This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

I want to welcome you in Daily Drive Time Devotions to Day 8 of our look
together through the book of Genesis, Chapter 8 today. We've been talking about
the motivational power that we see in the life of Noah. Noah shows us the
motivational power of obedience, true motivation, life motivation.

He shows us the motivational power of trust we looked at yesterday and the fact
that he got on the ark. And today, as we look at Genesis 8, we see the
motivational power of faithfulness. He not only got on the ark, he also lived on
that ark.

How many days? How many days was Noah on the ark? Forty?

No, it rained for 40 days and 40 nights. And so the first conception that most
of us have is, well, he was on the ark for 40 days and 40 nights, but it wasn't
40. The Bible tells us that he was there from the 17th day of the second month
in one year until the 27th day of the second month in another year.

And that he was on that ark for seven days before the rain began. So in total,
Noah and his family and all those animals were on the ark 382 days. Now, by the
way, some of you had maybe questions from yesterday about the seven animals.

You thought it was only two by two. Why did Noah take seven of some animals, the
clean animals? Well, a couple of reasons.

One is they were going to be used for sacrifices, so there needed to be extra of
them so that if they were used for a sacrifice, as Noah got off the ark, they
would still be able to survive. Another was when Noah gets off the ark, he's
going to be allowed by God to use some of them for food because they're clean
animals so that he and his family can survive. So God supplied for that in
advance.

They are looking forward to getting off that ark, but for 382 days, they're on
that ark with the animals two by two and some of them seven by seven. Just think
of what it was like for Noah. The first 150 days, the Bible tells us, were the
worst of it.

That's how long the storm was really going on. It rained, but then there was
storm and there was, oh, it was a terrible time. But then after the storm ends,
there are seven months they're still on the boat as they're recovering from the
storm.

Five months of is this ever going to end? And then seven months of it seems like
this should be over by now. Can you imagine how they felt?

The life of Noah turns on the phrase in Genesis 8 verse 1, God remembered Noah.
Let me read for you verses 1 to 5. But God remembered Noah and all the wild
animals and the livestock that were with him in the ark.

"And he sent a wind over the earth, and the waters receded. Now the springs of
the deep and the floodgates of the heavens had been closed, and the rain had
stopped falling from the sky. The water receded steadily from the earth.

At the end of 150 days, the water had gone down. And on the seventeenth day of
the seventh month, the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat. The waters
continued to recede until the tenth month.

And on the first day of the tenth month, the tops of the mountains became
visible. " This was his life on this ark, his life of faithfulness. Can you
imagine every day making sure somehow that all of those animals were fed?

That would be difficult. Can you imagine? They're there for a year.

They have to keep the ark clean. Can you imagine every day making sure that the
stalls of every one of those animals was cleaned? You can just imagine at the
beginning of the day, you take the elephants today, how that discussion went.

Noah's life, I hate to say this, but I have to say it, Noah's life on that ark,
it just gives new meaning to the idea of poop deck. He had to face some very
difficult times on that ark. I say that because you in your life, your daily
life, you've got to face some stuff in your daily life that's a lot like the
stuff that Noah had to face.

And the motivational power of faithfulness is God's going to carry you even
through that. Because even through the daily feedings, even through the daily
cleanings, God was there. God was carrying Noah on the ark all the way through.

It's a picture of God's faithfulness. God is carrying you through. And whatever
circumstance you're facing right now, whatever is coming against you right now,
whatever situations relationally or in your job or at your school are going on
right now, God will carry you through.

It is the ark of his grace that carries you through. God will carry you through
this storm. Yeah, the storms are real.

Yeah, the storms are long lasting. I have no doubt about that. And yes, the
storms sometimes seem like they're never going to end.

But also, yes, God is with you in the midst of the storm. Yes, God will carry
you even through this storm. It's the motivational power of faithfulness.

That's Noah on the ark. And then in the middle of chapter 8, Noah comes out of
the ark. And as he comes out of the ark, you and I get to see the motivational
power of worship.

Listen to what happens. Beginning in verse 15, then through verse 22. Then God
said to Noah, "Come out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and your
wives.

Bring out every kind of living creature that is with you, the birds, the
animals, and all the creatures that move along the ground so that they can
multiply on the earth and be fruitful and increase in number upon it. " So Noah
came out, together with his sons and his wife and his sons' wives. All the
animals and all the creatures that move along the ground and all the birds,
everything that moves on the earth, came out of the ark, one kind after another.

Then Noah built an altar to the Lord, taking some of all the clean animals and
clean birds, and he sacrificed burnt offerings on it. The Lord smelled the
pleasing aroma and said in his heart, "Never again will I curse the ground
because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is evil from
childhood, and never again will I destroy all living creatures as I have done. "
There are three things that happen when Noah leaves this ark.

We're going to look at the first today and the next two in chapter 9 tomorrow.
The first thing that happens is Noah builds an altar. The striking thing to me
is that the first thing Noah does when he leaves this ark is to give thanks to
God.

I don't know about you. What would be the first thing you would do after you'd
been on an ark for over a year with all of those animals? I'd want to get away
from it all for a while.

I'd want to run as far away as I could, be in a place where I was all alone. I
wouldn't want to build an ark. I'd want to run away.

God, I deserve a break. But instead, Noah says, "First thing I'm going to do is
give thanks to God. I'm going to stop before I do anything else and just tell
God thank you.

And I want to do it visibly. So he builds an altar and he makes a sacrifice and
it pleases God. " Noah was a man who put first things first.

That's why God used him as a man who saved all of these animals, saved all of
humankind. Noah is an example of the motivational power of worship. I don't know
about you, but there are times in my life when I get weary.

And when I get weary, it's very easy to think that I'm going to be re-motivated
by just focusing on myself and my needs. And nothing wrong with focusing on a
need that you might have for rest, nothing wrong for getting sleep when you need
it, nothing wrong with a little recreation. Those are good things.

But the idea that that's going to meet all of my needs, it is not. In order to
be re-motivated, re-invigorated, re-energized in my life, I also need the
motivational power of worship. I need to stop, and not a physical altar, but
spiritually I need to build an altar in my heart.

I need to build a place where I recognize God is first and I am so thankful for
what he has done. When you're tired, as Noah must have been at the end of this
year, it is so easy to focus on yourself and say, "It's time to put me first.
Just for a little while, I need to put me first.

" Well, you are important to God, and God does want you to get the rest that you
need. And God does not want you to live a life where you totally ignore the
needs that you have. That's very clear in the Bible.

So God doesn't say, "Live this sort of a self-martyr kind of a life. " That's
ridiculous. But God also says very clearly, "Put me first.

Seek first my kingdom and my righteousness, and then all these other things,
they'll be added to you. " So when you're tired, when you're at the end of a
long road, and maybe you are right now, and you get to that "me first" feeling
in your life, that's an invitation for me and you both to say, "No, I'm stopping
right here. " And in my mind, in my heart, I'm building an altar, a place where
I say, "No, God, it's you first, because you've done this.

You gave me the energy for the last year. You gave me the strength to do what I
just did, and you're the only one that's going to bring the results out of it
that only you can bring. It's you first.

" As we take a minute to pray, Lord, today, we want to just say that, "You
first. " We worship you. We worship you as our Savior, our Lord, our Creator.

We worship you as the one who shows us mercy, and it's you first. And so I pray
for myself, for every one of us today, as we talk to you, that, Lord, you would
help us to seek first your kingdom and your righteousness, to not get so caught
up in all the other things, but to get caught up in you, maybe in a way that we
haven't been caught up in a long, long time, caught up in your grace, caught up
in your mercy, caught up in your love. You first, Jesus Christ.

In your name we pray, amen.