Latest / Cumberland Trace Church of Christ (Formerly Lehman Ave Church of Christ) / Equipped 2026: "The Table of Nations and Tower of Babel (Gen. 10-11)" by Dean Thompson

Transcript

Equipped 2026: "The Table of Nations and Tower of Babel (Gen. 10-11)" by Dean Thompson · Cumberland Trace Church of Christ (Formerly Lehman Ave Church of Christ)

• 0:00
  Good evening.
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  It's so wonderful to be here with you all.
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  I know it's past the lunchtime hour and hopefully we're awake and ready to receive more of the
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  spiritual feasts.
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  We got a good nourishment to our bodies just a little while ago and so hopefully I do a
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  good enough job to keep you all awake so you can receive this spiritual food.
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  But to God be the glory for us to have an opportunity to be here to just sit at the
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  feet of so many capable preachers and teachers and for the Cumberland Trace congregation
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  hosting this.
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  We really appreciate them and their efforts and their leaders and their godly wisdom and
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  foresight to put an event like this on to build up the church.
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  Hopefully you're edified, you leave here in courage and wherever you are you can take
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  it to your local congregation.
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  He's got the whole world in his hands.
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  He's got the whole world in his hands.
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  He's got the whole world in his hands.
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  He's got the whole world in his hands.
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  The words from this popular song remind us that from the very beginning God has held
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  the entire world in his hands and we appreciate such a great theme like this, Genesis, because
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  we're talking about things from the very beginning and what God has done and is still
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  doing and we can go back to the book of beginnings to notice that.
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  From the very early days God designed a world full of nations, languages, and cultures.
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  I'm going to come back to that in just a moment.
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  But from the beginning the society that God created has tried to resist that change and
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  Genesis 10 through 11 is the account of a father in heaven who scatters for our good
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  and a society that gathered for their own glory.
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  You know Genesis 10 through 11 is a look back at diversity designed, pride unleashed, judgment
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  given, and redemption promised.
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  In our lesson today we're going to observe how the table of nations and the tower of
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  Babel present a marvelous lesson on design diversity, defined centralization, divine
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  disruption, and divine dissolution.
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  And finally we'll peel back the curtains a bit and see what we can uncover for ourselves
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  from our assigned text on this afternoon.
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  I hope that's all right.
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  So let's go ahead and begin our study with point number one, design diversity.
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  Now God does nothing arbitrarily y'all.
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  His designs are intentional as Genesis chapter 10 proves.
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  It may be easy to write off the table of nations in Genesis 10 as a boring list of genealogies
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  but y'all there is so much there.
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  Promise me when I tell you, trust me when I tell you that.
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  But before we get to Genesis 10 there's Genesis chapter 9.
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  After Noah and his family made it off the ark, God gave them a simple directive regarding
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  diversity I believe.
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  He says in Genesis 9 verse 1, he says, be fruitful and multiply the earth as he said
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  to Noah and his sons.
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  And then you read the same directive in verse 7 of Genesis chapter 9.
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  He added, increase greatly on the earth and multiply in it.
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  Y'all is this not similar to the instruction that he gave to Adam and Eve in Genesis 128?
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  Absolutely.
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  Now I believe I'm standing before an audience that understands that God means what he says.
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  God definitely means what he says.
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  You know he didn't suggest that Noah's sons be fruitful and multiply and increase on the
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  earth.
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  He commanded it.
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  He didn't make a suggestion, he commanded it.
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  And ultimately the table of nations shows that diversity is part of God's good creation
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  plan.
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  And as we'll see with the tower of Babel, if he commanded it, then it will get done.
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  If God says that something needs to get done and trust and believe, it will get done.
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  Nothing that man has purposed in his heart will disrupt his divine plan and his divine
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  will for humanity.
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  Note what the psalmist said in Psalm 33, Psalm 33 verses 10 through 11.
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  It says, the Lord brings the counsel of the nations to nothing.
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  He frustrates the plans of the peoples.
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  The counsel of the Lord, what does it do?
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  It stands forever, the plans of his heart to all generations.
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  And then Proverbs 19 verse 21, Solomon writes, many are the plans in the mind of a man, but
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  it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.
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  Furthermore, in Genesis chapter 10, we have a list of 70 nations from the family lines
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  of Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
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  Now this helps distinguish between the elect or chosen lines of Shem and the unelect lines
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  of Ham and Japheth.
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  Now, why do we have this distinction?
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  Well, I think we have to go back to Genesis chapter nine to find the answer to that question.
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  Jump back there, go down to verses 24 through 27, Moses records for us, when Noah awoke
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  from his wine and knew what his youngest son had done to him, he said, curse be Canaan,
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  a servant of servants, shall he be to his brother.
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  You see, after Noah had gotten drunk, Ham, who was the youngest, he ran and told his
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  two brothers, which unfortunately and ultimately cost him greatly.
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  And then you read in verse 26, he also, this is Noah, he said, bless be the Lord and God
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  of Shem and let Canaan be his servant.
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  May God enlarge Japheth and let him dwell in the tents of Shem and let Canaan be his
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  servant.
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  Now, by taking a look at Noah's family tree, we observe that Canaan was one of Ham's four
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  sons on whom the curse was placed.
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  And his descendants were the ones who settled in the land that would later bear his name,
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  Canaan.
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  Now, stay with me because I'm going somewhere with this.
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  This curse that Noah pronounced on Canaan would be manifested years later down the road,
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  centuries years for that matter, when Israel forced them into slavery after they settled
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  there.
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  Genesis 17, 8, Joshua 17, 13, and Judges 1, 28 for your own studies.
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  You know, we sing the song to Canaan's land.
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  I am on my way, right?
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  And that's in reference to heaven.
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  But the actual land is what Israel was promised and they eventually inhabited.
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  And furthermore, when we think about this line of Shem, it became the elect or chosen
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  line and not just because he received this blessing from Noah, but when you think about
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  this line and how blessed it was, who was in it?
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  Well, Abraham came from this line and ultimately the Israelites and oh yeah, someone named
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  Jesus.
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  That great man named Jesus came from this line.
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  Genesis 11, 20 through 26, Matthew 1, 2, and Luke 3 and 34 and 36.
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  Now, we understand and note that Shem's line was the elect and chosen line that came from
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  Noah's descendants, but I want to get back to this diversity idea for just one moment
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  before we move on to our next point.
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  During my studies, I found it interesting and perhaps you might find it interesting
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  as well.
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  I know sometimes we may get all, we may get the heebie-jeebies, we may get frustrated
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  and weirded out when we see maps, right?
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  But I think this map that we're looking at has a purpose.
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  All maps have a purpose, but when you think about the map specifically in Genesis chapter
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  10.
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  You know, when I studied, I found that Genesis chapter 10, when you think about it, is the
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  Bible's first world map.
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  If you ever thought about that, I think it's astounding.
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  The Bible is the first world map.
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  The people, they did ultimately fill and multiply the earth.
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  You had Japheth along the coast of Asia Minor, Genesis 10, 5, and Ham in the regions of Africa
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  and Arabia, Genesis 10, 10 through 14, and Shem, who were Semitic people, Genesis 10,
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  and they float outward from Arabia and Mesopotamia.
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  But what is the point?
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  What does this map ultimately show us?
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  It shows, y'all, that God intended to have a land full of cultures, languages, and peoples.
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  And it's dangerous, I believe, not to appreciate the vast array of cultures and languages that
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  we have in our society today.
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  Brothers and sisters, ladies and gentlemen, God did that.
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  God did that.
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  So when we may try to disparage and look down on, I hope we don't do that.
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  Maybe we may have some friends who may do that very thing.
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  Y'all, we have to appreciate that God is the one who set this thing in place in the first
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  place.
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  Now, the next chapter shows what happens when man directly opposes the word of God.
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  He told them to be fruitful, feel, and multiply the earth.
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  But what do we see?
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  Defiant centralization.
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  Defiant centralization.
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  In Genesis chapter 11, verses 1 through 4, the Bible says, now the whole earth had one
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  language and the same words, and as people migrated from the east, they found a plain,
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  the land of Shinar, and settled there.
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  And they said to one another, come, let us make bricks and burn them thoroughly.
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  They had brick for stone and bitumen for mortar.
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  Then verse 4, then they said, come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its
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  top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves lest we be dispersed over the
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  face of the whole earth.
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  This chapter in particular looks back at the situation of man pre-dispersion or pre-scattering.
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  You see, Genesis chapter 10 allows us to see what happened when they did do what God
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  told them to do, be fruitful, feel, and multiply the earth.
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  But Genesis chapter 11 looks back retrospectively at what they tried to do, go against the will
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  of God.
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  You know, their actions were an affront to what God had commanded their fathers to do,
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  right?
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  Be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth.
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  Y'all, did God tell them to stay in Shinar?
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  No.
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  He did not tell them to stay in one place.
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  And so we can label their defiance with one word, pride.
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  Pride.
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  Now ladies, I know that Sister Rebecca Colley in just a few short moments is going to deliver
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  a great lesson on pride and how it's connected to Babel here, so I'm not going to step on
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  all her toes.
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  But I do want to mention just a few things.
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  Before Burger King's iconic slogan, have it your way, there was this fateful event at
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  Babel.
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  Pride says we don't have room for God because we are too busy doing things our way.
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  You know, pride says even though God told us one thing, be fruitful, multiply, and fill
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  the earth, we're going to change things up.
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  Let me ask y'all a question.
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  In their entire plan, when you read verses 1 through 4 of Genesis chapter 11, how many
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  times has God mentioned?
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  We don't see God mentioned at all.
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  Not even once.
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  They said, let us make bricks.
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  Let us build ourselves a city and a tower.
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  Let us make a name for ourselves and lest we be dispersed.
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  What letter do we see smack dab in the middle of the word pride?
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  I.
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  I.
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  I.
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  I.
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  Pride says, I don't care what God wants.
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  I'm going to make things happen the way I see fit.
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  You know, the people at Babel stood up collectively and through their actions and said, you know
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  what?
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  Yeah, we think that's a very good idea.
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  They did not intend to let God in on their plans because they wanted to ignore his simple,
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  I believe, directive.
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  Be fruitful, fill and multiply the earth.
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  That's pride.
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  You know, Psalm 127 verse 1.
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  Psalm says, unless the Lord builds the house, those who labor, those who build it labor
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  in vain.
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  Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman watches, stays awake rather in vain.
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  Now, perhaps we can say that their defiant centralization stem from fear.
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  Maybe their defiant centralization stem from fear rather than trust God's design.
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  They try to control the narrative and take control of their own destiny.
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  You know, in their attempt at self-glorification, right?
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  Making a name for themselves, trying to build a tower that reached the heavens, reached
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  God's domain.
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  They were trying to do things that went against the word of God.
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  Pride.
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  Brothers and sisters, where pride builds towers, fear digs the foundation.
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  Where pride builds towers, fear digs the foundation.
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  What do you mean?
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  It was Thomas Aquinas who said in his Summa Theologica, inordinate fear is the cause of
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  pride.
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  Inordinate fear is the cause of pride.
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  Pride and fear go hand in hand like oil and flame.
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  They ignite each other.
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  And what you ultimately get is rebellion like we see in the first four verses of Genesis
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  chapter 11.
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  However, despite their best efforts to build a tower and make a name for themselves, God
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  would intervene and force them to do what he desired in the very first place.
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  You know, if I know there's a good brother that's going to come up here shortly after
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  me and talk about the blessing that Abram received and the covenant made with him, if
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  God were going to bless the nations through Abraham, then it would have been extremely
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  difficult for his plan to come to fruition if the people had stayed in one place, if
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  they would have stayed in Shinar.
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  Therefore, what we have next is the ultimate reversal of their pride and God ultimately
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  saying, checkmate, checkmate.
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  We have divine disruption, divine disruption.
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  And verses five through nine of Genesis 11, we read, I'm going to summarize this for time's
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  sake, God talking, talking to the Godhead and saying, look, look, the people, they are
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  one people.
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  They, they all have one language and they're trying to, to build a name for themselves.
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  They're trying to build a tower to reach heaven and reach the heavens.
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  And who knows what will happen, what they will do next?
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  Who knows what will happen?
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  Become, become of them because of what they are doing.
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  So here's what we're going to do.
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  Come, let us go down and there confuse their language so that they may not understand one
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  another's speech.
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  And then we read that the Lord disperse from there, confuse their language.
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  And that's how we get the name Babel.
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  He got them right on track.
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  God, he had to come down and get them back on task.
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  You know, one day by way of illustration, my son's school called me and my wife to tell
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  us that Nico had been acting out of character.
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  And they said that he would not listen.
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  He was told several times to just calm down and, and then listen and focus.
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  But I have a really good kid, y'all.
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  I love him.
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  But sometimes our children, they, they just get, get a little crazy.
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  And so for lack of a better term.
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  And so you've got to get them back on track.
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  And so I said, teacher, don't worry about it.
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  I'll be there in just a few short moments.
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  And so I got there.
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  And when I did, I helped him get back on track, get back on task.
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  And I said, listen, things would be so much better for you if you just listened, if you
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  just listened.
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  Now, on a much broader, much broader scale, this is what God had to do for those rebellious
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  tower builders.
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  He had to scatter them to redirect them.
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  He had to come down from heaven, right, and do what he needed to do it so that they would
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  get back on task.
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  They resisted his mission.
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  But since God is all powerful, since he is all sovereign, he ensured that what he wanted
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  them to do would come to fruition.
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  Their pride, it wasted time and energy.
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  But thankfully, God's disruption put them back on course, got them back on task.
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  And y'all, what the people fail to realize is that obedience to God's mission is a blessing.
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  Obedience to what God wants us to do is a marvelous blessing, I might add.
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  You know, not following through on what he tells us to do results in wasted time, wasted
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  ambitions, and wasted effort.
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  You know, on a much smaller scale, right, how many of us have tried to put some shelf
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  or some dresser or something in your house together and you don't read the manual, right?
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  Because you're like, man, I can do this all by myself.
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  What manual?
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  What are you talking about?
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  And then you don't complete it the way it should be completed.
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  You know, you're sitting in a chair that's all leaning and lopsided and all.
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  Why?
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  Because you didn't follow the manual.
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  God has given us the best manual that we could ever have.
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  All we need to do is just listen.
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  And the people at that time, they didn't listen.
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  And thankfully, he was able to get them back on track.
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  Y'all, we may ask one another, you know, why didn't he just leave them alone and let them
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  go through with it, right?
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  And why did he really have to confuse their language so they didn't understand one another?
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  Consider this for just a moment.
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  God's judgment often becomes the doorway to his mission.
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  God's judgment often becomes a doorway to his mission.
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  You think about Jonah.
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  Jonah, I need you to go to Nineveh.
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  No, God, I'm not going to do that.
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  Well, you're going to be swallowed up in a fish for three days.
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  Okay, God, I repent.
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  I'm sorry.
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  Let me go do what you want me to do.
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  You think about the Israelites in captivity.
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  You think about Paul and his thorn in the flesh, right?
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  My grace is sufficient for you, Paul.
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  You need to do what I need you to do so you can win more souls.
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  Absolutely.
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  You know, it's a beautiful thing to participate in the mission of God.
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  And that's exactly what we see with the early society in Genesis chapter 10.
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  They got to do that.
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  They got to fill and multiply the earth.
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  But after divine disruption.
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  Now, perhaps we can't fully appreciate this very insight until we look thousands of years later
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  to the day of Pentecost, when all of the nations heard the gospel.
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  They were dispersed, but they didn't stay dispersed.
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  They came together.
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  So what do we have next?
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  Divine dissolution.
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  Divine dissolution.
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  Now, dissolution, it's more of a scientific term.
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  It means to break down or dissolve or undo.
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  And sometimes they use this in legal speak whenever you talk about divorces and things of that matter.
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  But when I'm thinking about my kids and I'm thinking about how my wife and I,
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  we sometimes make a decision that we are going to brave the storm and go into our kids' playroom
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  and clean up all those toys and put everything back neatly and clean up everything, right?
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  Spray down things.
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  Make sure everything is back neatly the way it's supposed to go, right?
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  And sometimes I think that is just an exercise and a futility.
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  Because you know what they're going to do?
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  They're going to come right in there.
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  No sooner after we cleaned it up.
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  And they're going to undo everything that we just did, right?
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  That is dissolution.
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  Now, from a spiritual lens, we see that what Babel built, the Spirit began to undo in Acts chapter 2.
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  Y'all, only God can bring together people from different parts of the world
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  to hear one gospel message in their native tongue.
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  Only God can break down the barriers that Babel put up.
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  And only God can gather all the nations through Christ,
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  which was His very plan from the very beginning.
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  Abraham, through your seed, all of the nations of the earth will be blessed.
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  How are they going to be blessed?
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  Because they believe in this man named Jesus Christ.
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  And oh yes, He has salvation.
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  Only God can do that.
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  Only God.
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  After Peter preaches a fine gospel message on the day of Pentecost,
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  men and women, men are there and have just been convicted
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  that they are the reason why Jesus was crucified.
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  They are the reason that Jesus hung on the cross.
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  They are the reason why Jesus was delivered up to the Roman authorities.
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  Peter convicted them.
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  All of these nations, Cappadocia, Cyrene, Arabia, Mesopotamia, Phrygia,
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  all of these nations brought together to hear the one gospel message in their native tongue.
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  Then he says in verses 40 and 41 of Acts chapter 2,
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  save yourselves from this crooked generation.
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  They heard this in their own native tongue, y'all, through the Spirit, through the Holy Spirit.
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  So those who received His word were baptized
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  and there were added that day about 3,000 souls.
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  Y'all have heard that so many times before.
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  From Babel to the cross to the day of Pentecost,
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  we can really see God's scheme of redemption to save humanity.
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  All nations under the banner of Jesus Christ.
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  Now with the time we have remaining,
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  I'd like for us to consider just a few takeaways from Genesis chapter 10 and 11.
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  What does it really mean for us?
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  And I kind of alluded to some of these already,
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  but hopefully you can take these away and really study some more on your own time.
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  I don't have time to get into all of it, but number one is this.
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  Appreciate the blessing of diversity.
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  Appreciate the blessing of diversity.
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  Y'all, we should celebrate God's design for the nations.
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  You know, you and I have way more in common than what the world gives us credit for.
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  We really do.
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  When my wife and I, it was a wonderful time.
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  Before the world shut down in 2020, we visited Athens, Greece,
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  and this would have been one of a trip that we went on for her birthday.
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  I said it was a special time,
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  and at that time we worshiped with the Glyphada Church of Christ.
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  Great people.
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  If you're ever in Athens, I really encourage you to look them up.
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  Well, during worship service, there were three nations represented.
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  You had Greek, Armenian, and American,
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  and they had an old country boy like me serving on the Lord's table, right?
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  They're talking Greek and Armenian.
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  I'm like, yes, uh-huh.
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  Here's the cup.
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  Here's the bread.
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  Absolutely.
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  Amen.
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  We all brethren.
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  We're all one.
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  But here's the point.
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  If they appreciated God's design for diversity,
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  then I think we should as well.
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  Y'all, we would be in a much better place spiritually and relationally
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  if we would just appreciate and celebrate what God has done, what God has set up.
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  And no, this is not an accident.
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  This is not an accident.
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  Once again, everything that God does is intentional.
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  And I really like how one brother said that you should read the Bible from garden to garden,
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  right, from the garden in Genesis to the garden in Revelation,
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  and see the wonderful works that God has done from garden to garden.
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  And in there is the blessing of diversity.
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  It's an account about how God brought together people that the world says are different.
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  The world says, no, you don't have anything in common.
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  The world says, no, you can't sit with them because they are much different from you.
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  No, you can't go to work with them.
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  No, you can't send your kids to school with them.
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  No, you can't do X, Y, and Z with them because they are so much different than you.
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  They speak differently than you.
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  They dress differently than you.
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  They act differently than you.
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  Y'all, is that what Jesus died for?
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  Absolutely not.
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  So once again, we can appreciate the blessing of diversity because God did it.
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  It came through the way he intended.
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  Number two, let's amend the tower of pride.
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  Amend the tower of pride.
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  You know, it's easy for us to point a finger at the people at Babel who failed at building
• 27:45
  a self-glorified tower.
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  But can I ask y'all a question?
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  Where are we building our towers?
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  Is it our careers?
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  You know, is it our reputation?
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  Is it our family image?
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  Or maybe it's ministry or church success.
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  I love this good brother so much because of the great work that he's done in the kingdom
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  and just for who he is.
• 28:10
  Brother Cliff Goodwin, he preached a sermon at PTP several years ago titled,
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  If the church ever gets out of the building.
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  If the church ever gets out of the building.
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  Y'all, what I took away from that is, I'm afraid that we can develop the mentality of
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  making the church building our tower.
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  We can make the church building our tower.
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  Instead of scattering out, right?
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  Going abroad and telling the nations, if you will, about the goodness of God and evangelizing.
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  We decide to make a name for ourselves and remain isolated because, hey, the church building
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  has all that we need, right?
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  Man, we've got good AC.
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  We've got good food.
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  The food truck vendors are coming.
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  Man, this is awesome.
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  This is amazing.
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  Y'all, just come to the church building.
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  Pride.
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  Pride.
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  If the church ever gets out of the building, how much good will we do?
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  And I know that this congregation, Cumberland Trace, and maybe where you are as well, no
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  matter where you're coming from, you're doing so much good.
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  And hopefully you can take this back to where you are.
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  But we cannot foster this mentality that we can build our own towers, no matter if it's
• 29:35
  in our careers, if it's in ministry, if it's in our reputation, if it's in our family success.
• 29:43
  Hey, we care more about what our family is doing than our family's spiritual health.
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  I appreciate our brother Stephen bringing that to light just a few lessons ago.
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  We must amend the tower of pride.
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  Humanity may build a tower to make a name, but God builds a people to bear his name and
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  fulfill his mission.
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  God builds a people to bear his name and fulfill his mission.
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  Number three, speaking of divine mission, let's advance it.
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  Let's advance it.
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  Advance the divine mission.
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  Y'all, we should appreciate the blessing of joining God and gathering the nations under
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  Christ.
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  Yeah, I passed a sign on the way here called to the Lost River Cave.
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  Raise your hand.
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  How many people have been there?
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  The Lost River Cave.
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  I'm sure it's excellent.
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  And maybe if I had more time, I would go there.
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  Hopefully, I can come back and I'll visit there and maybe take the kids if they're with
• 30:54
  me.
• 30:54
  But the Lost River Cave, did some research on it.
• 30:59
  And if you ever notice, if you've been there, the river flows outward.
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  It flows outward, not inward.
• 31:08
  That is a direct depiction of what God's people are expected to do for humanity.
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  We are expected to go outward, not stay inward, not be insulated, not be isolated, but go
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  outward.
• 31:24
  Y'all, from the very beginning, we look at Acts chapter two, we can go back to Genesis
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  chapter 11.
• 31:33
  We can see all of the nations represented there, a list of 70 nations.
• 31:38
  And a lot of them came together to hear the gospel message from Jerusalem to Judea to
• 31:45
  Samaria to the other parts of the earth, the divine mission.
• 31:51
  The divine mission was carried out.
• 31:55
  Y'all, it doesn't stop.
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  It doesn't stop.
• 31:59
  We still have a mission to carry the wonderful gospel to the nations.
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  And once again, we should appreciate the ability that we have and the opportunity that we have
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  to carry the word of God, the good news about our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ to the nations.
• 32:24
  You know, there are some who believe that if I'm not out in front, then that means my
• 32:37
  position, that means my talent, that means my time is not valuable because I'm not a
• 32:44
  preacher or I'm not an elder or I'm not a deacon.
• 32:47
  I was listening to a podcast one day and it really changed my, or helped solidify, I believe,
• 32:56
  my entire viewpoint on this, this being out front idea.
• 33:01
  The guests on the podcast said, you know what, I don't care about my name.
• 33:06
  We're wrapping up.
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  I don't care about my name.
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  I don't care if anybody knows my name.
• 33:13
  I want them to know the name Jesus Christ.
• 33:17
  If I get to be in nowhere America, serving cups of water to people,
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  and if all they know is about the goodness of Jesus Christ, then that's all that matters.
• 33:36
  Because, hey, they are seeing, they are seeing, they are seeing me work through Jesus Christ.
• 33:44
  Through Jesus Christ, they are getting to know the name of Jesus.
• 33:47
  But, hey, I'm just giving them a cup of water.
• 33:51
  So what am I trying to tell you?
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  Participate in the mission.
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  Use your talents.
• 33:55
  No matter what it is, you are valuable.
• 34:00
  So advance the mission with whatever you can do.
• 34:04
  You know, it's such a blessing because God has given us a wonderful opportunity to participate
• 34:12
  in his mission.
• 34:14
  Let's consider the reality of the table of nations and the Tower of Babel set before us.
• 34:19
  You know, we learn that God means what he says.
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  There's a blessing in diversity and that God's plan will ultimately prevail.
• 34:28
  May we embrace his design, reject his towers, and once again, join together in the mission
• 34:39
  to bring all nations, everyone in our community that we can,
• 34:44
  to Jesus Christ.
• 34:46
  The lesson is ours.
• 34:47
  Please be dismissed.
• 34:55
  Never mind, we're going to say a prayer.