Here are the notes I used for Sunday, Sept. 16th, 2012.

Genesis 6: 11 Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight, and the earth was filled with violence.  12 And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth.  13 And God said to Noah, “I have determined to make an end of all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence through them. Behold, I will destroy them with the earth…

17 For behold, I will bring a flood of waters upon the earth to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life under heaven. Everything that is on the earth shall die. 18 But I will establish my covenant with you, and you shall come into the ark, you, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives with you.

3000 years later, Jesus was speaking to his disciples and said this about the last days of the earth:

Matthew 24: 36 “But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. 37 For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.  38 For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, 39 and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.

Several weeks later, Peter’s words in the first sermon echoed the same message as Genesis 6 to Noah. 

Acts: 2:40 And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.”  41 So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.

1 Peter 3: 18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, 19 in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, 20 because they formerly did not obey, when God’s patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water.  21 Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,

2 Corinthians 6: 16 What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, “I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.  17  Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; then I will welcome you, 18  and I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty.”

We live in a perverse generation. God is currently beckoning us out of this ‘world’ and into the kingdom.  When we place our faith in the gospel: life/death/burial/ resurrection of Jesus Christ, then He saves us from this God forsaken world.  Baptism ushers us into this ‘lifeboat’ with a new conscious.

Get in the boat that God has provided!  Church services, baptism, PromiseGroup, volunteering to serve, mentoring/pastoring.

Immediately, our journey begins to the kingdom. We are in the world, but not of the world.  Think of salvation today, not just something that begins after you die, but that you are entering your salvation now.  Save yourself from this crooked generation.  Be saved from this perverse world.  Step out of this mindset, this rat-race,