Dr. Ed Young - Changing the World

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TOPICS: World Changer

It may stagger you, if you haven't thought about it; but from Genesis to Revelation by the way, let me remind you, it is Revelation. It does not have an "S" on it. I studied Revelation for one year in seminary, and the professor said, "If anybody ever says 'Revelations' they will flunk my course, regardless of their grades". So it is Genesis to Revelation. From Genesis to Revelation, how many times you hear the phrase, "Walking with God; someone who walks with God; someone who no longer walks with God; someone who desires to walk with God". You hear the phrase, "Walk with God, walk with God" over, and over, and over again. And it begins right in the early Chapters of Genesis.

Now ladies and gentlemen, I want to tell you something, and you already know it: Look at the whole world in the 21st Century, right now, and you will see without any question as in the days of Genesis the world is in a mess! Read Dr. Henley's Globe Quake. He'll tell you about it. Read the newspaper. Listen to the news. Open your eyes, your ears. Look in any area of endeavor. The world is in a mess because we have moved, all of us have moved away from the moorings and teachings and, of Almighty God. Very, very few people are walking for God. So God brings judgment. God is the God of love, but also, God is a God of justice. And they're juxtaposed not really. And so God knew that He could not bring into the world the Messiah, the One Who we discovered in Genesis would crush the head of Satan.

Though the Devil is not mentioned in Genesis after Chapter 3, he's very much alive and well, and moving against the affairs of God, and it is compromise. It is compromise... And now suddenly, because of these generations of compromise, the Bible tells us that all of the world was caught up in violence, in godlessness, in immorality, and their minds were constantly filled with evil. Isn't that it? In this moment, God was going to blot out the world because it had broken His heart. You see, mankind, you and me human beings, we're the only thing God ever created that has the ability and the capacity to walk with Him and to know Him. Nothing else alive can do that. We're made in His image. Free choice, creativity, freedom. We have the ability to know God and walk with God. Nothing else alive has that ability.

We're the highest we are at the apex of creation. And now man had turned totally away from God, but God looked all over the world for a remnant somebody, some family, somewhere who could be the connection between the old order, and the new order as God would bring judgment with the flood; there needed to be a connection with the animal world, with His created order, and with those that He created, human beings, in the image of God Himself, and He looked for someone, and He found him in a family. He found Noah. Noah's great grandfather was Eunuch. Eunuch walked with God and was not, because God took him, remember? Eunuch. And Eunuch had a boy named Methuselah lived longer than anybody else ever lived 996 years. Methuselah. A whole family that came through there... And Lamech came, the son of Methuselah, and Lamech had a boy named Noah. And we'll read in a minute that Noah walked with God, and God selected Noah Noah to change the world and to begin a new creation after the flood.

Listen as this is told briefly in Scripture. Genesis, Chapter 6, Verse 1: "Now it came about that when men began to multiply on the face of the land and daughters were born to them, that the sons of God saw that the daughters of men follow it the sons of God, (Seth) saw the daughters of men, (Cain) were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves, whomever they chose". Did you get that? They married whomever they chose. Different. Look at Verse Number 5: "Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was evil continuously..." Isn't that what I just said?

Now look at Verse 8 and 9: "But Noah found favor in the eyes of God..." Listen! People run around on tele... "I've found the favor of God"! Let me tell you something: The favor of God comes only to those who walk with God. He doesn't just arbitrarily throw around "I'm gonna throw a favor at you! I'm gonna heal you! I'm gonna give you a zillion..." Oh, no, no, no! The genuine favor of God comes only to those who walk with God. Noah walked with God. That's it. Jim Collins is a Peter Drucker of the 21st Century in my opinion. Peter Drucker was the business guru, as you know, of the last generation.

Now we have Jim Collins who comes along, and he is the guru in the corporate world today. Now Collins in his book, Good to Great, which sold over what 3 million copies has written a new book that's better than that book, It's Great By Choice. And in that book, he asks the question he says uh, "What corporations since 1972 to 2002 were the most profitable"? In other words, if you'd invested your money in 1972 and you kept it invested in one corporation until 2002, what would be the best investment, return on the dollar that you could have made? Would it be gives choices: Johnson and Johnson, Southwest Airlines, Walmart, GE, what, what company? What corporations would have given you the best return on your money in that 30 year period? Southwest Airlines, by far! In fact, if you invested $10,000.00 in 1972 in Southwest Airlines and kept it until 2002, what do you think that would be worth? Kept it 30 years? $12,000,000.00. Whoo! Would all of those who did that please come forward? Isn't that something?

And Collins studied these corporations who was successful in the very capricious world that we've had in the business world for a good number of years, and Southwest was the head of the class. So they studied and they asked the question, "What's the genius of Southwest"? You have to go back and see where we got Southwest Airlines. At that time, Pacific Southwest Air was operating primarily in California, Pacific Southwest, and they had an unusual model for an airlines. Very simple. They said, "Our purpose is to move people from one place to another place as safe and as cheap as possible". That's it. No frills. They may serve you some peanuts, and they don't reserve any seats. They leave on time; they arrive on time; turnaround 10 minutes. They don't carry on the plane any other cargo, any mail. They just have the very simple statement: "We move people by air from here to here, usually within a 2 hour frame. That's who we are; that's what we are. That is Pacific Southwest Airlines".

And also, they added to that safety and cheap fares, but also, they added and said "We're gonna have fun when we fly". And therefore, they taught their pilots and their flight attendants, if you flew back in those days, to have a good time. They had on the airplane, they had a smiley face on the front of the fuselage. They had a smiley face! And they would do such things as pilots would get on the plane after everybody was seated, with white canes and tin cups. You'd see 'em going to the pilot's cabin. Then you'd hear the pilots talking to one another.

One of 'em would say, "Did you bring the key"? The other one would say, "No, no, no! I've never even flown a plane like this! What are all these buttons..." They just had a good time. And then they'd honor someone many times. They'd say, "We've had someone here who's flown a million miles with us. We want to honor them. We honor Mr. James Francisco Jones! Would you come out and be honored"! And boy, they applaud, and he gets off the airplane, goes down the step. He's on the tarmac, and they said, "In honor of being, of flying a million miles, we want to make you a gift", and they bring him a cow on a rope and hand it to him! I mean, he's... But that was Pacific Southwest, and they made a lot of money. Airlines, were regulated then; therefore, you couldn't just fly anywhere.

The government decided where you could fly and gave routes, and so, a group of entrepreneurs in Texas said, "You know, Pacific Southwest's got a good idea. We're gonna pick it up and do that in Texas" and that's Southwest Airlines. They did the same things. Southwest Airlines is virtually a carbon-copy of Pacific Southwest Airlines. There is zero difference, and Pacific Southwest said, "It's fine. We'll never be in competition because of regulations". But when deregulation came Oh ho, ho, ho! Pacific Southwest says, "We've got to go and take advantage! Now we can fly anywhere, brand-new routes..." They began to morph into something else. And they began to look for new markets. They changed the way they were doing business. They upgraded. They got more contemporary in what they were doing, and they said, "We want to be like United Airlines".

Then finally, they were bought by U.S. Air, and they sort of disappeared. They said, "We didn't feel like we could exist as independent airline. Southwest just stayed with the formula peanuts, and here to there, and no seats, and here we go"! They stayed with their formula. "Wallstreet Journal" said, "Southwest is gonna go under! They're not adapting to the changing demographics, and the changing market we have in the airlines with all the expensive flights", da, da, da, da, da! "Business Week" said the same thing. "Don't invest in Southwest Airlines! Man, they're not staying up with things".

But what happened? Southwest says, "Hey! We're just gonna stay with our peanuts. We're gonna keep it simple, and safe, and on time", and they fly basically one airplane and one airplane alone one type of plane. One manual, one training, one thing. Simple as it could be, and Jim Collins in this book discovered that in the business world, it's not those who are always morphing into something, or reinventing themselves... He discovered it was those corporations in a capricious market environment who just stuck with their stuff and did it better and more effectively and kept it simple; they are the ones who really not only survive, but thrived. Interesting, isn't it?

Now I read this in the book at the same time I was studying Noah. And I understand that all truth is God's truth. For example, you can take someone who's an atheist, and they become truthful; they tell the truth, even though they're an atheist. They'll take that truthfulness as an atheist; they will be better off than if they were liars and atheists, right? You see, God's principles, ladies and gentlemen never forget this are written in the created order. Remember, I've said before, the Ten Commandments would be true if they were not even written in the Bible! They are written in creation. They are written in life. They are built in.

So Southwest Airlines can take Biblical principles that we discover Noah had and put them into practice in the market place, and this gives them a leg up on everybody else. And we see that Noah had the same principles, and it's called SMAC. SMAC... Southwest Airlines was specific. We have one thing: We just move people by air from here to here. That's it! No frills. They're specific. Also, they're methodical. You get on a Southwest Airlines in Corpus Christi; it's no different from getting on a Southwest Airline if you're in Dallas, methodically. You got it? Also, and consistent. I mean what you get is what you see. They're consistent, and therefore, you have the SMAC principle. I look at Noah. I see the same principle.

So here is a godly principle operated by a secular company, and other secular companies they don't even know it, most of them, and it's amazing how it works. I want you to look at our guy, Noah. Noah was specific. Noah did one thing. Noah walked with God. Let me tell you something: Have you ever wondered, "What does God want me to do? How can I decide? I don't know..." Let me tell you, it all begins with one simple thing we are to do. We are to walk with God. Period. That's it. You don't have to worry about anything else. Now Noah walked with God for 500 years and had a mid-life crisis. Noah wasn't an SNL a specially gifted leader. You know what SNL? Somebody tall, handsome, top of the class, brilliant, big voice, commanding appearance, a natural born leader! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Noah was not that at all. 500 years, he was a farmer. Did a little carpentry work on the side. He just did one thing: He walked with God. He didn't have any great ambition. When all the trouble came in the world, his family walked with God. There were 8 of them.

Noah didn't say, "God, oh, You're gonna judge the world! Pick me! I'm ready God! Oh, I'm ready... Use me"! Uh-huh. He just walked with God. You see, success is being in God's will. It doesn't matter if it's little stuff, big stuff, profitable stuff, terrible stuff it doesn't matter sickness, health. It doesn't matter whatever. That, that's not even in the agenda. We're just called to walk with God, ladies and gentlemen. It's very, very simple. And then he was methodical. God came to Noah of all the people on the earth. He said, "Noah, I want you to build a boat"! Build a boat? Not any water around here... "Build a boat, Noah, because I'm having to judge the world and blight out the world to have a new beginning in order for My purposes to be carried out and My love to be fulfilled; there has to be judgment. Noah, I want you to build a boat. I'm gonna put you and your family in that boat because you walk with God. Your family walks with God, and you're gonna be the remnant. You're gonna be the change element for a new world".

Noah wasn't gifted and talented. He didn't... He just walked with God. Ladies and gentlemen, that's the genius of it. And he was methodical. God gave him an assignment. He said, "Noah, I want you to build a boat. boat to be 450 feet long; not 449, or 451. I want it to be 450 feet long, Noah. And, and I want that boat to be 75 feet wide. Noah, I want it to be 45 feet high. That's about what a football and a half long football field and a half... that about it? And about uh what, 25 yards maybe wide, and maybe 15 yards high? Build a boat. Gopher wood. Put some tar in there..." Told him how to do it, and Noah did it. You see, God gives instructions. He says, "Be methodical. Be methodical. Be methodical".

That's the genius in the Christian... be methodical. Be methodical. Be methodical... and Noah built that boat. Can you imagine? Do you know how long it took him to build the boat? 120 years! Hello! What does that mean? That means God was preaching to the people, and Noah would say to anybody and everybody, "We've got to change. We've got to repent. You can't live these godless kinds of lives..." and that boat was a sermon, a physical sermon before all the watching world. They said, "You know, this crazy Noah"! Can you imagine how his kids were laughed at? Man! "You know, my kids don't go to everything they offer at the school, because we walk with God. My kids, they were select, and they could work on Sunday morning in these Little League things, but you know, we're at church on Sunday mornings. My kids are not going to be a part of that".

See what I'm talking about? And all of a sudden, we would draw from things and activities that the world just endorses, and applauds. We would draw from because our family walks with God, and there's ridicule, there's questions saying, "You're some kind of religious kook, you folks! I mean, you're not... It's the 21st Century"! You see, methodical. 120 years, built that boat. That boat was a sermon saying, "Man, we're just walking with God. God told us to build it. God told us there'd be judgment", and you can be sure, everybody laughed, and everybody ridiculed. You can be sure! And then, Noah was consistent. See the rest of the SMAC? He was consistent. Man, he just showed up. He was there. You could count on Noah.

The last Verse in Genesis, Chapter 6 says, "Noah did everything God commanded him to do". Everything God commanded him to do; he was consistent in his walk with the Lord. He trusted God's timing. Finally, the day came and God says, "Noah, take your family; get on the boat". They got on the boat. They'd already put all the animals, everything on there. By the way, many people have studied the size of this boat, this ark, and they've discovered you could easily put 50,000 animals in there. Oh yeah, you could. Smaller sizes, you could do it. So they got on the boat, and they were on the boat 7 days and 7 nights before they had any rain. That'd be tough, wouldn't it? "Well God, I'm on the boat. I've built this thing 120 years, and now it's still not raining. Don't we hear anything"? They closed the little hatch there on the top. "No"?

Can't you imagine all their neighbors saying, "You know, that crazy Noah bunch... they're on the boat. They said judgment is coming. Hah, hah! Is this a... are they out of it, or what"? Let me say something parenthetically here: Something's happening in this world that I've never seen before, ladies and gentlemen, worldwide. Something's going on as all of civilization seems to be moving away from any semblance of walking with the True and Living God. I don't know... But Noah was specific. He walked with God. He was methodical. He built that boat. He was consistent. He showed up. He waited 7 days and 7 nights. Maybe his family was saying, "Daddy, are you sure we need this boat"?

Maybe he had some doubts. Maybe, maybe after he'd built it for 80 years, he looked back and said, "You know, gosh! You know, I've building this thing a long time..." Finally, it began to rain. Oh yeah! They had a flood. Can you imagine the people around when water got up to here, and here, and here, and here, and they floated for a while, and they found the boat and said, "Noah! Hey, hey, hey! You got room for a couple more"? It was too late. God's judgment is slow, but it's just at the right time, and His patience runs out with you and me and our rebellion, though He loves us with a love that will not let us go; but there will be in the words of a classic sermon, "A pay day, some day". And then Noah was in the boat.

How long do you think they were in the boat? If my math is right, a year and 17 days. Hello! I imagine the stench was pretty considerable. Then finally they got out, and what is the first thing you read they did when they got out? Noah built an altar! Ah hah, yeah! See, he walked with God! How do you walk with God? Let me put down some simple things. We'll deal with it from many Biblical perspectives.

Number one: You present your body to Him. Romans 12: By the mercies of God, I present my body. Would you do that right now? Just most of you lifted your hands. Just, would you just present your body? Right where, just bend over, present your body. Say, "Lord, I present my body to You. I present my body to You, Romans 12. Living sacrifice. I present my body to You". Then we look and we read in Luke Chapter Number 11. God, Jesus says, "If an earthly father loves to give the right gift to their children and knows how to give good gifts to their children; how much more our Heavenly Father knows how to give the gift of the Holy Spirit to you".

So let's just hold our hands up, everybody and say, "Lord, give me Your Spirit. Fill me with Your Spirit". Would you do that? "Lord, fill me with Your Spirit. I have presented my body; now I ask, fill me with Your Spirit. As, as, as I love to give good gifts to my kids, and how much more God loves to give good gifts to us. Fill me with Thy Spirit". And then finally, there's a little Verse there in Acts Chapter 5. There are many, many Verses that say "God gives His Spirit to those who obey Him". So obedience I don't know how let's do a little obedience here. Those who obey Him, God gives His Holy Spirit. And then the result is, this is the result. It's a daily thing. It's a, it's a perpetual ongoing thing. This is the result. Let me say it clearly: If you want to be a successful Christian, pay attention to the details and walk with God.