Having Faith in the Flood

The Art of Leadership Network. Hey crew, it's Adam. I'm a husband, a father, a pastor, a follower of Jesus who just like you is trying to learn what it looks like to fully live and follow Jesus in the middle of real life. It is one thing to be someone on Sundays, but what about Monday through Saturday? And so here, we're gonna talk about faith and making a difference in the messy, ordinary moments where it's often the hardest to live out. Some weeks, I'll share what God is teaching me. Other weeks, I'll sit down with leaders, pastors, athletes, friends. There's no fluff, just encouragement and truth for your life between Sundays. I'm so glad you're here. Well, hey crew, it is Adam and Emily and welcome to Life Between Sundays. Let's go, let's go. We are on episode 338. I can't believe it. Every week. Every week. It blows my mind. It blows me away. 338, wow. 338, rockin' and rollin'. We are just gonna dive right into today. Let's go.

Just give me your high-low Buffalo. What do we got going on? I feel like I got one of each. Hi, I get to see my parents this week, which is awesome. They've been in Arizona all winter and I've been missing my parents like crazy. I'm 23 years old and I still miss my parents. Are they coming here or are you going up to them? They're coming here. Yep, they fly in tonight, actually. So I'm super excited about that. So that's taking place. My Buffalo is the new Maverick City album. I really like it. The first song on the album, I don't know what the name of the song is, but go check that out. We'll have a link in the show notes to that. Is that the one that was playing in your pocket? No, that was another one. That was the new Elevation Worship. The new Elevation Worship album is pretty good, too. I was pumped about Maverick City because I worried they were dead because all their stars left. But there's a couple old school ones still on and there's some new ones that have some great voices. I don't know much about Maverick City. So that'd be my Buffalo. My low is Spring Forward.

Oh my gosh, it's midway through the week and I'm still feeling it. Although I do like that it's staying light out till like 7 p.m., that's pretty sweet. Every time that the time change happens, I'm reminded how much of a baby I am. The way that it affects me so heavily, I'm like this one hour should not ruin my entire week. Yeah, this is definitely a thing. I'm like, I'm literally a baby. If my sleep schedule gets thrown off by a tiniest little bit. It's crazy. It's done so for everyone around me. It's serious. Anderson Webber in my household, he's really struggled with time changes. Really? Oh my gosh. I relate to him. It has been a thing. I'm like, oh lord. But the sun didn't set until 7.30 last night and that's even in horrible times, beautiful things can come from it. Beautiful things can come. Yeah, and that'll preach. That'll preach. Dead things come back to life. That's the gospel.

Okay, today, we don't have a conversation today. No interview today. We have a message that you preached fall of 2024 over Genesis. I can't believe it's been that long. Looking at the story of Noah. Yes, and how to float in a flood. This was a series that we did. If you've heard it, it's been long enough for you need to rehear it. I need to hear it again myself. If you've never heard it, this is for you. Because this was a series, honestly, I think away from the Be a Man series, I think it's the most listened to. Maybe I could be wrong on that. But it's one of those series that I've heard from the most amount of people. Really? Oh, very much so. I'm so excited for you to hear this message. Hope it connects with you. Praying that God moves in a powerful way. Let's jump in. So to start today, I wanna ask the question, have you ever had a time where you wondered when is this gonna end? When is this gonna end? And even further, maybe you've asked the question, will this ever end?

Maybe you had a root canal and during it, your mouth getting tired, you're just asking yourself, when is this ever gonna end? Or maybe for you, you were a college student for six or seven years. Not to become a doctor. It just took you six or seven years. There's no judgment, okay? You can bring your sin and confessions here. There's no judgment. For me personally, when I hear this question, the very first thing that comes to mind for me is this picture right here. So this is me and my son, Wilson. We had just met each other about four or five days earlier. And so this picture though, it was taken from an airport in Ethiopia. You see, we had just adopted Wilson and the both of us along with my wife. We were just about to start the long journey back home. And so the first nine hour flight went great. Wilson slept through the entire trip from Ethiopia to Amsterdam. But right before we got on the next nine hour flight from Amsterdam to Minneapolis, we decided to give him some Benadryl. Okay, some Benadryl. Before the trip, we talked with a pharmacist friend of ours and we're like, how much Benadryl should we give a kid this size?

And she told us the doses and then she gave us this warning. She's like, yeah, this works great. He'll sleep really, really well. But I just want to let you know, sometimes when you give a kid Benadryl, it backfires. It backfires and it just kind of makes them crazy. Yeah, it just kind of makes them hyper. And so I was like, what's the odds of that, right? Okay, and so Wilson, we gave him some Benadryl and I'm not joking, immediately, as soon as we gave it to him, it was like he was possessed. It was like he became a super drunk college kid who also did cocaine that we were now fully responsible for on a nine hour flight, okay? Did I mention that we just met Wilson? Like he was really a stranger. And did I mention that we were totally overwhelmed adding a child to our lives, flying across the universe to go and get this child. Oh, and another thing, when we first got on the plane from Amsterdam to Minneapolis, the pilot came over the intercom and he said to us, hey, sorry about the wait guys. We were short on a plane today. And so we needed to bring this plane out of retirement. Friends, if you're here and you're retired, just know that you are welcome here. This is a home for you. I'm just saying, I wouldn't want to rely

on your physical body to get me over an ocean, okay? Seriously though, for nine hours, my wife and I, we took shifts trying to wrangle our new drugged up son. And we must've asked ourselves a thousand times, when is this ever gonna end? When is this ever gonna end? By the way, Wilson is now a sophomore in high school and I love this kid so much. One of the greatest honors of my life is getting to be his dad. So today we are continuing on in our series called How to Float in the Middle of a Flood. And as we've been saying throughout this series, at some point in life, we will all metaphorically experience a flood or two. And just to note this, a flood in life, it's not a bad day or a tough week. That's a bad day or a tough week. Instead, a flood, it's a life altering event or season. It's a crisis or a brutal situation that turns our world upside down. A flood, it feels like it's gonna take us out. Whether it's losing a family member, whether it's going through financial hardship, something with a relationship, our marriage, something with our health, cancer. Again, at some point, a flood will in fact come. Today though, in this story, in Genesis, we're told that Noah was able to float

in the middle of a flood. And this right here, it's our goal. That just like Noah, instead of allowing the floods to take us out, our hope is to somehow, someway figure out how to float in the very middle of it. Okay, so, so far in this series, we've started out in Genesis chapter six by looking at how all the people, like all of humanity had become so corrupt that every inclination of their thoughts and every intention of their heart was only on evil all of the time. But there was one man who found favor in God's eyes and his name was Noah. And so God tells Noah that he's gonna bring an end to all people. And then he tells Noah, make yourself an ark. Make yourself an ark. God's basically telling Noah to get prepared. Get prepared for what's about to come. There is a flood that is in fact gonna come your way. Don't wait, instead take action. Get prepared, make yourself an ark. So this right here, it brings us to our part of our story for today. And so at this time, I'm gonna invite you, if you have your Bible with you, open up to Genesis chapter seven. If you have your copy of Genesis that we gave out at the start of the series and you need some extra help,

you can turn to page 10 in that. If you don't have a physical Bible, I'd encourage you to open up your phone, use the Bible app and open it up to Genesis chapter seven, starting in verse 10. Here is what we are told. After the seven days, the flood water came on the earth. On that day, all the springs of the great deep burst forth. from the ground, and the floodgates of heavens were opened, and rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights. On that very day, Noah and his sons, Shem, C.J. Ham, and Japheth, together with his wife and the wives of his three sons, entered the ark. Then the Lord shut him in." Okay, so Noah and his family, they get into the ark, and rain, it starts falling from the skies, but not just come from the skies, it starts bursting up from the ground as well, and then we're told that the Lord shuts Noah and his family in. It's like God is protecting Noah and his family. His hand is over them, his hand is on them, and he shuts them in, protecting them. Continuing on in verse 17, "...for forty days the flood kept coming on the earth, and as the waters increased, they lifted the ark high above the earth. The waters rose and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the water. They rose greatly on the earth, and all the high mountains under the entire heavens were covered." Verse 22, "...everything on dry land that had breath of life in its lungs died. Only Noah was left, and those with him in the ark. The waters flooded the earth for a hundred and fifty days." Let me read that last line again. The waters flooded the earth for a hundred and fifty days. Friends, just to make this clear, they were on this boat in the middle of a hurricane for five or so months. I'm just saying, I was on a cruise earlier this summer. It was an awesome cruise, but by the end of the eight days, I was fully ready to get off the boat. Like, this is a long, long, long time to be trapped on a boat, and it's raining, and it's dark, and I can only imagine asking the question, is this ever gonna end? Is

this ever gonna end? Is this rain ever gonna stop? And even darker, has God completely forgotten about us in the middle of this flood? Friends, from our story today, here's the first thing that I want to highlight. Floods feel like they're never gonna end. Can I get an amen in the house of God? Floods, they feel like they're never gonna end. I'm just saying, so often a flood in life, it shows up, and it feels like it's never gonna end. We lose a loved one, and it just feels like the grief is never gonna end. We lose our health, and the sickness, and the cancer. It just feels like it's never gonna end. We go through a breakup, or a divorce, and the hurt, and the pain, and the heartache. It just feels like it's never gonna end. We lose our job, or we're searching for a job, and the uncertainty is never gonna end. We want to get married, or it's one miscarriage after another, all the while everybody else is having kids all over the place, and it just feels like it's never gonna end. And so these floods, they feel like they're never gonna end, and in response, what's our next reaction? We attempt, and we try everything to get ourselves out of the flood as fast as we possibly can. Like in these floods, we start frantically doing anything to get ourselves out, and so if you've gone through a breakup with your significant other, or you've gotten divorced, or you've lost your spouse, and so you're in the flood, what do you do? You immediately jump right back into another relationship. You want the flood to disappear, or maybe something's happened in your life, and people are talking poorly about you. There's lies being spread about you, and so to get out of the flood, you start posting all kinds of things about other people. You start saying all kinds of crazy crap. You start calling and talking with anybody who will listen to you, or you've lost your job, or your business is failing, and so to get out of the flood just to feel a little bit better, just to take all the shame away, you start drinking. It's like if I just drink, then I won't have to deal with the flood. Know the feeling? It's like you'll do anything, and I mean anything, to get yourself out of the flood that you're in. A few years back, I'll never forget sitting with a dear friend of mine. He had just unexpectedly lost his son.

So the day or so after, as I sat with him, he was totally shell-shocked, and he just kept asking me, Adam, what can I do? What can I do? What can I do to get through this? It's like he was looking for me to give him like specific boxes that he could check to make the grief and the pain to go away. I just sat there and listened because I knew there was no such list of boxes that I could give him, and I just knew that my friend was now in this flood. And the truth is, you can't swim your way out of a flood. You have to endure it. You can't swim your way out. You have to endure it. I'm just saying, looking at Noah in the middle of this flood, there's literally nothing he can do except be patient. I mean, what are his options? Jumping off the boat and attempting to swim, he would have drowned. You can't swim your way out of a flood. You have to endure it. In the middle of these floods, you have to hold on to God. Some days you have to try your hardest just to put one foot in front of the next. In these floods, with God's strength, sometimes you just try to make it through the day, and honestly, sometimes the goal is just to take another breath one more time. You can't swim your way out of a flood. You have to endure it. You have to endure it. Before we go any further today, there are just some awesome partners that we'd like to thank for making Life Between Sundays possible. Adam, who we got for partners today? Two incredible partners that I know so well. The first is the Tyler Goff Group.

I have bought and sold three different houses for the Tyler Goff Group. They are incredible. They're not just going to find you a house to live in. They're going to find a home for you, and they are truly the best of the best. I've worked personally with Tyler for sure. He's my best friend, but also Jessica Steele on his team. So many other agents on the team are incredible. So if you're looking to buy or sell a house, don't look anyplace else. Go to TylerGoffGroup.com. I promise you won't regret it. I would trust them with my life. Go check them out. The second partner that we have is Vern Eide Mitsubishi. Vern Eide is a faith-based, employee-owned, growing company that strives to deliver dreams and transform lives in all that they do. I was just at their dealership this week. I leased my Outlander, and that is coming up to the end right now. I was just at Vern Eide this week, was blown away by their service. I couldn't, honestly, I was like, this is like top-notch. No, they're awesome. I felt bougie just being there. I know. Whenever I've had to sit in their lobby, like waiting for a service or something, just sitting in there, I'm like, I kind of like it here. I can move my office into this Vern Eide lobby. There's coffee and cookies and people checking in on you. It's pretty fantastic. It's pretty fantastic. Jared, I just saw him the other day, Jared from Honda. If you're looking for a Honda, go find Jared.

There's so many amazing people. Brian at Acura, just another amazing person. You never feel pushed or sold. They just are super, super helpful. If you're looking for a vehicle, an Outlander, an Acura, Ford, Mitsubishi, Honda, you name them, make a vehicle. They're going to have it. No matter where you live, they'll ship it to you. Go visit VernEide.com, VernEide.com. Continuing on with our story, again, this flood, it lasts for 150 days. And then in chapter 8, verse 1, but God remembered Noah. But God remembered Noah. Again, there's this flood. Maybe you can relate. It's not just coming from the sky. It's actually coming from the ground now somehow, too. It's like, can it get any worse? And there's darkness all around, and it feels like it's never going to end, but God remembered Noah. Friend, if you're in the middle of a flood right now or at some point in the future, these are some of the most powerful words that you can hear, that we can know, but God remembered Noah. Let me translate this for you. God hasn't forgotten you. God hasn't forgotten you. So often in the middle of a flood, it feels like God is absent. It feels like he's not there. And you can't feel him. You can't hear him. And yet, once again, God hasn't forgotten you.

God remembers Noah. membered Noah. He is there. So I've shared parts of this before. A few years back, I went through a flood. I believe that I've walked through two floods so far in life, and this is one of them. Some hard things happened at the church here, and it was, without question, the hardest year of my life. And honestly, throughout that season, it felt like God had completely forgotten about me. And it just felt like one hard thing happened after the next, and it felt like so many people and friends were walking out of my life, and I didn't know who to trust and who not to. And it just felt like when I cried out to God for help, I didn't hear anything back. Maybe you felt that way. It's like you prayed and the word just kind of hit the ceiling and came back down. Just know if you felt that, you're not alone. Truly, though, it just felt like God was absent. But here's the truth, though. That's how I felt. But it wasn't true. Instead, even then, God hadn't forgotten me. Instead, He was there. Like, I look back at this terrible year now, and I can see God's hand at work all over the place, and He was present with me every step of the way. And whether God caused it, that hard year or not,

or whether He just allowed it, and maybe you've wrestled with the same question, God most definitely used it all for good. Even then, even there, God remembered me, and the same is true for you. If you're in a flood right now, God hasn't forgotten you. If you find yourself in a flood at some point in the future, remember these words, God hasn't forgotten you. Instead, He sees you, and He loves you, and He cares about you, and He is there with you. The flood, yes, it might be dark. And the rain and the water, it might be coming from every direction. But God hasn't forgotten you. He hasn't. He hasn't forgotten you. OK, so again, God remembers Noah. And finally, the rain stopped, and the water begins to recede. And then in verse 6, it continues on to say, after 40 days, Noah opened a window he had made in the ark, and he sent out a raven. And it kept flying back and forth until the water had dried up from the earth. Then he sent out a dove to see if the water had receded from the surface of the ground. But the dove could find nowhere to perch because there was water all over 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.

So Noah, he sends out this raven, and then he sends out this dove to see if there's any dry ground. And yet, there still isn't any dry ground to be found. And then in verse 10, so Noah, he waited. Again, sometimes you just have to endure seven more days and again send out the dove from the ark. When the dove finally 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. He waited seven more days and sent the dove out again. But this time, it did not return to him. OK, so just to remind us, Noah and his family had been inside this boat for months, and there's the flood, and it's been dark. And honestly, I can't imagine a suckier situation to be in. And then finally, he sends out this dove, and it comes back to him with an olive branch. Comes back with an olive branch. Now really just think about this. Like really, after being inside of this boat for so long, can you imagine the relief in this moment? Just this understanding after months, there's dry ground. There's dry ground. After all this time, there's dry ground. We're going to make it through this flood, just this moment, where after all that Noah's been through, I'm going to make it. I'm going to make it. I'm going to survive. Seriously, this olive branch to Noah,

it was a sign from God that Noah was going to make it through the flood. Question for you, does anyone here today need an olive branch? Anyone here need a sign from God, a reminder from God, an acknowledgment from God that you're going to make it through this flood that you're in? Seriously, does anyone need an olive ranch, a reminder from God? Going back to my hard year, my flood year, without sharing more of the details, the entire year was horrible. Especially for a people pleaser like me, it was the worst possible situation. And honestly, for about six months to a year, every single day, I questioned everything. I questioned every single day if I wanted to be a pastor, I questioned this church every single day. I questioned the church every single day. I questioned myself as a leader. I questioned my own integrity. I questioned my own relationship with Jesus for at least six months. Every single day, I was asking my wife and a few close friends, and I wasn't asking. I was begging them if I could quit my job. I hated it. I didn't want to be here. I'll never forget it, though. There was one day that summer where I was in my backyard sitting on my lawn chair, and I was filled with so much anxiety that I literally felt like I was losing my mind. I was physically shaking.

My mind was racing, and it felt like my body and all that I was was totally out of control. And it's almost like I collapsed in my lawn chair. Well, as I sat there in my backyard, I ended up reading and opening up the daily devotional I was going through, desperate to hear from God. And when I did, I couldn't believe it. The reading that day was based off the story of the prodigal son, which is the very story that Embrace, our church, is based off of. And that day, as I read this devotional in my backyard, I just started bawling. I mean, for me, it felt like an olive branch moment, like it just felt like a direct sign from God to stay the course, to not quit my job, to not quit this church, to keep my head up, to keep going. And in this moment, I just knew that I knew that I knew that I knew that I was going to make it through. And there was still going to be some really, really hard days ahead, but I just knew that I was going to survive the flood. Friends, here's the deal for all of us. God wants us to know that we're going to make it through. This flood that you're walking through right now or the flood that you'll encounter in the future, He wants you to know that you're going to make it through. What I'm trying to say is this, God wants to give you an olive branch. He does. God wants you to know that there is dry land up ahead. You can't see it yet. God wants you to know that there are better days ahead, that

you're going to survive this flood, that it's not going to last forever. And so today, as we close, I just want to ask again, who needs an olive branch? Like, really, who needs one? And if that's you, just for a moment at all campuses, and I know that's going to be out of your comfort zone, but I just want to invite you just right now, if that's you, just for a moment, raise your hand. That's me. Who's walking through a flood? And you're just like, I need God to show up. I need a sign. I need a reminder that God is going to bring me through this. And so right now, I'm going to pray. And if you raise your hand, and I'm guessing there's so many people who need to raise their hand but didn't, I'm going to pray this week, not next year or even next month, but I'm going to pray that this week, that God will give you an olive branch. And an olive branch that this week, in some specific way, you would know that God is going to bring you through this. To be clear, an olive branch, it doesn't mean that you're out of the flood. It doesn't mean that the flood is over. It's just a reminder that just like you did with Noah, that God is going to bring you through this. Well, thank you guys so much for joining us today, listening to Life Between Sundays. We are just so grateful that you're here, so grateful you tuned in.

Yeah, I just love being a part of this. I feel so lucky. If today's message connected with you, we have a link in the show notes to the other weeks in this series. Want to highly encourage you to go check that out. Before we close, need to thank our partners again, the Tyler Goff Group. If you are looking to buy or sell a house. That might be you Well, we'll see about that Possibly that is not a binding contract. We're not we don't go to the Tyler Goff group This is a perfect time of the year to look for a house Schools getting close to the end. It's a perfect time to think about moving So go check out the Tyler Goff group and then Verne ID Mitsubishi I can't say enough about them if you're looking to buy a vehicle no matter where you live They'll ship it to you. Go check out Verne ID calm. I have a fun question actually Is there anyone you want to give a shout out to Anyone you saw recently this week that you're like, I just want to give a shout I need to give a shout out to Frank Beeler with the generous group Frank is one of the most amazing Encouraging individuals that I have been around. I got to spend some time with him This last weekend was deeply encouraged by Frank. I'm always amazed how Frank is so that he's this high caliber leader and yet I felt like all he did all weekend long was serve me And I just felt deeply seen and noticed and valued and it also reminded me no matter what your platform is or no matter What level you are in a company or whatever like to always have the heart of a servant because I just felt so deeply served So shout out to Frank Beeler. Love it. Bless in my socks up. That was a great question. Yeah, shout out to him I'm trying to think of any other shout outs. I'll give a shout out to Heather Christensen I saw her this weekend and I never met her before but she's like, oh you're Emily I hear you on Adams podcast and got to know her a little bit more. So shout out to you Heather. You're awesome

I love the shout out. So thank you so much to all of you. Listen in have an awesome rest of your day in a great Week. Thank you