Most of us have seen a rainbow in the sky. As a kid, I used to love to watch for rainbows after a shower, My dad being a preacher used to always remind me what the Bible said about a rainbow. He would always ask me "Son, do you remember why there is a rainbow? I think of that yet today, and my dad has been in Heaven now for over 30 years.

Many different civilizations had different beliefs about the rainbow and it's origin. Greeks, Chinese, and the Norsemen, the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, all these things we heard about as kids.

In our text today, the flood was over and Noah left the ark and the first thing he did was to have a service to praise God for His protection of him and his family. Regardless of what happens, God's laws of nature still prevail. Fire is still hot, water is still wet, and the law of gravity is still with us. We can expect light by day and darkness at night, just as God planned it back in creation. God's moral laws have not changed and regardless of what the President, Congress or anyone else has to say, God will have the final say. It's not IF sin will be punished, but rather sin MUST be punished. Why, because God is Holy and righteous judgment comes because this is the expression of God's Character. Often times we preachers talk about breaking God's laws but, the real fact about all of it is this. God's laws break us, we can't break His laws because they stand forever. Here is an example. The law of Gravity is a fact and God placed it into affect when He created the world. Man may not have known what it was but, he knew it was there. If you jump off a 20 story building, you have not broken any the law of gravity, you just prove the fact of its existance when you hit the ground.
God established the rainbow in our text as a covenant that He would never destroy the earth again with a flood. There are some other rainbows that we often do not see, because we are not looking for them. With all the storms of life around us, I believe that God sends us these rainbows ti remind us that He keeps His promises and that He loves us. There are 4 rainbows that I would like to mention.

I. THE RAINBOW OF OF FAITH;
Many people in today's world fear many things. They fear bad heath, they fear about finances, they fear the weather, they fear people, they fear life as a whole for their future. God gives us a rainbow of faith for ever fear. I believe it was President Roosevelt who said "We have nothing to fear but, fear itself". How many of us have been afraid of something, worried about something, made ourselves sick fretting about something and it never happened at all or was not serious at all? Faith is the opposite of fear. Hebrews says, "faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen". Faith is so misunderstood in life. Here are some examples. We say we have little faith or weak faith, ok, what about a light switch? You flip it and have faith the light will come on, you go to your car, turn the key and have faith the vehicle will start, you meet a vehicle coming towards you in the other lane, you have faith that driver will remain in their lane as you pass each other at 60 miles an hour. We utilize our faith in these examples, that they will work and function as they are supposed to and these things are MAN MADE!!!!! When it comes to spiritual things, we hesitate or question faith in times of the storms of life, whatever they are.

II. THE RAINBOW OF COMFORT FOR EVERY SORROW:
Many of us face many sorrows in life. When we mention sorrow, we often think of death but, there are other sorrows that we have in life as well. Loss of a good job, loss of our home, loss of our business, loss of our finances, as many have experienced in the last few years due to the economy. We also, as mentioned have loss of a spouse, a sibling and/or a son or daughter. When you lose something, you do not know where it is.
If you have a loved one die, and they are saved, you have not lost them because you know where they are!!!!!!!
The horrid truth is also this, that if they were not saved, you have reasons to believe where they are too. I am not judging anyone by this statement, I am just repeating what God's word reveals in John 3:18. This is reality folks not Hollywood. Hollywood and society tries to portray that after everyone dies, they go to Heaven.
That is contradictory to what God's word says.

When Jesus was preparing to return to Heaven, He said these words, "I will pray (ask) the Father and He shall give you another COMFORTER, that He may abide with you forever. John 14:14. In verse 15, Jesus went on to say this COMFORTER will dwell "with you" and "in you". In verse 17 Jesus says the world does not see Him and does not know Him. These are the unsaved people of the world.

When my oldest daughter was small, she had a little blanket she called her "blanky". She took this little blanket with her everywhere she went and it didn't matter what else was going on around her, she was content and felt safe because if her "blanky" her Comforter. The reason this world is in such a turmoil, the reason people and society are in such an uproar is that many of these people do not know this Comforter that Jesus referred to and those who do possess Him, do not allow Him to bring them the comfort and peace He can bring.

III. THE RAINBOW OF FORGIVENESS;
One of the main things in life that we as Christians have to deal with as well as the unsaved, is forgiveness. People can't forgive others, people can't believe that God can forgive them, and the other is, people can not forgive themselves. One of the "test strips" of a Christian is realizing that we need forgiveness every day.

IV.THE RAINBOW OF ASSURANCE;
The word assurance is something that many people, even Christians, have a real question about. Webster says that Assurance is "a guarantee". Now, who stands behind the guarantee? THE MAKER!!!!!!!!!
Let me ask you this question. Do you think the Apostles had doubt that they would go to Heaven when they died? If they weren't assured that Jesus' words were true, why did they continue in the faith, even unto martyrdom, if they doubted? Paul wrote in 1 Thess. 4 vs 13-19 about those who were dead in Christ that He (Christ) would bring with Him when He returned for His Bride, the church.

Jesus said "He that believeth on me HATH (present tense) Eternal Life. John 6:47. The Apostle Paul wrote "I am not ashamed for I know whom I have believed and I am persuaded (convinced), that He is able to KEEP that which I have committed unto Him, against that day,. The Apostle John wrote in I John 5:13 "These things have I written to you, that believe on the name of the Son of God, that Ye may KNOW that ye have eternal life and that ye may believe on (rely on, trust in, be assured of) the name of the Son of God.

Remember when Jesus was hanging on the cross, between the two thieves? One thief said to Jesus, :Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom." Jesus said to him "Today, shalt thou be with me in paradise". Where in the bible is the verse that said and the thief replied "I hope so"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

God shows us a physical rainbow yet today, to remind us of His promise concerning the flood but, we also have the Rainbow of faith, the Rainbow of comfort, the rainbow of forgiveness and the Rainbow of assurance.

Are you missing any of these Rainbows in your Life?

May God Bless and use this message to bless others.

Oldbiker