Text: Genesis 6:1-22

Receive Calvary greetings from the Pastoral team. We take this opportunity to thank God for the far He has enabled each one of us; despite the challenges brought about by COVID-19 ,God has remained faithful .We pray that our focus this season will remain on our Lord and saviour Jesus Christ, who experienced  challenging times, but He never gave up .

The story of the 16th president of America-Abraham Lincoln remains an inspiration and model for many of us who feel like giving up in life.

Born into poverty, Lincoln was faced with defeat throughout his life. He lost eight elections, twice failed in business and suffered a nervous breakdown. He could have quit many times, but he did not, he went on to become one of America’s greatest presidents in the history of USA.Today, we remember him as a champion who never gave up.

 Genesis 6 introduces us to the world in Noah’s day that was flooded with evil. The number of those who lived a blameless life had dwindled to one Man-Noah. God’s response to the severe situation was to destroy all living creatures, but for Noah, his family and pairs of every kind of birds and animals that found their way in to the ark, they were to be saved. For about 100 plus years, God engaged Noah in building the ark, whose dimensions are given in Gen 6:14-16.Noah got right to work, an assignment that must have been very engaging for him. As a preacher of righteousness (2Peter 2:5), he must have warned people as he worked day in day out to complete the massive vessel.

Building a huge boat miles from any body of water and by only a few faithful men who believed in God was not an easy assignment. Am sure thoughts of giving up must have come to him, but he went on to complete the assignment. Genesis 7:1, ‘’ when everything was ready, the Lord said to Noah, ’Go into the boat with all your family, for among all the people of the earth, I can see you alone are righteous.’’

The call to build the ark can be compared to the call to build our lives on Christ. God has already laid a firm foundation on which we are to build our lives. As we build, we will face three kinds of challenges;

    1. Pressure from inside us to give up

    2. Pressure from around us to give up

    3. Pressure from those who are against us to give up

Whatever pressure you are facing in your quest to build your life in Christ, we encourage you not to give up. Trust God to strengthen you so that you can overcome pressures from within you, around you and against you.

"Success is going from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm.’’ Abraham Lincoln.

Don’t give up