Ask Sam – As in the Days of Noah: Episode 65

Ask Sam – As in the Days of Noah: Episode 65

Dec. 6, 2024

Host: Dr. Isaac Crockett

Co-host: Hon. Sam Rohrer

Note: This transcript is taken from a Stand in the Gap Today program aired on 12/6/24. To listen to the podcast, click HERE.

Disclaimer: While reasonable efforts have been made to provide an accurate transcription, the following is a representation of a mechanical transcription and as such, may not be a word for word transcript. Please listen to the audio version for any questions concerning the following dialogue. 

Isaac Crockett:   Well, welcome to this program first Friday program of December, and it’s feeling like December. Up here where I’m at, this is Pastor Isaac Crockett, and I’m coming to you from right on the border of New York and Pennsylvania and my co-host today is the Honorable Sam Rohrer. We have snow up here. Sam, I’m not sure if you guys have snow in your part of Pennsylvania, and I’m wondering, Sam, have you gotten your Christmas decorations up yet?

Sam Rohrer:       We have no snow other than a few flurries. We have not been, I’m going to say, been blessed like you have up there in Southern New York, Isaac. But if snow is a blessing, the ones out on the western part of your state have been overcome with blessings with many feet of snow. But anyways, back to your point, yeah, my decorations are pretty much up and things look pretty good. And so we’re looking forward to this month of Christmas celebration, this holy day, holiday of Christmas and connected to Thanksgiving. This makes a really wonderful time for family and fellowship and all of that. So yes, thanks for asking me. How about you?

Isaac Crockett:   We are getting there. We don’t have all of our decorations up yet, but we are getting started. We have our tree, but we don’t have it decorated and things. Well, Sam, you and I have been doing a lot of fun things with our TV program. Some of you watch us on television Stand in the Gap tv, which you can watch from our Stand in the Gap app. You can watch it from our website, you can watch it on our YouTube channel. Some of you watch us live on, it’s carried all over on different cable networks and things. Lighthouse TV is the one that makes our program and some of you can watch it right from Lighthouse tv, which they also have it on Roku. But one of the things you’ve been doing is an ongoing series on Bible characters. We want to talk about that today.

Isaac Crockett:   And particularly you’re looking at Hebrews chapter 11, the Hall of Faith and one that we’re working on that hasn’t aired yet but was one on the life of Noah. And when we were working on that program, Sam, over the last few days, I kept thinking about how appropriate it was to the days and age that day and age, which we live right now, 2024 going into 2025. And we are seeing now this week the CEO of a huge insurance company killed in cold blood. We’re seeing huge weapons of mass destruction from Russia that nobody knows how to stop them. We’re seeing corruption at highest levels. Here’s a president who says, I would never pardon my son. First of all, he’s a person who, when President Biden was in Congress, he as a senator is the one that pushed for all these crack cocaine bills that were super tough.

Isaac Crockett:   Then his son gets convicted of these things instead of wanting a son thrown in jail, he pardons him after saying he would never pardon him. And there’s a lot of other things besides the crack cocaine. We’re seeing sexual promiscuity promoted and these transgender surgeries and things on minors debated and Sam, it just like everyone’s doing what’s right in their own eyes and that evil is calling what’s good evil and vice versa. So there’s just a lot I think that we could talk about there. But before we get into that topic, I’d love to recap some of the topics that have been covered right here on Stand in the Gap today, throughout the week. Now that this is the last day of the week or other topics, maybe just news topics, Sam, that have been of concern to you. So just love to hear kind of a recap from you of this week.

Sam Rohrer:       Sure, Isaac. Be glad to do that. Yeah, Monday of this week, the Lord led in the putting it together of a program. Our guest was Dr. Renton Wrath, Bunn. He’s with us regularly every month, once a month we deal with matters of education and apologetics. He’s director of biblical worldview at Bob Jones University and a consultant to a biblical worldview curriculum construction at BJU Press. But that individual, he and I have been dealing with certain issues and we chose one of matter of forgiveness, Isaac and the life-changing Power of forgiveness was the title I gave to it. We talked about what is forgiveness, talked about the consequences of forgiving and the consequences of not forgiving. Then we talked about how do you actually forgive someone? And then we concluded talking about the power and the goal of forgiveness. And of course I’ll just say very briefly is that is reconciliation and the picture of forgiveness obviously is of God.

Sam Rohrer:       And through the death and the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and the cross for our sins, when we accept him, God then forgives our sin and the penalty of our sin because of what Jesus did. And the result is we can be reconciled to God. And so whether one talks about forgiveness in terms of spiritual or forgiveness, in terms of the law, it’s the same. It’s reconciliation. So we talked about that on Monday. And the reason for that is Isaac, is that I think you as a pastor of a church there where you are and us involved in communicating to people all over the world literally, that we know how divided people are, we’re divided. Our churches are divided. Our nation was divided through because of the political process or divided because of Covid a few years ago or divided. Divided. And so many families are not able to get together by Christmas or Thanksgiving because somebody’s at odds with somebody else and the only solution is forgiveness or going to church and not wanting to look down at the end of the pew because somebody on their end of the pew, we haven’t forgiven them.

Sam Rohrer:       There’s a problem there. So it’s a real issue. So we tried to deal with that because it application Tuesday, Dr. Jamie Mitchell led this week and talked about finishing well life planning for seniors. It was geared towards thinking as one approaches the later aspect of their life. Wednesday, the title is that God’s Library and the Book of Life, Dr. Carl Brogue was with me. And a lot of people don’t know that there are many books in heaven. It’s a library God keeps them. One of them is the Book of Life. And we talked about that and what that means. If our name’s not in the book of life, we are not going to spend our eternity with God. And so we talked about that. It was a great, great program yesterday. David knew pardons and qualified immunity promoting justice or institutionalizing corruption. And we did talk about the Joe Biden, pardon of Hunter Biden, what it means historical basis for it.

Sam Rohrer:       I actually read the actual pardon from the White House and we cited the portion from the Constitution that gives the basis for that. But Isaac, there’s so many other things too. I mean I look at it and say the rush to war the US is now under Biden administration is one is right now trying to send another almost three, $750 million worth of military supplies, including landmines and all of that to Ukraine. The US is involved actually in Syria there. There’s a war going on in Syria where the CIA helps Al-Qaeda and all that against Russia and Assad there. There’s trade wars underway that began this week with China now saying they’re not going to ship some essential items to America. Trump is threatening tariffs to the countries of the world told Hamas that if they don’t get the Israeli prisoners released by January 20, he said there will be hell to pay. I don’t know what that means, but all of these things are happening, Isaac. It is a full week. And all of these things are either on my radar or things that we’ve dealt with here on the program. So yes, a lot of things going on.

Isaac Crockett:   Wow, what a recap. What a powerful week. And again, I think all this leads us into looking at what Noah did in Days of evil, a timed evil and a rejecting of God, how he was able to walk with God. And so we want to look at him and see what we can do to be like him and to be more like Jesus Christ, ultimately the ultimate deliverer. We’ll be right back with more questions for Sam on Ask Sam on our program today. Well, welcome back to the program. I’m Pastor Isaac Crockett and we are asking Sam questions today. Sam Rohr, the Honorable Sam Rohr, president of the American Pastors Network. So Sam here at Stand in the Gap Media. We have the radio ministry that we’re doing right now, but there’s also the television ministry and you and I interview a lot of interesting folks on that as well. But we’ve also been doing for quite a while, heroes of Faith series and that kind of gets mixed in with other interviews, other programs. Could you tell us just a little bit about that Heroes of Faith that you’ve been putting together and really why that was so important to you that we talk about that and how it’s being received?

Sam Rohrer:       Yeah. Well, Isaac, you’re very, very kind. Yes, I work on it together, but we do this program together and together, these emphasis on heroes of the faith. I know because we’ve heard from so many people have been a real blessing. And for that I thank the Lord. But the reason I think we went this way Isaac, and was that it would be an encouragement. I thought everything God puts in the Bible, he puts in for our learning and admonition our instruction. Now believers know that, but I think sometimes if we were to really think that way, we would go to scripture more often and pray for and seek application. But one of those area comes out of Hebrews chapter 11, we call it often referred to as the Hall of Fame of Faith. And there God calls out by name, certain people from Abel and then it goes to Enoch and then Noah’s in that mix and Moses is in that list and there are a number.

Sam Rohrer:       But then it concludes that chapter by talking in general terms. There were others and the great number of others. I think the greatest of all the numbers are in those others that are not named. And yet every one of them, whether they were there like Enable or an Enoch or Abraham or they were there and God cites about them, some aspect of their faith, their walk with God, how they lived, and God through the Holy Spirit takes and then gives them all a label. That’s for some of them, for that case. And then there are others that are well, like a Joshua or Shadrach, Meschech, and Abednego as an example, or other people like that that are in scripture commended either in Hebrews 11 or elsewhere commended for something that they did for their walk, some for their deeds. And then the biggest category are those who the Scripture doesn’t give us their names, but it says they were faithful to the end and most of them ended up in martyrs as martyrs for the faith.

Sam Rohrer:       And that’s all called out. But the reason that God, that down there, Isaac is I think to encourage us all that regardless of when anybody lives in life, whether it goes all the way back to able, anybody who stands for the Lord and stands for truth may well suffer persecution. Not everybody loses their life, but tests will come. And that chapter is all about the fact of people standing for truth. Some came through it like Chadrick, Micha and Abednego, they came through the fire, but then it concludes with many, many, many actually going into the fire and being consumed but being delivered eternally. So we thought these are there for our learning. And so we’ve been kind of one by one going down through and trying to pick people. And the last one, as you mentioned was this man Noah.

Isaac Crockett:   And for those of you wanting to watch this, if you don’t already watch it on Lighthouse TV or on another channel that has it, you could go to YouTube. All of this is on YouTube. Just look up Stand in the Gap tv on YouTube you’ll see our channel. You could subscribe if you want. You can look through the videos. You can look at the one that we just did on Enoch is on there right now. Another ones that Sam was referencing, the one on Noah will come up soon in the next few weeks and many other programs are there as well as the Heroes of Faith. You could also go to our website or you could download our app Stand in the Gap app, easy to download. And all of our programs, TV and radio are on there as well. Well, Sam, as we look at Noah and really his great grandfather, Enoch that we recently covered as well with both of these minutes says that he walked with God. Enoch walked with God and God took him up. Noah walked with God, and he found favor. He found grace in the eyes of the Lord and he walked with God and God has him then build the arc to be this prototype really of the cross and pointing us to Jesus the ultimate deliverer. But this phrase, he walked with God. Can you maybe talk to us a little bit about that and apply it to our lives today,

Sam Rohrer:       Isaac? And I think that the thing, when I think of a person’s walk with God or a walk with anything, which what kind of a term used to summarize the overall summary of a person’s activities, how they live and they think and they act. That is a person’s walk. Scripture tells us that can two walk together except they be agreed. And the real sense there is that when we walk with God, a person who the scripture would say walked with God, a person who’s known to be walking with God is a person who is living and acting in agreement with who God is, what God says and what God expects. So Noah and Enoch, they were both of that category. They were in agreement with God and they walked with God in agreement. And I think interesting about both of those individuals, that’s often the case even today, is that the person who truly walks with God will be a minority.

Sam Rohrer:       They’re never in the majority, they’re minority. And these two were a minority among the minority. When Noah went into the ark, it was only eight people, his boys and their wives and his wife. That’s all. Enoch walked with God and God took him. We don’t know how many else were around, but there weren’t many. So the question is, can we walk like that? Interesting. Their standard also was I think of course God’s standard and God’s standard always is contrary to the world and to the culture around it. It’s very unusual even in our country here in America for a period of time, our culture actually mirrored more than probably most countries in the history of the world, a more biblically based concept of right and wrong. But boy, have we moved from that standard now. So if the scripture says we’re in the world, but we’re not of the world, all right, well, we have to understand what that is. So an application I would have is this, do we understand, do we understand the world in which we live? Do we understand God’s standards first of all? And do we understand that which is fighting against us walking with God? That’s the world, the flesh and the devil. And of course scripture gives us defensive strategies and offensive strategies for dealing with each one of those world, the flesh and the devil. But that’s what to me, walks with God. It’s an all-consuming aspect of a person’s life, what they think and how they act.

Isaac Crockett:   Well, Sam Genesis chapter six tells us some of the awful things that were going on in the society that Noah lived in, and that’s just 10 generations after God created everything and it was good. Do you see any parallels with where our country has gone since the time of the pilgrims coming here and looking and William Penn and different ones looking for religious freedom to where our society is today?

Sam Rohrer:       I think it’s impossible, Isaac, not to draw the parallel. And here’s just one assuming a generation of 40 years, and that’s what many generations in the scripture are in Israel’s time. And another generation arose who knew not the God of their fathers. That was 40 year generation, 40 times 10 generations is 400 years. And I thought that’s interesting because as I look in America in the coming of the pilgrims in 1620, that’s just a little over 400 years. It’s remarkable that the 10 generations there preceding this time around Genesis six we’re talking about is what we’ve existed as a nation. And of course we didn’t come into official capacity as America really to 1776, we know. But when those folks came who dedicated this land to God and from it gave us our first organic document of law, the Mayflower Compact from which then everything else came.

Sam Rohrer:       That was just a little over 400 years ago. How we have changed from recognizing God as the giver of all things, to not even mentioning God from taking the God of heaven as our focus about how we live and that we will give an account to the age and the government and the culture in which we live, who defies the God of heaven say, we don’t even care what you say, we’re going to change. Every moral law that you have given Isaac, we have flipped. And yeah, the comparison is very, very similar here in America today as I think it was at that time that Noah was around.

Isaac Crockett:   I’m glad you went there. I was thinking kind of that thought too, that it’s been about 10 generations. Just real quickly in the moment we have before break, what can we do to respond when our sinful culture pushes the opposite of God’s truths?

Sam Rohrer:       I think it’s the same way. It has always been returned to God, return to God, and it’s led by God’s people, though whose knows the truth, those whose profess to know who God is. We must ask ourselves, I think earlier the question, am I actually walking like a child of God? Am I living in obedience to God? Word is I know that I’m in the world, but ask ourselves really clearly the question is the world in me? That’s where we need to go.

Isaac Crockett:   And that’s what Noah did. He returned to God like Enoch, his great grandfather. We don’t know that. It doesn’t say that Noah’s father was on the boat with him. In fact, it would appear that Noah’s father was not on the ark, but Noah and his sons and their wives were on the ark because Noah returned to God, the God of Enoch, his great grandfather. We as a nation, we need to return to God. We need to go back to the truths no matter what this world is pushing, we’ll be right back on standing the gap today to talk more about in a living righteousness. Well, hello, welcome back to the program. I’m Pastor Isaac Crockett. I’m with the honorable Sam Rohrer and we’ve been asking Sam questions and today looking at really the similarity between the culture in which we are living in right now, 2024 going into 2025 and the days and age, which it was that Noah lived where he had to walk carefully.

Isaac Crockett:   In fact, it was even worse obviously for Noah. But we find that more and more our culture, our society seems to be going away from God and from his truths. And so Sam was talking about just that generational, the 10 generations from Adam to Noah, 10 generations from pilgrims to where we are now and some of the similarities of this needing to return to God, needing to do it his way, standing in the gap for truth. And Sam, as we look at Noah, and again, you and I we’re recently working on a program for this on our TV program, and so anybody that wants to go to our YouTube channel or standing in the gap app or our website can watch our programs there too. But Noah’s ark took 120 years to be built and all of that time it was a living object lesson of the judgment that was to come. It was a prophecy being built board by board, plank by plank of judgment coming. And so I wonder, Sam, are there any prophecies that we have from scripture that we can see that God is warning us about the coming? Are there things that we should be aware of just like the people in Noah’s day should have been responding to that arc being built?

Sam Rohrer:       I think there absolutely is, and it all goes back to something we talk about here a lot. We talk on the TV program, we talk here is that from the largest perspective, the meta narrative perspective, a biblical worldview perspective of life, it begins with God. God created sin came into the world, there was a fall, God promised redemption and then ultimately then reconciliation. So all the way from the very, very beginning, the entirety of human history and all that is in the word of God is all about his story, God’s story, the plan of redemption. Now it’s changed over time, not the plan of redemption, but the communication has changed. For instance, as we talked about in the TV program for this first 10 generations up from creation to Noah, there were literally people alive. Noah lived a long, I mean Adam lived a long time, and then there’s Enoch.

Sam Rohrer:       But the truth of God, God’s creation, God’s expectation, his promise of a redeemer was all something that it was communicated by mouth primarily the books were not there. But it led up to, as you said, the first indication of God’s plan of redemption, salvation, and that was the ark. The ark became a symbol of salvation in Jesus Christ. And so Noah talked about it, he lived it was involved in building this ark and it’s followed through where the time was given, invitation was given, come into the ark, judgment is coming, there’s going to be a flood. And everybody laughed and they laughed and they laughed until finally the animals came, God brought them, they went into the ark, and God shut to the door is what the Bible said. God shut the door. And from that moment until when the rain came, there was no further chance to get into the Arctic.

Sam Rohrer:       Time was up and that’s the way it is with salvation. Well then later God went to Abraham and told Abraham, I’m going to continue my plan of salvation, going to be the Jews in Israel. And then went through that time and said, the Messiah, this salvation, Jesus Christ is going to come. And so they had centuries between that time after the flood, Abraham till when Christ came, had a lot of time to talk about it. The Jews were to live it out. That was their purpose. But when then Christ came, they rejected him. He was crucified, part of God’s plan. Now we can be saved. So now here we sit 2000 years now, 6,000 years from creation, 4,000 years from the flood. And what do we have before us? Well, we have God’s word now we can read what’s going to happen. And God says he’s going to bring judgment on this evil world because of the law of this world and the rejection of God by the world, and God’s going to bring this to pass and that will lead up to time of tribulation, the world being the earth, earth being destroyed, not by flood this time but by fire and other things that will take place.

Sam Rohrer:       And then the Lord’s second coming. And so as we look at scripture, what’s happening next? Well, the next thing on the calendar is the rapture. But what is happening? We’ve had a lot of preaching. The Bible has been in our hand. I heard this morning, Isaac, that there have been more Bibles sold in 2024 in America than ever. Although the Bible is always the number one selling book. And so it’s causing some people to say, well, is there more interest? Well, there think there’s a greater concern that there’s trouble. I don’t know whether people actually reading it and coming to salvation, but the warning is of a different type than a Noah. There’s not an arc, but there’s Jesus Christ in salvation. That’s the real arc. And all of that is happening right now. So yeah, the parallels Isaac are so clear, and yet there are still so many, I think in the days of Noah just kind of laughing and oh well, we got it all under control when in fact they don’t have under control at all.

Isaac Crockett:   Wow. Yeah, it is just to look at the differences between, I’m saying, wow, there’s really not a lot of differences. There’s a lot of similarities. Well, as we look at this as pastors, and you and I have talked about the preaching of righteousness even that Peter says Noah did, but when we look at Noah’s life, we don’t actually see his sermon, but we see his actions and that was, I guess you could say his sermon, but I’m interested, Sam, what do you think the modern church, a pastor listening today or pastor preaching on this in Matthew 24, for example, Jesus used Noah. He says, as the days of Noah were so shall also the coming of the son of man be. And he says that they were busy doing things, eating and drinking, marrying and giving a marriage until Noah entered into the ark and they knew not until the flood came and took them all away, so shall also the coming of the son of man be. What can the modern church, not just pastors but those listening who go to church, what can we learn from the story of Noah?

Sam Rohrer:       Well, Isaac, here are a couple of things and I want to come back and ask you a quick question on that. And that is this. First, those who know the truth must look in the mirror every day and say, how is my walk with God? Would I be given the commendation by God that I walked with him, that I am a righteous and upright person? As Noah was described, as Job was described as other men of God in the Old Testament described, how am I living? How am I thinking? How am I walking in whom and who am I trusting? I think that needs to be at first an introspective question to say How God am I measuring up to your standards? But then I think Isaac, when that’s in place, then I think there needs to be an outward focus. Matter of fact, when we did the program on Noah, you actually talked about how Peter described Noah actually being a preacher of righteousness. But that’s an application that should apply to all of us too, isn’t it?

Isaac Crockett:   Well, yeah. There was a song we used to sing when I was really young and it was, did you know, oh Christian, you’re a sermon and choose and we should all be a sermon. We should all be preachers of righteousness. Our lives. Jesus tells us, seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. And so yes, if we are living according to the truths of God, then our life should do what’s right. That’s what righteousness means. Just doing what’s right and every decision, we have decisions all day long, we’re making decisions. What’s the best decision? What’s the right decision here? What’s the decision that would be like Christ? And that’s what Noah was doing. He was walking with God and making decisions that were right. Sam, as we are headed towards our last break, what do you think were some of the difficulties that Noah faced? I mean, it wasn’t easy what he had ahead of him. What kind of difficulties was he facing that we should be maybe prepared for ourselves?

Sam Rohrer:       I think Isaac, one of them was just the mere fact that God gave him a task that was 120 years that was just building the arc. So we can sometimes, I think, be overwhelmed perhaps with what we think is before us, but whatever God calls us to do, we need to be confident that he will give us the strength to do. That’s one. Number two, to think that, well, because nobody else agrees with me, I’m all alone. That it must mean that I’m wrong. No, not at all. When we are doing what God wants us to do, walking with God, though the whole world and everybody else clearly almost as it was the case with Noah, does not mean that we’re wrong. If we are anchored on the truth, we need to be confident in standing for the truth. That’s something I think that we can apply here today as well. And in Noah’s day, he clearly, God said in Genesis six, five, God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. Well, God saw that, but no also saw that easy to get discouraged by what we see around us, but as God’s people, we need to be encouraged that the word of God never changes and he’s told us what’s going to happen and we need to be looking up anticipating his soon return.

Isaac Crockett:   Amen. Looking up. That’s right, anticipating his return. And we’re going to take a quick time out to hear from some of our partners. We’ll be right back to wrap things up on staying in the gap today as we finish talking about life of Noah and really what we are doing to return to God and to walk with God as Noah did. Well, welcome back to the program. I’m Pastor Isaac at Crockett and I’m joined with Sam Rohr as I’ve been asking Sam questions on this Friday edition, recapping and reviewing the week, and then looking at the similarities between our time and the time before the flood, the days of Noah, Sam, one of the things I find fascinating about Noah as so many of the heroes of faith that we’ve talked about on our Stand the Gap TV program as we’ve looked at many of these heroes of faith, and that is that he did not understand what all was going on.

Isaac Crockett:   He didn’t know, he didn’t have the Bible to look back at and read all these things and see from beginning to the cross and the resurrection of Jesus. And he didn’t have that. He just had God’s word, what he could know and understand. And for 120 years, he builds this arc, this big giant box that’s going to float and all the animals that God puts in it. And he just keeps obeying one step at a time, one day at a time. And I love that. And I love how his family, his children followed him. So I’m curious seeing what you think, how we as Christians today, in end of 2024 going into 2025, how can we cultivate an obedience to stand in the gap like Noah did?

Sam Rohrer:       Isaac? Number one, I think like any action or if this way a decision that we make in life, we first have to make a determination that we want to do. We want to do what God says to do. There are two commands we’ve talked about a lot all through scripture that recur over and over again. King Solomon said at the end of Ecclesiastes, there are two things he said to the world. The two things I’ve learned at the end of the matter, it’s this fear of God and keep his commandments for this is the whole duty of man. And then he gives a reason for it, for God will bring into judgment every work and every thought of the heart. That’s the sense of accountability that God is also judge and we will give an account to him. Alright, so the first thing is Isaac, we have to ask ourselves the question, do I fear God and then do I fear God more than any other?

Sam Rohrer:       Because if I fear anything else more than God, then I’m guilty of idolatry and my life and my choices will reflect it. So fear God start there. And then secondly, the choice to keep his commandments. God has given us a plan for blessing. He has told us clearly through his word, you obey me. I will bless you. He’s given us his 10 moral laws. Our country recognized them at the beginning of time. We tore them down from the walls in 1963 or 60 in that area again when our country officially said, we don’t want it in God’s law anymore. And so that paved the way for the lawlessness that we have. But God says, you keep me first. You don’t make any graven images. You don’t murder, you honor your parents. You don’t commit adultery, you don’t covet the 10 Commandments. So fearing God involves those things.

Sam Rohrer:       Plus then when we get to the New Testament, we now have less excuse than anybody. In the Old Testament, as you said, they didn’t have the Bible at the time of Noah or Abraham. They didn’t have the Bible. What did they have? Well, they had less than that. They had word of mouth and they had scrolls as they went through the Old Testament. But now we have a complete word of God. But we also have the fact that Jesus came and he taught in the Sermon on the Mount and he told the people there, keeping the law is good. In other words, not committing murder. Not committing adultery. That is good. But I’m telling you, he says, if you lust in your heart for somebody you’ve committed adultery, if you hate someone without cause, you have murdered. So Jesus came and raised the standard even higher.

Sam Rohrer:       That’s how we think. Well, that’s a part of fearing God. Well do we think that way today? So I think Isaac, we have to understand who God is and we have that through the Word of God and the Holy Spirit now to guide us in what that is. So we fear God. It’s a choice. We choose to obey him, and we find out what those things are by the reading of God’s word. And then we look forward to what the Lord and the Bible tells us is coming next. And the Bible does tell us what’s coming next. Israel comes back into the land that’s there. The nations align as they’re going to line up against God in the tribulation period that’s happening. We talk about that on our programs regularly and because we know these things are happening and we can see them, Bible says, we anticipate with great excitement the return of Christ, the rapture of the church, which is the next on the category.

Sam Rohrer:       And why is that? We encourage one another with those things as what we’re told. The Apostle Paul tells people, we encourage one another, we encourage each other as these days become more lawless. And we know that because the Bible tells us that. So Isaac, I really come to this in saying we fear God. We keep his commandments. We are aware of what he says is going to take place, and it makes us more busy about holy living, not anxious about what will take place, but excited about the next steps in God’s plan of fulfillment, of his plan of redemption. And we have it in our hands and he tells us what is going to come next. And it’s in the word of God. It’s exciting.

Isaac Crockett:   It is very exciting. And we see God always working out these incredible details and these prophecies coming into ways that we can’t even fully understand. But when they happen, then we say, wow, that’s exactly what God would do. Well, as we close, Sam, we think about this legacy of Noah and I’m curious, what do you see as his legacy? Somebody who was walking with God and who really is somebody, I mean all the way back, 10 generations from Adam, and yet we’re talking about him today because his life is so appropriate for what we’re going through. What do you see as the biggest legacy that Noah left for us?

Sam Rohrer:       I think Isaac, there’s no greater way to say it than what God records for us. He was a man who walked with God. He was in his generations just and upright. He was perfect. His heart relationship with God was right, earned him the classification of righteous. And it allowed God to summarize this man’s life that he walked with God, a person that’s his legacy. And because he walked with God and his heart was right, his deeds were consistent, his walk was consistent with his talk, a preacher of righteousness that was the building of the ark. He faithfully proclaimed God’s word, warned of coming judgment, but he also offered God’s mercy come into the Ark, just believe God come into the ark and be saved from judgment. I think that’s the legacy. When I look at Noah, he did what God asked him to do. He was consistent over a long period of time. And we have no evidence that Noah complained that he grew weary and well-doing. He finished the job and when he finished the job, the building of the ark and the preaching of the word God put into that ark those who trusted in him and were now able 4,000 years to look back at what Noah did.

Isaac Crockett:   Amen. Well, Sam, we’re already at the end of our program. Would you close our time in prayer?

Sam Rohrer:       Sure. Isaac, dear heavenly Father, Lord, we are thankful to you that you’re the same God now that calls us to do the task that is before us as you did for Noah 4,000 years ago. And then after him, the Abrahams and the Joshuas and the Esthers and those that are recorded through scripture. And Lord, you are the same God. You are a promise keeping God. You are a merciful God. And we thank you Lord, that you are the same today as you will forever, and you’ve offered to us salvation. We pray, Lord, that we would accept it and then live it out for you. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Isaac Crockett:   Amen. Amen. Well, thank you for that, Sam, and thank you for listening to us today. Please pray for all of our ministries of the American Pastors Network and stand in the gap media. And until next time, stand in the gap for the Lord wherever you are.