Good morning.  With today be Father’s Day, I want to share with you a list that I found this week.  The list was titled, The Top Ten Things You Learn From Your Father:

10. When he was your age, kids had to walk 6 miles to school in the snow and rain, uphill both ways.

9. If he had acted like you, his father would have knocked him into the middle of next week.

8. When he was your age, kids had to make their own fun.
7. You weren’t born in a barn.
6. When he was your age, he had to work for what he got.
5. You don’t wanna make Dad stop the car.
4. “Because I said so” is a reason that makes perfect sense to an adult.
3. You’d better stop crying or he’ll give you a something to cry about.
2. You’d lose your head if it wasn’t attached.
And the #1 thing you learned from your father, money doesn’t grow on trees!

As I said, today is Father’s Day, so today we say “Thank You” and “Happy Father’s Day” to all of the dads with us this morning.

Several years ago, I was listing to sports radio and they were talking with one of the newest inductees to the Baseball Hall Of Fame, Gary Carter.  They were talking about his character as a player and his accomplishments as one of the greatest catchers in all of baseball history.

In the midst of all this, Gary gave thanks to God for allowing him to become the player that he was.

Today we live in a sports crazed society.  People look up to great athletes and sports legends.  And after their careers are over we like to recognize their greatness.  In addition to the Baseball Hall Of Fame we have the Professional Football Hall Of Fame, the Basketball Hall Of Fame, the Boxing Hall Of Fame, the Golf Hall Of Fame, and on and on.  Each sport has its own little Hall Of Fame in order to recognize its greatest individuals.

During the 1994 renovation of the second-floor exhibit area of the National Baseball Hall Of Fame and Museum, a worker found slipped underneath a display case an old photo with a note on the back.  The worker took the black and white photo to Ted Spencer, the museum’s curator and told him that it had fallen out of one of the displays.  When Spencer examined the photograph he realized that it was not a photograph of one of the 216 baseball giants immortalized at the museum at that time.

The photograph was of a smiling man wearing a bulky Sinclair industrial-league baseball uniform from the 1940’s holding a bat over his right shoulder.  They were puzzled as to who the man was in the photograph, where it came from, and how it came to be in the museum.

A note on the back of the photograph offered a clue.  It read, “You were never too tired to play catch.  On your days off you help build the Little League field.  You always came to watch me play.  You truly were a Hall Of Fame Dad.  I wish I could share this moment with you.  Your Son, Pete.”

Spencer sent the photograph to Steve Wolf at Sports Illustrated, who wrote an article that helped lead to the identity of the man in the photograph.  Someone in the little town of Wellsville, New York, recognized the man as Joe O’Donnell.  He had a son that lived in Andover by the name of Pat.  After enlarging the picture on a copier, they realized that the name on the photo was actually Pat, not Pete.

The son was contacted and he told the story of his Dad, the relationship of love and time they shared, and how he felt he was a Hall Of Fame Father and deserved to be in the Hall Of Fame.  On a visit to the museum he had secretly inducted him into Baseball’s Hall Of Fame and had slipped his picture under a display.

When the exhibits were reinstalled at the National Baseball Hall Of Fame and Museum, the photo and inscription were placed back where they were originally located.  A note was left with the items so that future curators would understand the circumstances and assure Joe O’Donnell’s place in the Hall Of Fame.

Now, there are probably no individuals in this room today who will ever make it into a sports Hall Of Fame, but by the grace of God we can all become Hall Of Fame Christians.  And with today being Father’s Day, I want to focus on what it takes to become a Hall Of Fame Father.

As we get started, let’s play a game of word association.  I’m going to give you a word and I want you to say aloud the first word that comes to your mind.  Ready?  The word is, “Noah.”

(…)

Well, it sounds like many of you responded by the word “ark.”  And that’s what most people would say.  When we think of Noah we immediately think of the word “ark” or “flood” or “water.”

However, if you said the word “Noah” to the writer of Hebrews, I think the first word that would come to his mind would be “faith.”  And that’s because the writer of Hebrews chose Noah as a member of his Hall Of Fame.  We read of this in Hebrews chapter 11. If you have your Bibles with you, you can go ahead and turn there with me.

Hebrews chapter 11 is called by some the Hall of Fame of Faith.  The individuals spoken of in this chapter were normal people just like us.

They had struggles, they faced setbacks, and they dealt with sin.  What set them apart was their faith in God.  And Noah was one of those people who were inducted by God into this elite company of believers.

And I believe that by examining Hebrews 11:7, we can gain some insight on how to become a Hall Of Fame Father and Christian.  A Hall Of Famer possesses several key ingredients…

As the writer of Hebrews thumbs through the book of Genesis, he comes to a well-worn, dog-eared page that tells the story of a man of uncommon faith, a man by the name of Noah.  Then the writer of Hebrews shortens entire chapters of Noah’s life into just one verse in Hebrews 11:7.  Hebrews 11:7 says, “By faith, Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family.  By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.”

Now, as we celebrate Father’s Day today, I believe that Noah’s life can teach us all 3 lessons needed in life in order to be inducted into the Hall Of Fame.  And the first lesson is this…

This Hall Of Famer Responded In Obedience.

Look at that first sentence in verse 7 once again, it says, “By faith, Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family.”
God warned Noah that He was going to destroy the whole earth by means of water.  And Noah responded by believing God.  Even though he had never seen a catastrophic flood before, he still believed.  And that’s the essence of faith, believing what God says, even if appearances seem to dictate otherwise.  I remind you of how the writer of Hebrews defined faith back in verse 1, “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.”

Noah believed what God said and responded in obedience to His command.  Noah built an ark to save him and his family.

But why was God going to destroy the earth in the first place?  To answer that we need to turn to the book of Genesis.  Keep one finger in Hebrews 11 and turn back with me to Genesis chapter 6.  Noah’s story begins in Genesis 5:28 and extends through chapter 9:29.

We read in chapter 6 that mankind had become incredibly wicked during the pre-flood period.  So much so, that Genesis 6:5 describes them with these words, “The Lord saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time.  The Lord was grieved that He had made man on the earth, and His heart was filled with pain.  So the Lord said, “I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth, men and animals, and creatures that move along the ground, and birds of the air, for I am grieved that I have made them.””
Back in Genesis 1:31, God looked over His original creation and saw that it was very good.  But now, mankind had become so corrupt and so wicked that God decided to wipe them off the face of the earth.   But in Genesis 6:8 it says, “But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.”  “But Noah …”  In contrast to everyone else on earth who was living wickedly, there stood a righteous man named Noah.

And God revealed to Noah that He was going to judge the earth by a flood.  And the only way Noah and his family would be spared is by building an ark.  Noah believed God and responded in obedience.

Now, Noah’s ark is often depicted as a small boat with animals crowded on deck.  But this isn’t the picture that the word of God gives us.

The dimensions of the ark are given in Genesis 6:15-16.  “This is how you are to build it: The ark is to be 450 feet long, 75 feet wide and 45 feet high.  Make a roof for it and finish the ark to within 18 inches of the top.  Put a door in the side of the ark and make lower, middle, and upper decks.”

So, the ark was 1½ football fields in length, as wide as a football field is wide, and 4 stories high.  It had 3 decks on which you could fit 20 college basketball courts.  And the inside of the ark was over 100,000 square feet.  It was an impressive little boat that took Noah 120 years to build.

And then Noah, his family, and the animals entered the ark.  It rained for 40 days and 40 nights.  Water covered the earth.  Finally, the waters slowly went back down.  And the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat.

The writer of Hebrews includes Noah in his Hall of Fame of Christians because he was a man of faith, he believed God and responded to Him in obedience.

Look at Genesis 6:22, “Noah did everything just as God commanded him.”  And then in Genesis 7:5 it says, “And Noah did all that the LORD commanded him.”

So, the first lesson that we learn from Noah’s life is if you want to he a Hall Of Famer, you need to responds in obedience.  Turn back with me to Hebrews 11:7.  There we find a second lesson from the life of Noah.  Not only do we learn that faith responds in obedience, but also …

The Hall Of Famer Rebukes Ungodliness.

The middle of Hebrews 11:7 states, “By his faith he condemned the world.”

Jeff Foxworthy is a comedian who became famous through his “You Might Be A Redneck If …” routine.  Well, the other day I came across some, “You Might Be A Preacher If …” statements.

You might be a preacher if …

• A church picnic is no picnic.
• You’ve ever wanted to fire the church and form a congregation search committee.
• It’s your job to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.
• You’ve ever wanted to lay hands on an elder or deacon, and you weren’t thinking of praying for him.
• Your sermons have a happy ending, everyone’s happy when it ends.

In II Peter 2:5 it refers to Noah as a preacher of righteousness.  And as a preacher of righteousness, he afflicted the comfortable.

Can you imagine the insults and ridicule that Noah’s neighbors hurled at him?  No doubt people asked Noah why in the world he was building that huge boat.  And that gave Noah the opportunity to preach the message of God’s upcoming judgment because of their sins.

Noah rebuked their ungodliness through what he said.  He also rebuked their ungodliness through what he did.  The very act of Noah building the ark was a continual reminder to everyone around him that God would one day judge them for their wickedness.

Noah’s words and his works; his lip and his life; his talk and his walk, all rebuked the men of his day for their sinful and wicked lifestyles.

So Noah teaches us that faith rebukes ungodliness.  But that’s not all.  There’s a third lesson that we learn from Noah’s life.  And it’s this…

The Hall Of Famers Faith Results In A Reward.

I see this at the end of Hebrews 11:7, “… and became heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.”

God was pleased with Noah, and He rewarded Noah’s faith.  I remind you of what the writer of Hebrews penned in chapter 11, verse 6, “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.”

Noah exercised faith in God.  But believing God did not make building the ark easy or less costly.  And his faith did not reap immediate rewards.  But eventually, he was rewarded.  Verse 7 says that Noah became an heir.  But what was it that he inherited?  Turn back to the book of Genesis chapter 9.

Now, in Genesis 8 we discover that the floodwaters eventually went down.  And after being on the ark for a year, Noah, his family, and the animals were able to leave the ark and live on dry ground.  And Genesis 9:1 says, “Then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth.””

One aspect of Noah’s reward is that he became an heir.  Noah was given the privilege of ruling over the new world.

Noah was faithful in building the ark and preaching for 120 years.  It wasn’t until after the flood that Noah received his reward.  And the same is true of us.  Don’t expect your reward here and now.  Your reward may not come until you enter Heaven.  But you will be rewarded!  Faith results in a reward.

So, as we close today, if you want to be a Hall Of Famer, then you need to…

• Respond In Obedience.
• Rebuke Ungodliness.
• And Then Be Ready To Receive The Rewards Awaiting You.
  
  

May God help all of you Dads to be Hall Of Fame Fathers.  And may we all be able to be inducted into Heaven, God’s Ultimate Hall Of Fame.

Let’s Pray!