it's like everybody is now going to US. I need to go to US. Oh, it's like what everybody is doing now is IT, I must go and learn on IT. Ah, it's like what everybody is doing now..." You'll just be moved by what everybody is doing. There is a need to go beyond that. There is a need to go internal. There is a need to go deeper. There is a need. So that your life is not managed by external observation, the Ark of Noah. That ark was not built by what? By some external observation. The Ark of Noah. That ark, I repeat again, was not built by some external observation. It wasn't an external observation, no. That ark was built by a kingdom of God that was within. A kingdom of God was within. There was a kingdom. There was a reality within. There was something going on within. There was a fire burning within. There was something, there was an oil flowing within. There was an anointing flowing within. There was a work going on within. There was a designment going on within. There was a realization going within. May that be your portion in the name of Jesus. It was happening within, the Ark of Noah. There is an ark to be built. There is something to be built for your life that is not necessarily in common with what every other person is doing. That's the point I'm making. There is something about your life. There is something about your walk with God that cannot be found in the common market. It is found in the place of deeper work. There is, there is, there is a path you need to go that you don't find among the general populace. You find it in the private intimacy of quiet life. That's where you find it. That's where it is found. and you need to get yourself into that, the Ark of Noah. Or because if the coming of the Lord, that great thing that is going to change the whole entire universe is going to come without external observation, then 1,000 and one thing God will be using for your life and doing with your life that will not have external observation. And if you are not a man of deeper work, of inner life, you are going to miss so many things. You are going to walk out of, you are going to miss out so many things. That's the reality. But I trust in the Lord. The Bible says confident is in very thing that he who began the good work is also able to finish it. Me and you, we will not miss it in the name of Jesus Christ. Now, so we are looking at that reading before we go to Genesis. He says they were, let me take verse 26, no 26. He says, "As it were in the days of Noah, so it will be in the day of the son of man." They were feasting and taking wives, getting married till the day of the overflowing of the water when Noah entered, when Noah went into the ark and they all came to destruction. They were feasting and were taking wives. And what I want to call your attention to is that the Lord is likening how our days will be like. You know we are closer to the end. The end of all things is at hand. The end of all things is at hand. So, we need to begin to understand something about this period that we are in. Don't forget, it is Godly smartness in a time like this. In a time like this. One thing I want to make you know about our time, this time that we are in because the master said it is like it will be like the days of Noah. How was the days of Noah? How was that day? You need to understand something about that day. Let's now go to Genesis. Let's quickly go there. Let's see the book of Genesis together. Genesis. I want us to first see chapter 6. Genesis chapter 6. I want to read verse 1 to 3 first. "And after a time when men were increasing on earth and had daughters, the sons of God saw the daughters of men were fair, and they took wives for themselves from those who were pleasing to them. And the Lord said, 'My spirit will not be in man forever, for he is only flesh. So the days of his life will be 120 years.'" Then I move to verse 4: "And there were there were men of great strength and size on the earth in those days. And after that were the sons of God had connection with the daughters of men, they gave birth to children. These were the great men of old days, the men of great name. "And the Lord saw that the sin of man was great on earth and that all the thoughts of his heart were evil. And the Lord had sorrow because he had made man on earth and grief was in his heart. And the Lord said, 'I will take away man whom I have made from the face of the earth, even man and beast and that which goes on the earth and every best of the earth, for I have sorrow for having made them.'" Now, so what do you notice about the days of Noah? What do we know about the days of Noah? Because the Lord is saying that when he come to towards the time that he will be coming, which is the time that we are now, it will be like the days of Noah. How was the days of Noah? I just want to point your attention to about these days of Noah, two things. Is the fact that evil, the thought of people, the thought of men, everything you are hearing around you that sounds so heart-rending, heartbreaking that you are hearing today, that people are doing in the home, in the school, in the church, in politics, in in the workplace, in the military, just every I mean in every sector society. One thing about the days of Noah would that the thought of men were continually evil. So, one thing you need to realize is that evil is self-centeredness. Evil is selfishness. One thing that will characterize this our period is the darkness and the evil that come from self-centeredness. What I'm trying to make you see is that if you are if you are not somebody who is understanding that if your life is ruled by self-centeredness and selfishness, you may not be different from the men of your day. You may not be different. One thing about the days of Noah was that the thought, you see as long as man centers his thought on only himself and his desire and his want, he cannot but be evil. That is what makes society to be difficult. If everybody is thinking about the other person, there will not be perilous time. Do you get it? There will be nothing perilous. If as I'm thinking, I'm thinking of my wife, thinking of my children, thinking of my neighbor, ah, thinking of the person we are both in the street, thinking of my colleague. Ah, what I want to do, how does it affect this? How does it affect that? No, this will not help this, this will not help that. There would be peace everywhere on earth. So, when the Bible is saying that thought becomes continually evil, I want you to understand is that thought become continually self-centered and selfish. So, if you are somebody who is governed by self-centeredness and selfishness, you need to watch your life. You need to look inward. You need to check because that is actually the spirit that will overtake the age. If you look at how Timothy puts it, the book of Timothy puts it, he said, "Perilous time shall come, for men shall become lovers of themselves more than lovers of God." That is just it. Every other thing that happened was because men became lovers of themselves. And that's very important. So, watch your life. Watch your thought. Watch your imagination. Are you becoming more God-centered? Are you becoming more Christ-centered? Are you becoming more eternity-centered? Or it is more of I, me, myself. I, me, myself. I, me, myself. I, me, myself. That is one thing about the days of Noah. And that is one thing about this our period. Let me tell you this truth. For every man who is ruled by the spirit of self-centeredness and selfishness, they can never operate by the spirit of Christ. The spirit of Christ is the spirit that says, "Here is how we perceive love. In that he laid down his life for us. We ought also to lay down our life for the brethren." So, everybody who is ruled by the spirit of selfishness and self-centeredness can never be ruled by the spirit of Christ because they are opposed spirit. They are opposed to one another. They are opposed to one another. So, the point I'm making, when the Lord said, "The kingdom of God is within you," one very, very important thing by which you can know that that kingdom is within you, one good way to know is what is the center of your thought? What is it what characterizes your thought? What is the center of your thought? It helps you to know. Number two about the days of Noah is that I want you to note something again that is very, very important about the days of Noah. Is that the Lord said they were married, they were given in marriage, they were eating, they were drinking until Noah entered the ark and they were destroyed by the overflowing flood. Now, what does that tell you about the days of Noah? The days of Noah is a period when generally there is no designment. I mean generally. The general trend is not to design things. It's just to be guided by what you like, what you feel, what you want. It's a period in human history, it's a period that was generally ruled by lack of designment. Nobody was designing eternity. Nobody was designing nobody was no, it was a general trend. So they were marrying, they were given in marriage. And that is one thing you need to know, that this period also will be a period when people will generally there will be no designment. So, listen. What I'm saying is this. Number one, if you are ruled by the spirit of selfishness and self-centeredness and two, if you are not designing, then you will not start building the ark of your escape. You will not start building the ark of your escape. And everybody who don't build the ark of their escape will not escape. I take that again. Everybody who don't build the ark of their escape will not escape. That's very important. Building the ark today for our own application will come in different ways. Are you building the ark for your financial life so that it can escape? Are you building the ark for your academic life? Are you building the ark for your career? Are you building the ark for your marital life? Are you building the ark for your health life? Are you building the ark? Everybody who don't take time to build the ark of their escape will not escape. Because outside that ark is destruction. It is inside the ark that there is safety. So, everybody who is not taking time to build the ark of his escape cannot escape. It becomes very, very critical for you to check your life. Number one, are you ruled by selfishness and self-centeredness? Are you ruled by what I like, what I want, what I feel? Are you ruled by this lack of designment? Not seeing eternity. What is ruling you? What is the what is the driver or what are the drivers of your life? The Ark of Noah. Noah build the ark. And as I try to bring my message to a close this morning, you know what I want to show you? The building of that ark, when you look at everything happening around, it's one of the most foolish thing to be doing with your time in those days. I don't know whether you're understanding me. That's why I'm closing the meeting today. How can you spend 50 years of your life building an ark? What I'm trying to make you see is that what will save, what will deliver, what will prepare for eternity is to the world the most foolish things. There are some of the foolish things to create time for. There are some of the stupid thing to create time for. They are those things you don't really have time for. They are things you don't really create good time for. The things that will deliver, the things that will set free, the things that will prepare for eternity, the things that will give us escape, they are things that ordinarily will look foolish, ordinarily will look like does it worth creating time for. But for men who can design, for men who are understanding what the will of the Lord is, for men who are God who are smart in a Godly way, they would keep at what they are doing. Why they would be doing other things on adjunct and visiting lecturer basis. They will not do it on full-time. They will be handling other things in a way that it doesn't take their inner life from them. They will be handling things in a way that it does not affect the instructions coming out of that inner life. Number one, the inner life of Noah was intact and the instruction coming out of that inner life, build ark. Things will be coming out of that inner life. Build an ark, do this, do that. And God was giving the measurement. Let it be this size, let it have room, let it have this. If you go and look at the dimension of that ark, my good, you know, that is not our focus. He say let it have room because you will save this, you will take three animal, two of this, two of this, two of that. So make it roomy. It will look like uh-uh, even if you want to build something, is this not waste of time? Uh, we come ah! Why don't you want animal to be oh goodness. What do you want to do with ah, I'm not afraid. The lion they will eat they will eat up your family. You know, I mean he was embarking on and just imagine what they will be thinking when they start taking two-two of every animal. What would they be thinking? Ah, ah. Is there no better thing to do with your life? By the time you finish packing everything, then the question will now come: okay, by the time you finish packing everything, we want to ask you, who will lock the door? Will they not be asking him? How will you lock this door? Because the Bible says and the Lord shut him... the door is so large that the man could not be able to close that door. The Bible says Noah entered into that ark. Let us look at let us look at that that verse that verse from verse I want to see in the verse one of chapter seven. Said the Lord said to Noah, "Take all your families and go into the ark, for you only in this generation have I seen to be upright." That is very serious. That is very serious. But that's not where I'm going right away. Where I'm going right away is I want I like that we read that verse. The Bible says that is verse 16. Look at it. Let me take 15 and 16: "They went with Noah into the ark, two and two of all flesh in which is the breath of life. Male and female of all flesh went in, as God had said. And the ark was shut by who? By the Lord." The ark was shut by the Lord. The Lord shut him in. The Lord shut him in. I like it the reading so much in King James. It says and the Lord shut him in. May the Lord shut you in. May the Lord shut us in. But I'm just trying to make you see something that it was the foolish thing, that foolishness that Noah spent his life, one, to make sure he has a inner life in him, a inner life that could make him design when and how to build his ark. And it was the building of that ark, what you will count as complete stupidity and foolishness, that was the deliverance of Noah. It was that which is foolish to the world, that which is stupid to the world, that which they look at as nothing, as useless, it was inside that foolishness that Noah had rest, peace, and quietness when the flood came. It was in his foolishness that he became wise. Hallelujah. It was in his foolishness that he became wise. Inside that foolishness, by the time they begin to cry outside, ah, yay, ah, oh, oh, they will realize he was wise. So it was the foolishness that was his wisdom. It was the foolishness that saved him. It was the stupidity and uselessness that came out of the kingdom of God within him. What I'm trying to make you see, that which will save you is that which comes out of the kingdom of God within you. It may look foolish, it may look stupid, it may look one kind, but I'm telling you, it is that which comes out of the kingdom of God within you that will be your deliverance in time to come. So if you are to elaborate it, it is the finance which come out of the kingdom of God within you, it is the location that came out of the kingdom of God within you, it is the wife, the husband that came out of the kingdom of God within you. Are you understanding the point? It is the instruction, the path, the way, the study, the career, those things that came out of that kingdom. They may sound stupid and foolish. Eventually it is in that foolishness that you become wise. Praise the Lord. So Noah built the ark. Noah built the ark. And as I try to bring my message to a close this morning, you know what I want to show you? The building of that ark, when you look at everything happening around, is one of the most foolish thing to be doing with your time in those days. How can you spend 50 years of your life building an ark? What I'm trying to make you see is that what will save, what will deliver, what will prepare for eternity is to the world the most foolish things. They are some of the foolish things to create time for. They are some of the stupid thing to create time for. They are those things you don't really have time for. They are things you don't really create good time for. The things that will deliver, the things that will set free, the things that will prepare for eternity, the things that will give us escape, they are things that ordinarily will look foolish, ordinarily will look like does it worth creating time for. But for men who can design, for men who are understanding what the will of the Lord is, for men who are God who are smart in a Godly way, they would keep at what they are doing. While they would be doing other things on adjunct and visiting lecturer basis. They will not do it on full time. They will be handling other things in a way that it doesn't take their inner life from them. They will be handling things in a way that it does not affect the instructions coming out of that inner life. Number one, the inner life of Noah was intact and the instruction coming out of that inner life, build ark. Things will be coming out of that inner life. Build an ark, do this, do that. And God was giving the measurement. Let it be this size, let it have room, let it have this. If you go and look at the dimension of that ark, my goodness, that is not our focus. He say let it have room because you will save this, you will take three animal, two of this, two of this, two of that. So make it roomy. It will look like even if you want to build something, is this not waste of time? I want animal to be oh goodness. What do you want to do with the lion they will eat they will eat up your family. I mean he was embarking on and just imagine what they will be thinking when they start taking two-two of every animal. What would they be thinking? Is there no better thing to do with your life? And so you are packing the animal, you are packing the animal, then the question will now come, okay, by the time you finish packing everything, we want to ask you, who will lock the door? Because the Bible says and the Lord shut him the door is so large that the man can not be able to close that door. The Bible says Noah entered into that ark. Let us look at that verse that verse from verse 15 and 16: "They went with Noah into the ark, two and two of all flesh in which is the breath of life. Male and female of all flesh went in, as God had said. And the ark was shut by the Lord." The Lord shut him in. The Lord shut him in. I like it the reading so much in King James. It says and the Lord shut him in. May the Lord shut you in. May the Lord shut us in. But I'm just trying to make you see something that it was the foolish thing, that foolishness that Noah spent his life, one, to make sure he has a inner life in him, a inner life that could make him design when and how to build his ark. And it was the building of that ark, what you will count as complete stupidity and foolishness, that was the deliverance of Noah. It was that which is foolish to the world, that which is stupid to the world, that which they look at as nothing, as useless, it was inside that foolishness that Noah had rest, peace, and quietness when the flood came. It was in his foolishness that he became wise. Hallelujah. It was in his foolishness that he became wise. Inside that foolishness, by the time they begin to cry outside, they will realize he was wise. So it was the foolishness that was his wisdom. It was the foolishness that saved him. It was the stupidity and uselessness that came out of the kingdom of God within him. That which will save you is that which comes out of the kingdom of God within you. It may look foolish, it may look stupid, it may look one kind, but I'm telling you, it is that which comes out of the kingdom of God within you that will be your deliverance in time to come. Noah was busy eating, he was taking a wife, giving his children, he was doing all that but he found grace of God. How? That God could say do this and he could hear. Oya do this, do this, do this. There was intimacy, he was building a work, there was intimacy, despite all those things, nothing disturbed the kingdom of God within. The kingdom of God within was intact that God could tell him that, "Whoa, you see all these people? I'm going to wipe them out now." And he was the one seeing that and he was the one knowing that and he was telling his children, "Look oh, God is about wiping out now, so we need to start building this ark." Oya, oya, we need to start building, building, building, building. And people will be wondering, what are you building? What for? What this? Say every thing will soon be wiped and they say by the time the first five years went, the second 10 years went, the second 20 years went, the next 30 years went and nothing is coming. They will tell, ah, brother, why are you ah, by now if you had put yourself fully into this thing, you would have become another Elon Musk. You would have become, you would have been and they are showing you ambition, worldly and Godly ambition of becoming, of rising and say no, I am building a kingdom within. There is a ark and they are asking what is the relevance of this ark to where you are going. Because they could not see where he's going but he could see where he was going. He could see that all this soon be destroyed. He could see the destruction at the end. They could not see. He could see. So he saw what was relevant to where he was going and that is where all things will be going. Because eventually that is where everybody is going. Everybody is going to face that water. But others were busy not building ark. Others were busy not joining in building the ark. Others were busy. That's why Jesus said that they were eating, they were drinking, they were given in marriage and doing their business, doing everything. It is not saying that that is necessarily wrong. That's what some people normally carry with that. That is not the sense. But the sense he wants you to see about building an ark this you are looking at today is is there any kingdom within you? Is there any kingdom within you? Noah built the ark. Noah built the ark. And as I try to bring my message to a close this morning, you know what I want to show you? The building of that ark, when you look at everything happening around, is one of the most foolish thing to be doing with your time in those days. How can you spend 50 years of your life building an ark? What I'm trying to make you see is that what will save, what will deliver, what will prepare for eternity is to the world the most foolish things. There are some of the foolish things to create time for. There are some of the stupid thing to create time for. They are those things you don't really have time for. They are things you don't really create good time for. The things that will deliver, the things that will set free, the things that will prepare for eternity, the things that will give us escape, they are things that ordinarily will look foolish, ordinarily will look like does it worth creating time for. But for men who can design, for men who are understanding what the will of the Lord is, for men who are God who are smart in a Godly way, they would keep at what they are doing. While they would be doing other things on adjunct and visiting lecturer basis. They will not do it on full time. They will be handling other things in a way that it doesn't take their inner life from them. They will be handling things in a way that it does not affect the instructions coming out of that inner life. Number one, the inner life of Noah was intact and the instruction coming out of that inner life, build ark. Things will be coming out of that inner life, build an ark, do this, do that. And God was giving the measurement. Let it be this size, let it have room, let it have this. If you go and look at the dimension of that ark, my goodness, that is not our focus. He say let it have room because you will save this, you will take three animal, two of this, two of this, two of that. So make it roomy. It will look like even if you want to build something, is this not waste of time? Why don't you want animal to be oh goodness. What do you want to do with the lion they will eat they will eat up your family. I mean he was embarking on and just imagine what they will be thinking when they start taking two-two of every animal. What would they be thinking? Is there no better thing to do with your life? And so you are packing the animal, you are packing the animal, then the question will now come, okay, by the time you finish packing everything, we want to ask you, who will lock the door? Because the Bible says and the Lord shut him the door is so large that the man can not be able to close that door. The Bible says Noah entered into that ark. Let us look at that verse that verse from verse 15 and 16: "They went with Noah into the ark, two and two of all flesh in which is the breath of life. Male and female of all flesh went in, as God had said. And the ark was shut by the Lord." The Lord shut him in. The Lord shut him in. I like it the reading so much in King James. It says and the Lord shut him in. May the Lord shut you in. May the Lord shut us in. But I'm just trying to make you see something that it was the foolish thing, that foolishness that Noah spent his life, one, to make sure he has a inner life in him, a inner life that could make him design when and how to build his ark. And it was the building of that ark, what you will count as complete stupidity and foolishness, that was the deliverance of Noah. It was that which is foolish to the world, that which is stupid to the world, that which they look at as nothing, as useless, it was inside that foolishness that Noah had rest, peace, and quietness when the flood came. It was in his foolishness that he became wise. Hallelujah. It was in his foolishness that he became wise. Inside that foolishness, by the time they begin to cry outside, they will realize he was wise. So it was the foolishness that was his wisdom. It was the foolishness that saved him. It was the stupidity and uselessness that came out of the kingdom of God within him. That which will save you is that which comes out of the kingdom of God within you. It may look foolish, it may look stupid, it may look one kind, but I'm telling you, it is that which comes out of the kingdom of God within you that will be your deliverance in time to come. So if you are to elaborate it, it is the finance which come out of the kingdom of God within you, it is the location that came out of the kingdom of God within you, it is the wife, the husband that came out of the kingdom of God within you. Are you understanding the point? It is the instruction, the path, the way, the study, the career, those things that came out of that kingdom. They may sound stupid and foolish. Eventually it is in that foolishness that you become wise. Praise the Lord. So let us check is there any question for us to attend to? There is no question? So we can start closing the meeting today. Please let us start praying, start talking to the Lord. It is 11:30 already. Start talking to the Lord. I don't know what you have learned from what you have discussed today, the Ark of Noah. Noah's ark. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. The Ark of Noah. The Ark of Noah. The Ark of Noah. The Ark of Noah. The Ark of Noah. I pray that in my own life there will be the ark of Wole. My own life there will be the ark. The ark. The ark. The ark. The ark in the name of Jesus. Lord, we pray this morning. Lord, we ask of you, Baba, may we not perish with our generation. May we not be destroyed with our generation. Lord God Almighty, raise us up. May we not be overrun by the spirit of selfishness and self-centeredness that has overrun the world. May within us be the spirit of Christ. The spirit of Christ. May we build and build and build that kingdom within us. And within that kingdom may we be able to design the time and how our ark is to be built in the name of Jesus Christ. Lord our God, we will not perish with the rest of the world. Our life will escape. Our life will escape. Our life will escape. Our life will escape in the name of Jesus. Thank you, eternal Father. Blessed be your holy name, our God. In Jesus' name we pray. Let's share the grace together. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us now and forevermore. Amen.