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After the Flood - The Book of Genesis · Bible in a Year with Jack Graham

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  Speaker 1: Let us pray. And the whole earth was of one
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  Speaker 1: language and of one speech. Genesis 11.1 Lord, in the beginning,
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  Speaker 1: humanity had one common language. There was only one people
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  Speaker 1: group on the earth and one shared cultural experience. As
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  Speaker 1: much as you desire for us to dwell in unity
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  Speaker 1: and peace, humanity can often use that unity for sin. Lord,
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  Speaker 1: I know you want compassion in the midst of diversity.
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  Speaker 1: Don't let me get so dependent on others that I
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  Speaker 1: forget to acknowledge you. Don't let me get so comfortable
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  Speaker 1: in my tribe of same-minded people that I drift away
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  Speaker 1: from you. Keep me from finding my identity in others
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  Speaker 1: and not in who you created me to be. You
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  Speaker 1: don't want cookie-cutter Christians. Nothing in your creation is the same.
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  Speaker 1: No two snowflakes are alike, no two blades of grass
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  Speaker 1: are alike, and no two people are alike. You made
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  Speaker 1: each of us exceptional, with special gifts and a distinctive personality.
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  Speaker 1: You have designed me to speak to certain people like
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  Speaker 1: no one else can. Help me to embrace who you
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  Speaker 1: created me to be. Help me celebrate the life you
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  Speaker 1: gave me. Don't let me try to blend in and
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  Speaker 1: be like everyone else. Help me develop my own style, personality,
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  Speaker 1: and gifts so you can shine through me. Don't let
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  Speaker 1: me be afraid to be different. Let me always glorify
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  Speaker 1: you in all I do and say. In Jesus' name, amen.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you for praying with us today. Continue your time
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  Speaker 1: with God by listening to today's Bible story. Brought to
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  Speaker 1: you by BibleInAYear.com.
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  Speaker 2: After the Flood Before this story, we learned about the
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  Speaker 2: flood in Noah's Ark. God cleansed the world of unimaginable
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  Speaker 2: evil through a flood, preserved Noah and his family, then
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  Speaker 2: promised to never flood the earth again. Now we discover
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  Speaker 2: that just because the flood is over does not mean
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  Speaker 2: the dysfunction of people is over as well. Yet God
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  Speaker 2: still endures with people and has a plan to expand
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  Speaker 2: them across the whole world. This is inspired by the
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  Speaker 2: book of Genesis.
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  Speaker 3: Hello, I'm Pastor Jack Graham with today's episode of the
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  Speaker 3: Bible in a Year podcast. Today's reading picks up with
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  Speaker 3: Noah and his sons after the flood. God has delivered
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  Speaker 3: them from the destruction brought upon the earth, and now
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  Speaker 3: Noah begins to farm the land to labor and toil.
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  Speaker 3: The curse of sin has not been washed away by
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  Speaker 3: the flood, and it doesn't take long for it to
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  Speaker 3: once again wreck havoc. Pride once again takes center stage
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  Speaker 3: in today's reading is a theme we've seen before and
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  Speaker 3: one that will be repeated again and again and again.
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  Speaker 3: As you listen, notice first how pride leads to family
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  Speaker 3: divisions with Noah's sons. Then as we look at the
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  Speaker 3: story of Babel, notice how the descendants of Adam and
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  Speaker 3: Eve repeat the sins of their ancestors, wanting to elevate
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  Speaker 3: themselves on par with the Creator. The story of Babel,
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  Speaker 3: It's where we learn of the origin of different languages
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  Speaker 3: and the purposes for which God used them. It may
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  Speaker 3: be easy to hear these passages and fail to acknowledge
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  Speaker 3: the role of pride in our own lives and the
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  Speaker 3: way in which it causes us strife and pain. But
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  Speaker 3: remember that we too bear the seed of Adam's sin
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  Speaker 3: within us and in many ways are not different from
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  Speaker 3: those we'll hear about today. Now let's dive into our story.
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  Speaker 2: Noah and his three sons, Ham, Shem, and Japheth, along
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  Speaker 2: with their families, made a home in the new world
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  Speaker 2: after the flood, determined to live a new and holy
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  Speaker 2: life among God. Yet even now, the subtle imperfections of
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  Speaker 2: humanity began to bubble forth. Noah became a man of
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  Speaker 2: the earth, just as his ancestor, Adam. He tilled the
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  Speaker 2: ground and worked it with pain and labor. Noah planted
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  Speaker 2: a vineyard and made his own wine to drink. One
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  Speaker 2: morning he became drunk and stumbled into his tent naked.
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  Speaker 2: His youngest son, Ham, came into the tent to find
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  Speaker 2: his father naked and in a shameful state. Ham delighted
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  Speaker 2: in this and mockingly told his older brothers, furthering the
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  Speaker 2: shame of his old and drunken father. The delight of
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  Speaker 2: Ham revealed the subtle pride re-emerging in the hearts of mankind.
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  Speaker 2: Unamused and determined to protect their father's dignity, Shem and
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  Speaker 2: Japheth entered Noah's tent. walking backwards and carrying a piece
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  Speaker 2: of cloth over their shoulders. They draped a cloth over
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  Speaker 2: their father, covering his nakedness, and left the tent. Noah
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  Speaker 2: woke up from his drunken slumber and discovered what had happened.
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  Speaker 2: Dishonored and embarrassed, he cursed his youngest son Ham, saying,'
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  Speaker 2: Cursed be the land in which you dwell, Canaan! Your
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  Speaker 2: descendants will toil under the oppression of your brothers as slaves!'
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  Speaker 2: and he blessed Shem and Japheth, and blessed their descendants too.
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  Speaker 2: Noah turned to Shem and said, I praise God for Shem.
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  Speaker 2: The Canaanites will be the slaves of his descendants. Then
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  Speaker 2: Noah turned to Japheth and blessed him, saying, God will
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  Speaker 2: give Japheth more land. His descendants will live with the
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  Speaker 2: descendants of his brother Shem, and the Canaanites will be
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  Speaker 2: the slaves of Japheth's descendants. This furthered the familial strife,
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  Speaker 2: between families for generations to come. Noah continued 350 years
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  Speaker 2: after the flood. He lived a total of 950 years,
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  Speaker 2: and then passed to the dust, just as his ancestor Adam. Ham, Shem,
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  Speaker 2: and Japheth multiplied and filled the land with many descendants.
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  Speaker 2: Among Ham's line of cursed descendants was a man named Nimrod,
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  Speaker 2: who plagued the earth and hunted men. It was him
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  Speaker 2: who would lead the first kingdom to rebel against God, Babel.
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  Speaker 2: The people of the earth all spoke the same language,
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  Speaker 2: were drawn to one another, and gathered in the land
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  Speaker 2: of Shinar, also known as Babylon. Their collective pride mimicked
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  Speaker 2: that of their forefathers. Let us build ourselves a city
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  Speaker 2: and a tower going up to the heavens, and let
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  Speaker 2: us make a name for ourselves. To the heavens they ascended,
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  Speaker 2: determined to be like God. a mistake once made by
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  Speaker 2: their ancient parents, Adam and Eve. God lamented over their
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  Speaker 2: tower because it represented the same pride that continued to
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  Speaker 2: fracture their relationship with one another. Once again, filled with
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  Speaker 2: both anger and compassion, God said, Come, let us go
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  Speaker 2: down and confuse their language so that they cannot mingle
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  Speaker 2: together to build one kingdom under the mission of pride
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  Speaker 2: and arrogance. So the Lord dispersed them all over the
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  Speaker 2: face of the earth. Unable to communicate with one another,
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  Speaker 2: they left the great city and tower. The tower was
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  Speaker 2: then called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language
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  Speaker 2: of all the earth. So the people scattered, forming new
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  Speaker 2: and smaller kingdoms with those they had a common language with.
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  Speaker 2: Just as Noah had declared, Shem's descendants multiplied greatly. Out
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  Speaker 2: of the seed of Shem, came forth great nations and
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  Speaker 2: people groups, the most important among them being Abram, one
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  Speaker 2: of God's greatest heroes and the father of all nations.
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  Speaker 3: It was a brand new start for Noah and his descendants.
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  Speaker 3: But as I've said before, Noah was righteous, not perfect,
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  Speaker 3: and neither were his sons. We began this story today
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  Speaker 3: with a son who failed to respect his father. the
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  Speaker 3: evidence of an ongoing struggle with pride. The first lesson
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  Speaker 3: we learn today is how pride poisons family relationships. Three brothers,
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  Speaker 3: one whose family line is cursed to live as slaves,
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  Speaker 3: oppressed by the other two brothers' descendants. This is not
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  Speaker 3: the unity and community God has designed for us. It
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  Speaker 3: does not reflect the loving fellowship that reflects the true God,
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  Speaker 3: the triune God. We then turn to the story of Babel.
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  Speaker 3: A kingdom united with one goal. Up until now, there
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  Speaker 3: was only one language on earth, so everyone understood each other.
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  Speaker 3: And they began to talk and plan, and an idea
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  Speaker 3: was hatched. We can be like God. It's the same
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  Speaker 3: lie the serpent told Eve in the garden. Pride once
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  Speaker 3: again taking hold, this time not just in a couple,
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  Speaker 3: but in an entire kingdom. Look what Genesis 11-4 says.
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  Speaker 3: And they said, Come. Let's build ourselves a city and
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  Speaker 3: a tower whose top will reach into heaven, and let's
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  Speaker 3: make a name for ourselves. Otherwise, we will be scattered
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  Speaker 3: abroad over the face of the earth. Now, rather than
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  Speaker 3: filling the earth and subduing it as God intended, mankind
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  Speaker 3: has decided to stay in one place and seek equality
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  Speaker 3: with God, to seek fame and recognition and power. This
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  Speaker 3: may seem like a feat of human cooperation, and in
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  Speaker 3: some ways it is. as even God acknowledges in Genesis 11. 6.
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  Speaker 3: And the Lord said, Behold, they are one people, and
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  Speaker 3: they will all have the same language. And this is
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  Speaker 3: what they have started to do, and now nothing which
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  Speaker 3: they plan to do will be impossible for them. But
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  Speaker 3: here's the lesson from this story. Just because you are
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  Speaker 3: creating something great and impressive, It doesn't mean that it
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  Speaker 3: is in line with God's will. Unity by itself is
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  Speaker 3: not enough. Their hearts were set on making themselves great,
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  Speaker 3: making a name for themselves and not glorifying God. They
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  Speaker 3: were not living with a God-honoring purpose in their lives.
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  Speaker 3: So God confused their languages and then the cooperation ceased.
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  Speaker 3: But here's what is important to note. In his solution
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  Speaker 3: to the problem, God brought about beauty. Think about all
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  Speaker 3: the wonderful sounds of different languages, the richness of expression
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  Speaker 3: that each different tongue brings. Now unable to understand each other,
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  Speaker 3: they're scattered into their own smaller kingdoms, which very soon
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  Speaker 3: would be at war with each other. Among those scattered
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  Speaker 3: groups were the descendants of one of Noah's sons, Shem.
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  Speaker 3: And from that line, God was already working his plan
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  Speaker 3: to bring about the ultimate redemption of the world, beginning
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  Speaker 3: with a man named Abram. And we'll meet him in
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  Speaker 3: our next episode. Heavenly Father, thank you for what today's
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  Speaker 3: story teaches us about the dangers of pride and the
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  Speaker 3: importance of being together for the purpose of glorifying you
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  Speaker 3: and not ourselves. Thank you also for the wonderful beauty
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  Speaker 3: of languages that we hear in our world today and
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  Speaker 3: how one day every tongue in every language will confess
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  Speaker 3: that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God.
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  Speaker 3: It is in that name of the Lord Jesus Christ
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  Speaker 3: that we pray. Amen. Thank you for listening to today's
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  Speaker 3: Bible in a Year podcast. I'm Pastor Jack Graham from Dallas, Texas.
• 12:02
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• 12:33
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• 12:38
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