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#2 - The Flood: Local or Global? (with Pastor Austin Young) · The Extra Mile Podcast

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_02: We talk about a global flood.
• 0:01
  SPEAKER_02: It's man, how could a God do that?
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_02: Why, I mean, what is what's God's issue?
• 0:05
  SPEAKER_02: Why is he so mad at humanity?
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_02: Why is he so mean?
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_02: Why is he so hateful that he would kill and wipe out all of humanity?
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_02: And I think what you find is what I talked about Sunday, that the flood was not just about God judging the sins of humanity.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_02: It was really about God protecting his plans for humanity.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_02: Hey, welcome everybody back to the Extra Mile Podcast where we take a few minutes to do a deep dive back into this past Sunday's message and do a little bit of a recap.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_02: So if you didn't join us, um you can know what God's word's telling all of us.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_02: And so I want to welcome back to the table Pastor Austin Young.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_02: Hey, welcome back.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_02: Thanks.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_02: So we had a conversation this past week about this fantastic story known as Noah's Ark.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_02: Man, this moment where God flooded the earth and it's a big story.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, what was your thoughts right away?
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean, I I grew up in church, grew up in kids' church, went to a Christian school, and so Noah's Ark is one of those stories that gets uh, I think it's very like uh watered down for kids, pun a little bit intended, of just like, you know, there were some animals and his family got on the boat and God protected them.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_00: And they're like, we never really mentioned like the people that were like drowned, and then and then you kind of tie that into like it it feels like it's almost like the same realm as like Jonah and the big fish.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_00: Like, oh, a big, you know, a big flounder swallowed Jonah.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_00: And you're like, is that really what it looked like or sounded like?
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_00: And and so I think you kind of grow up with these stories and you accept them as a kid, and then when you get older, you look for like you see the nuance of them as like, okay, well, was that just like a Santa Claus leprechaun Easter bunny thing where it's like this fantastical, like, no, there's a dark side, like there was more to the story they didn't tell me?
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: And so I think you know, you referenced it, like sometimes that can cause people to throw their faith away because they built their faith on these stories.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_00: But what is the purpose of the story?
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_00: Why did God put this in the biblical narrative?
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: What does this teach us about God?
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_00: What does it teach us about humanity?
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_00: What is it literally just to show that you know, lions and giraffes could be in the same boat and not kill each other?
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: And that's God.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: Because it's like you like think that when you're a kid, you're like, wow, that's the miracle.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_00: You're like, the miracle is that the lions didn't eat the other animals.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_00: It's like, well, no, that's not, that's not actually the main point of the story.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that's what was helpful is you tackled some of the nuance, you tackled some different viewpoints, but really you're just continually in this series drawing us back to the why.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_00: Why is this crazy thing here?
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_00: Why are we talking about it?
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_00: Why does it matter?
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_00: And how does it fit into God's story in the big picture?
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_02: You know, I think it's okay for people to ask questions.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_02: You know, we um and I think they should.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_02: Way too many people, especially college students, go off to university and they take their first college class, and there's a professor there that's an atheist, and he throws out one piece of evidence that in one fail swoop, in one semester, destroys a college, um, college student's faith.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_02: And so, you know, I think there are things in the Bible that we should ask deep questions on, and I think we should think critically.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_02: Um, again, not to destroy our faith, but once we have answers to solidify our faith, that no matter what comes our way, we know we have a God who radically loves us.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_02: And, you know, the book we call the Bible is a narrative of God's rescue story for us.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_02: And so, you know, this idea of a flood, you know, I would just say there are there's evidence there.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_02: There was a flood.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_02: And, you know, I don't have time to do a dive into all of it, but you know, I mentioned Sunday that there are over 200 global narratives in ancient societies that of this same idea.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_02: They don't all mention Noah, but there is a family or a guy that gets on a boat that he built to survive a flood that God sends his judgment.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, the most familiar one is this one known as the Epic of Gilgamesh.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and since Sunday, I just read another article.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_02: I said 200 narratives on Sunday.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_02: Um, just read an article.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_02: There are 297 ancient narratives.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_02: So again, yeah, this story is so big.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_02: If it was really as big as we say and it happened the way we say, it would be all over the world.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_02: And that's exactly what you find.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_02: Number two way we know this flood really happened is because it's recorded in the Bible, which I know some people would say, well, that's circular reasoning.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_02: There are 66 books in the Bible.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_02: It's not just one book, and there are different books and styles of writing.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_02: For example, there's some poetry.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_02: Well, the book of Genesis, where the book is the book that records the flood, um, it's intended to be a historical narrative.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_02: And so we find it all over the world.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_02: We find it in a historical book in the Bible called Genesis.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_02: And to me, the greatest piece of evidence that this story is real, there was a flood, is that Jesus pointed to it.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_02: And I always go with Jesus.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_02: And Jesus says in Matthew chapter 24, he said the same way in the days of Noah, um, that people were eating and drinking, and judgment came, there's going to be judgment that comes again at his second coming.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_02: And so Jesus believed that Noah getting on an ark, surviving a flood was real.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_02: And so I do too.
• 5:07
  unknown: Yeah.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_02: So uh global or local, what'd you what'd you think of that conversation?
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I I mean, like I said, I grew up everything when you're a kid, you just accept that everything in the Bible is completely literal.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_00: So I assumed it was a global flood.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_00: And then I became an adult, and some people are like, No, it was only local.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_00: There's this evidence or that, and I'm like, I don't uh, you know, that that's when you come to that tension, like you're talking about as a like a college student going, okay, so does that mean everything in the Bible's a lie?
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_00: And it's like, well, what's the point of the story?
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_00: And and I lean towards, I still kind of go with the global.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_00: I think I think the biblical narrative points to a global.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_00: I think that it makes the most sense.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_00: Like if the reason God did it was because of the evil of humanity and the depravity of the people and the evil that was on the earth, you know, everyone, everywhere, all the time, like you were saying in your message.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_00: Like that idea of going, so that was only regional, and then it says, you know, later on, it's like the entire earth, all creation.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_00: And you're like, is he gonna say it every single time if he literally meant like the ancient Middle East, Near East?
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_00: You know, is that he's gonna use all those big words for that?
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, and I also like the idea of like the the theory of Pangea, where it's like all the continents are a nice little jigsaw that all fit together, and then the flood came and they separated, and when the water settled, there were now new oceans.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that's interesting and fun.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_00: And I just I mean they do fit together pretty much.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_00: And so I like that.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, I like that theory.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_00: It it it helps, yeah, you know, kind of as some might say it's local.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_00: That kind of helps scientifically go.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_00: That would make sense for a global that like things wouldn't just go back exactly how they were, it would change the ecosystem of the earth.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_00: And so, um, I mean, for that reason, I think it was global, and I think that makes the most sense, but I don't think that's the point of the story, which is what you alluded to.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I, you know, again, I don't think you should die on either hill necessarily.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_02: There are things for some reason that Christians and Christians with non-Christians, we have these debates and these conversations over.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_02: And I think there's room inside of Scripture to have a conversation for a local flood.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_02: Again, the word all doesn't always mean all.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_02: And so when God flooded all the earth or destroyed all flesh, did he really?
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, Joel 228 talks about this time where Joel is prophesying forward that was fulfilled on the day of Pentecost, that God would pour out a spirit on all flesh.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_02: Well, he didn't.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_02: I think what God is saying is it's gonna be this complete work.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_02: And so I think there's room for a local flood, but you know, secret, you know, I believe in a global flood.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_02: I believe it's exactly what God said.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_02: And you pointed out uh that it's this emphasis over and over.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_02: It's gonna be total, it's gonna be complete.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_02: And um, so I buy into it.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_02: In fact, one of the things that points to it is this idea of God's promise.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_02: Remember, after he flooded the earth, he said, I'll never flood it again.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_02: And he gave us this sign.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, the rainbow.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_00: That's the other, that's the only other part of the kid's story that we stay true to the real biblical.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_02: We got it, we got a ship, giraffes, lions, and a rainbow.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_02: And the rainbow is important, you know, because there have been floods, thousands of floods, tens of millions of floods, um, since the flood.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_02: And so if it was local, there have been other local floods, but there's never been a global flood, and I don't believe there ever will be because God made a promise.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_02: And so I think you can lean either way and be okay theologically, but I think biblically the story is a global flood.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_02: And the reason God did it, we talk about a global flood, it's man, how could a God do that?
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_02: Why, I mean, what is what's God's issue?
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_02: Why is he so mad at humanity?
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_02: Why he's why is he so mean?
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_02: Why is he so hateful that he would kill and wipe out all of humanity?
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_02: And I think what you find is what I talked about Sunday, that the flood was not just about God judging the sins of humanity, it was really about God protecting his plans for humanity.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_02: So, you know, what'd you think when you heard that idea?
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_02: Because it's a big one.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_00: And I think, I mean, I think that's what this whole series has been is getting to the why, getting to what does this tell us about God's character and the story of redemption that he's writing throughout all of scripture through Jesus.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_00: And and I mean, for me, this has been like a personal journey as someone who uh loves justice and loves, you know, people that I deem evil to get the judgment that I deem they deserve.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I like to put myself in that position and and want people to get what's coming to them or whatever.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_00: And I think God has been helping to soften my heart towards that and hopefully form me more into his heart towards people that he doesn't respond in anger.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, you you said on Sunday in that story, the that total depravity that every everyone, everywhere, all the time, it doesn't say God burned with anger, it said it broke his heart.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_00: Like to to see his people be so far from what he created them to be, to become so much less people made in his image, so far separated from him.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_00: And honestly, we would say they deserve the judgment.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_00: Give them justice, give them what they deserve.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_00: But honestly, being separated from God is the judgment.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_00: Where like the mercy of having your sin exposed and having thing having your life come into the light, it's actually a relief.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_00: Like you're not living the secret, dark, lonely existence apart from God.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_00: Now you can be invited into healing and redemption and forgiveness, and like a new joy can come because now the Holy Spirit can really have his way in your heart and you can be connected to God again.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_00: And so that shift really helped me resonate with that idea of going, this isn't an angry God that wiped out evil people in his anger.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_00: This was a merciful God who couldn't stand how broken his heart was, that his desire for people to be in relationship with him was being undermined by the enemy.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_00: That's right, and it was being rejected by his very creation.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_00: And so I think that helps with that tension of just going, oh no, they they couldn't have been like truly happy.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_00: They they weren't exactly they were created to be with God and they couldn't have been further from him.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_00: So this was actually merciful, not to mention where you get into with the future.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, it's it's hard to see, but again, you and I are friends.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_02: So, you know, imagine I knew a deep dark seeker you had, you were living a lifestyle that I knew where it would end.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_02: It would cost you your ministry, it would cost you your family.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_02: What makes me a greater friend?
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_02: To be quiet and just let you continue on a path where you lose everything, or to confront you, even that even though that's uncomfortable.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_02: Well, obviously, a real friend is gonna call that out.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_02: And God, even though the story of the flood seems like, again, God has anger management issues and just loses his mind and wipes everybody out, really, it's an expression of his mercy.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_02: He loved us enough to stop us in our tracks.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_02: He loved us enough, you know, you gotta say it, you gotta say it.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_02: It's everyone, everywhere, all the time.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_02: You know, that that emphasis.
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_02: You know, that that's how widespread evil was.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_02: And it was really the mercy of God that said, no more.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_02: I'm I can't allow this to continue to spread.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_02: And that's just a different way to see the story and a different way to see God's heart.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_02: Again, the Bible is again 66 books, but it's univocality, which means it's really telling one story, and it's the story of redemption.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_02: This is not about retribution.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_02: It looks like that, but this is restoration.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_02: This is God coming after his creation.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_02: And he lost a lot through wickedness.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_02: And in a minute, we're going to bring back the word Nephilim.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_02: But yeah, man, it was uh it was it was God stopping wickedness from advancing to the place where the Messiah couldn't come.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah, I'm I'm glad I'm glad you you dug into that.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_02: I think that's a big conversation.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_00: And that and that's I I kind of want you to unpack that for people maybe just a little bit more, or if they didn't hear the message to give them the quick overview of like that idea of yeah, yes, those people were separated from God, but what was like the eternal long-term reason for needing to wipe out humanity, basically?
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_02: Well, there's again the timing of the flood is really interesting because when you read in Genesis chapter six, the flood comes right on the heels of what we talked about last week, and that's the Nephilim, where the Bible says in Genesis chapter six that the sons of God, which we found out were fallen angels, came and slept with the daughters of men.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_02: And as outrageous as that is, you can go back and listen to that message.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_02: But what you find is that why would the enemy do that?
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_02: Why would he send angels to come and sleep with women?
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_02: And it's because God made a promise at the fall of mankind in the garden.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_02: Um, he gave us this promise that there would be a seed that would come from Eve.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_02: There would be this person that would eventually be born who would be our Messiah.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_02: Well, the devil heard that plan.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_02: So how can he stop the Savior of the world from coming?
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_02: Well, pollute the genetic bloodline, stop that from happening.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_02: And so I believe that's why the sons of God, that's why these angels slept with the daughters of men.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_02: And what we find is that was happening, and then God sent the flood.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_02: So people were wicked.
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_02: That's enough.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_02: But I believe God was stopping this spread of this pollution to the bloodline.
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_02: In fact, you read in Genesis chapter 6, verse 9, this is the account of Noah and his family.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_02: Noah was a righteous man, the only blameless person living on the earth at that time, and he walked close in fellowship with God.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_02: Well, do we really believe that he was blameless?
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_02: He never did anything wrong.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_02: No, the Bible says there's none righteous, no, not one.
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_02: So I believe what this is pointing to, the word um refers to not defiled.
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_02: The same way sacrifices had to be perfect.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_02: Some people say, some theologians say that this word blameless, defining Noah, was that he was genetically pure, that basically everyone else had been polluted by this angelic perversion.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_02: And so God is coming against the wickedness of humanity, stopping that from spreading and stopping this genetic pollution.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_02: Why?
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_02: Because he needed out of this bloodline, this human bloodline, for the Messiah to be born.
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_02: And God said, I want to I want to send my Savior to save my people.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_02: The devil wanted to stop God's plan, he couldn't do it because God sent out of his mercy to make sure that didn't continue to spread so the Savior could come.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_02: And you and I could sit here as children of God, which is pretty amazing.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and I I I think that's the part that helps you make even more sense of it.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_00: And it helps you make sense of the Nephilim story of just going, like, what is the point of that?
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_00: Like, why do we even bring that up?
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_00: And it's like, I do think that as you said, like that had to play a big part in the decision to send this flood, is he was protecting his redemptive plan, and he was protecting the fact that he wanted to be able to bring humanity into relationship with him and into his presence for all eternity.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_00: So this is what it took to make that a reality still, and to stick to the promise that he made that he would redeem and he would restore and he would renew all comes from now this is the situation that humanity has put him in.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_00: And he's kind of in this place where he's going, okay, I'm gonna have to do this to protect the promise and the plan that I've set in place for my people, for those that I love.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, again, it's there's no doubt, it's it's a story of tragedy.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_02: Um, we know the names of the animals, but millions of people lost their lives.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_02: Um that is tragic, but that is judgment.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but again, it was God's judgment that really made it possible for you and I to sit here.
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_02: And so I I said this last week.
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_02: This was kind of how we ended that the flood is not about retribution but restoration.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_02: It's not get it's not God getting even, it's him making a way.
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_02: It's not a revenge story, it's a rescue story.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_02: So it's it's really the same story, but it's the other side of the coin.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, it was retribution, yes, it was God's judgment, but it was done in mercy, it was done to make possible and fulfill his plan to save the world, that through Christ, that he would come through the seed.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_02: Um we see in the lineage or the genealogies of Jesus recorded in Matthew and in Luke, um, that in the family line was Noah.
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_02: Noah survived the flood and out of that lineage, Jesus was born.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_02: Jesus lived a perfect life, died a sacrificial death, and rose from the dead.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_02: And through who he was and what he did, salvation came.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_02: And all of that would have been up-ended if God had not stepped in.
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_02: That's mercy.
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_02: God made it possible for United City here, and I think um that's pretty profound.
• 17:34
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and I I love that that is kind of uh it's almost that idea of like it all coming back to that is almost feels like an oversimplification, but it's like, well, no, I think that's that's the point, is God's trying to make it so clear who he is and what his desire is, why we were created, why we were made in his image, why we were like all of that.
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_00: The redemptive story is all a part of it, and everything that happened is due to free will and him allowing us to make choices to choose to love him or to choose to reject him, and then we get to this place that he won't he won't let us screw it up so much that he's not gonna still give us away, and that he sent Jesus through that.
• 18:23
  unknown: Yes.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_02: You know, I would tell anybody watching this podcast who listened to the message, hey, you know, dig into the questions.
• 18:29
  SPEAKER_02: How big was the ark, how many animals got on there, was it a local flood?
• 18:33
  SPEAKER_02: I think you can tackle all of those questions, but if you miss the redemption of the story, you miss the story.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_02: You know, again, I said it last week, I'll say it again.
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_02: If you if you miss the why, you'll lose your way.
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_02: And the why of this story is far more important than the how it happened or you know, all the questions we like to dig into.
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_02: The why is because sin was pervasive and the enemy's plan was taking over, and God stepped in and said, No more.
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_02: And um, I gave the illustration last week of um stand your stand your ground.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_02: Remember that?
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_02: Stand your ground.
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_02: So again, I know people don't like talking about guns, but there is a gun law on the books for a lot of states, and it's basically this idea that you have permission legally that if you feel like your life is threatened, to take someone else's life.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_02: And I think that's that's horrific, but I think that's what happened in this story, where God was watching evil take over, and he had to decide at what point do I stop evil, at what point do I stop the guilty from taking over or killing the innocent?
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_02: And God stood his ground, and as tragic as it is that people lost their life, he made it possible again to salvage his plan, to send the Redeemer to save all mankind.
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_02: Exactly.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_00: And I mean, like, even another layer to that that people still want to be like, but that's wrong.
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_00: You shouldn't stay in your ground.
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_00: Like part of what you talked about was Noah was literally an evangelist for 120 years begging people to repent, begging people to turn to God.
• 19:57
  SPEAKER_00: So it's like, God's like, I did everything I gave you 120 years to make a different choice, to make a different decision.
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_00: I I pleaded with you, I made a way, I showed you that there was an ark being built.
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_00: Like I literally gave you a physical representation of your salvation, and you wouldn't you wouldn't turn from your ways.
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, more or less, like I didn't have another choice.
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_00: Like I had to do what I had to do to protect the redemption plan.
• 20:23
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 20:23
  SPEAKER_00: And so I I think that's even that other layer of like it wasn't like God's like, Noah, don't tell anybody, but I'm gonna kill them all.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_00: He's like, literally, tell everybody, please save them.
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, reflects again in the story of Jonah.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_00: Like, God is so bent towards mercy that his heart is broken.
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_00: It's not a wrath, it's not the word says it broke his heart.
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that can help put into perspective that we have to do hard things that when our heart's broken.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_00: And I think to love people, sometimes you have to do hard things, and that's what this story can show us, too.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_02: Pastor Austin, thanks for joining us.
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_02: I hope, you know, again, if you're watching this, that you see a different level, maybe a different lens to this tragic story called the Flood.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_02: Again, it is a picture of God's mercy, not uh not just for humanity in general, but specifically for you.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_02: That God loved you enough that he made a way, always had a promise to save us, made a way through his son Jesus, but he had to intervene in the middle of our wickedness all the way back to the times of Noah to stop the planning of the enemy, to stop the advancement of wickedness, so you and I could become sons and daughters.
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_02: So I hope that's what you lean into, the why of how much he loves us.
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_02: Hey, so thanks for joining us.
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_02: We'll see you back next week.
• 21:29
  SPEAKER_02: Hey, you want to join us because we're going to be talking about aliens.
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_02: It's gonna be crazy.
• 21:33
  SPEAKER_02: That's wild.
• 21:33
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_02: Hope to see you guys then.
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_02: Thanks for joining in the