The Rainbow
The rainbow is a sign of Promise.
It is a sign of hope
and a future.
A sign seen by Noah and his family.
But a sign you and I can see.
The rainbow is a sign to all generations.
Let’s accept and
believe in His promises.
The following is an inspiring youtube
video
"Some Where Over the Rainbow"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnZPGH1yMqA
Many do not believe that God causes calamities.
That a God of Love,
the Author of Life,
could cause death and destruction.
But we all would agree,
He does allow storms and destruction.
Fear can grip our hearts
when we hear of a hurricane
or tornado coming our way.
None of us alive on 9/11/2001,
will ever forget the terror that struck our hearts.
Noah and his family must have had
some of these same fears and insecurities.
They have just witnessed the death of every man,
woman and child living on the face of the earth.
They were the only survivors faced with starting all
over.
But, God makes a promise!
God gives hope
when He promises.
Genesis 8:21-22 NIV
"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.”
"As long as the earth endures, seed time
and harvest,
cold and heat, summer and winter,
day and night will never cease."
As you and I face the seasons of life,
we, too, can count on the promises of God.
Noah did not have a promise
that there would not be any more calamities,
and neither do we.
But we do have the promise
from Jesus Christ, Himself, who said,
“In this world you will have trouble
but be of good cheer I have overcome the
world.”
There are many wonderful promises God gives us;
and there are many good sounding ideas
that people come up with.
The promises
of God you can count on;
but the good sounding ideas can leave you
disillusioned.
God revealed His promise
to Noah
after he worshiped God with a sacrifice.
You and I can also find God’s comfort
when we worship Him through the storms of our lives.
In those times of worship,
He will reveal His promises
of love
and help you to see that this season
in your life will also pass.
Giving you hope to prepare
for the next season.
Your season of winter will pass
and your season of planting
and harvest will come.
Remember His promises
with thanksgiving
the next time you see a rainbow.
Scripture Reading
Genesis 8:1-22 NIV
8:1 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.
2 Now the springs of the deep and the
floodgates of the heavens had been closed,
and the rain had
stopped falling from the sky.
3 The water receded
steadily from the earth.
At the end of the
hundred and fifty days the water had gone down, 4 and on the seventeenth day of
the seventh month the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat.
5 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.
6 After forty days
Noah opened the window he had made in the ark 7 and sent out a raven, and it
kept flying back and forth until the water had dried up from the earth.
8 Then he sent out a
dove to see if the water had receded from the surface of the ground. 9 But the
dove could find no place to set its feet because there was water
over all the surface
of the earth; so it returned to Noah in the ark.
He reached out his
hand and took the dove and brought it back to himself in the ark.
10 He waited seven
more days and again sent out the dove from the ark.
11 When the dove
returned to him in the evening, there in its beak was a freshly plucked olive
leaf! Then Noah knew that the water had receded from the earth. 12 He waited
seven more days and sent the dove out again, but this time it did not return to
him.
13 By the first day
of the first month of Noah's six hundred and first year,
the water had dried
up from the earth. Noah then removed the covering
from the ark and saw
that the surface of the ground was dry.
14 By the
twenty-seventh day of the second month the earth was completely dry.
15 Then God said to
Noah,
16 "Come out of
the ark, you and your wife and your sons and their wives.
17 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 they can
multiply on the earth and be fruitful and increase in number upon it."
18 So Noah came out,
together with his sons and his wife and his sons' wives.
19 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.
20 Then Noah built an
altar to the LORD and,
taking some of all
the clean animals and clean birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings on it. 21 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.
22 "As long as
the earth endures, seedtime and harvest,
cold and heat, summer
and winter,
day and night will
never cease."
Genesis 9:1-17 NIV
9:1 Then God blessed
Noah and his sons, saying to them,
"Be fruitful and
increase in number and fill the earth.
2 The fear and dread
of you will fall upon all the beasts of the earth
and all the birds of
the air, upon every creature that moves along the ground,
and upon all the fish
of the sea; they are given into your hands.
3 Everything that
lives and moves will be food for you.
Just as I gave you
the green plants, I now give you everything.
4 "But you must
not eat meat that has its lifeblood still in it.
5 And for your
lifeblood I will surely demand an accounting.
I will demand an
accounting from every animal.
And from each man, too,
I will demand an
accounting for the life of his fellow man.
6 "Whoever sheds
the blood of man,
by man shall his
blood be shed;
for in the image of
God
has God made man.
7 As for you, be
fruitful and increase in number;
multiply on the earth
and increase upon it."
8 Then God said to
Noah and to his sons with him:
9 "I now
establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you
10 and with every
living creature that was with you — the birds, the livestock and all the wild
animals, all those that came out of the ark with you — every living creature on
earth. 11 I establish my covenant with you:
Never again will all life be cut
off by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the
earth."
12 And God said,
"This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you
and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to
come:
13 I have set my rainbow in the clouds,
and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth.
14 Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in
the clouds, 15 I will remember my covenant between me and you and all
living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to
destroy all life.
16 Whenever the
rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting
covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth."
17 So God said to Noah,
"This is the sign of the covenant I have established between me
and all life on the earth."
