Genesis 11:1-9

Scattered!

October 11, 2015

First Baptist Church

Jackson, Mississippi

USA

What’s the number one thing?

The Glory of God!

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1 Corinthians 10:31 NKJV 31 Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of

God.

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October Memory Verse:

Colossians 3:14 NIV

And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect

unity.

Please Pray For

The Pastor Search Committee

Ross Aven Rodney DePriest

Laurel Ditto Susan Lindsay

Chris Maddux Joe Young

Paul Moak, Jr. (Chairman)

French Camp Academy

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Date Time Opponent/Location/Score

10/16 7:00pm Noxapater

10/23 7:30pm @ Durant

10/30 7:00pm Ethel (Ethel, MS)

Lee Thigpen, the FBJ Community Director, challenged every adult Sunday

School class to be engaged in one service project in Metro Jackson before we

celebrate Global Missions Week November 6-8, 2015.

Lee has complied Service Project Opportunities that we as a Sunday School

class can connect with.

We may contact Lee Thigpen at 601-949-1932 or lthigpen@fbcj.org to discuss

areas of service.

Share your faith with one person each month and build a relationship with them,

so they will become a believer in 2015 as God uses you to plant seeds with that

person.

Luke 19:11-27

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How have you seen God at work during the week?

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Chuck Missler

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Sunday

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Genesis 12:1-9

When God Calls

October 18, 2015

First Baptist Church

Jackson, Mississippi

USA

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Genesis 11:31-32 NKJV 31 And Terah took his son Abram and his grandson Lot, the son of Haran, and his

daughter-in-law Sarai, his son Abram’s wife, and they went out with them from Ur

of the Chaldeans to go to the land of Canaan; and they came to Haran and

dwelt there. 32 So the days of Terah were two hundred and five years, and Terah

died in Haran.

Genesis 11:31-32 NKJV

Acts 7:2-4 NKJV 2 And he said, “Brethren and fathers, listen: The God of glory appeared to our

father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Haran, 3 and

said to him, ‘Get out of your country and from your relatives, and come to a land

that I will show you.’ 4 Then he came out of the land of the Chaldeans and dwelt

in Haran. And from there, when his father (Terah means delay) was dead, He

moved him to this land in which you now dwell.

Acts 7:2-4 NKJV

Galatians 3:8 NKJV 8 And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith,

preached the Gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, “In you all the nations

shall be blessed.”

Genesis 15:5-6 NKJV 5 Then He (God) brought him (Abram) outside and said, “Look now toward

Heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.” And He said to

him, “So shall your descendants be.”

6 And he believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to him for righteousness.

Genesis 15:5-6 NKJV

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Today’s Passage

Genesis 11:1-9

The Tower of Babel

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Genesis 10:32 NKJV 32 This is the family tree of the sons of Noah as they developed into nations. From

them nations developed all across the Earth after the flood.

Genesis 11:1-9 NKJV 1Now the whole earth had one language and one speech. 2 And it came to pass,

as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar,

and they dwelt there. 3 Then they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks

and bake them thoroughly.” They had brick for stone, and they had asphalt for

mortar. 4 And they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose

top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered

abroad over the face of the whole earth.”

5 But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men

had built. 6 And the Lord said, “Indeed the people are one and they all have one

language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they propose to

do will be withheld from them. 7 Come, let Us go down and there confuse their

language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.” 8 So the Lord

scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they

ceased building the city. 9 Therefore its name is called Babel, because there the

Lord confused the language of all the earth; and from there the Lord scattered

them abroad over the face of all the earth.

Genesis 11:1-9 NKJV

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Genesis 9:1 NKJV 1 So God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them: “Be fruitful and multiply,

and fill (replenish) the earth.”

Genesis 9:7 NKJV 7 And as for you, be fruitful and multiply;

Bring forth abundantly in the earth

And multiply in it.”

Genesis chapters 1-11 are a preface to the entire Old Testament.

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Genesis 11:1 NKJV 1Now the whole earth had one language and one speech.

See Zephaniah 3:9…

Zephaniah 3:9 NKJV 9 “For then I will restore to the peoples a pure language,

That they all may call on the name of the Lord,

To serve Him with one accord.

Genesis 11:2 NKJV 2 And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in

the land of Shinar, and they dwelt there.

The name Shinar occurs eight times in the Bible, in which it refers to Babylonia

(Babylon).

• After the Flood, the sons of Shem, Ham, and Japheth, had stayed first in

the highlands around Mount Ararat, and then migrated east to Shinar.

Mount Ararat (Turkey)

16,854 ft.

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Genesis 11:3 NKJV 3 Then they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and bake them

thoroughly.” They had brick for stone, and they had asphalt (bitumen, pitch) for

mortar.

Where there is asphalt there is oil and that becomes very significant later in the

history of the world.

Genesis 11:4 NKJV 4 And they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in

the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad

over the face of the whole earth.”

A tower with a top which is in the heavens.

This is a spiritual rebellion against God.

The Tower of Babel

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It’s Supernatural

Sid Roth’s interview with Jonathan Cahn

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The Mystery of the Towers

• The Bible word for tower is "migdal".

• It comes from the Hebrew word "gadal,” which means greatness.

• So there's a link between towers being built and greatness, a nation's

greatness or it's pride, it's glory!

The rising of the highest towers in the world actually mark the rising of nations

and powers.

During the Middle Ages the highest towers were in Europe, the center of power

was Europe.

But a change took place in about 1870 and the greatest tower rises up in a new

land – the USA.

The next year, America becomes the strongest economic power on Earth.

The mantel went from Great Britain to America and the rise of the tower actually

marked it.

From then on, America built the highest towers on Earth as its power kept

growing and growing.

There is also a link with the Shemitah.

• In 1945 (a Shemitah year), at the end of the Second World War and at the

height of American power, there's a plan to build a new tower that's going

to represent America's greatness.

It was the plan to build the World Trade Center.

They started building it in 1966 (a Shemitah year) and construction was

completed in another Shemitah year – 1973.

Then finally, on September 11, 2001, the World Trade Center was destroyed in the

year of the Shemitah.

The building of a tower is about rising; the Shemitah is about falling – Shemitah

actually means "let it fall".

The tower is about the glory of man, the Shemitah is about humbling the pride of

man or the pride of a nation.

The Shemitah wipes out accounts that are built up and it also wipes out realities

that are built up.

The collapse of the tower also caused the collapse of Wall Street in 2001.

• The prophetic thing with this link is that if the rise of a tower speaks of the

rise of a nation, the fall of a tower speak of a warning of the future of

America.

How many warnings do we get before judgment comes?

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Isaiah 9:10 NKJV 10 “The bricks have fallen down,

But we will rebuild with hewn stones;

The sycamores are cut down,

But we will replace them with cedars.”

There is a tower going up right now at Ground Zero, which is a harbinger and it is

linked to our defiance.

• The tower that's rising now was conceived in the year of the Shemitah - a

defiance that was made on Capitol Hill.

One World Trade Center

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Location of today’s tallest buildings:

United Arab Emirates

Japan

Saudi Arabia

India

Malaysia

Kazakhstan

The Shemitah gives the key about when nations rise and fall, and that has to do

with present day America.

Shemitah actually can be taken as a shaking or falling, or collapsing.

In 1917, the year of the Shemitah, you have a collapse on Wall Street but you

also have a shaking of the nations called the First World War.

• The Shemitah is about collapsing & in that war you have the collapse of

powers, the collapse of four empires.

The German empire, the Hungarian, the Russian, the Ottoman all collapse in the

year linked to the Shemitah.

It is also linked to the rise of nations - 1917 is the year that began America's rise

power on the world stage.

If you take four Shemitahs later, which is 28 years ("4" in the Bible is the number

of kingdoms), it takes you to 1945, the year of another global cataclysm.

• The shaking of the world again - World War II.

Hitler's attacks began in 1938 - that was the year of the Shemitah - and then

seven years later the war is over.

• Unleashed on the world in 1945 is the greatest power of wiping out ever,

the atomic, nuclear warfare came at the end of World War II.

This launches America as the super power of the world but if you go four

Shemitahs later, 28 years, it gets you to 1973, the year America decided to

legalize the killing of unborn children, the same sin ancient Israel was judged for

centuries ago.

That same year is the year America lost its first war - Vietnam collapsed on the

same day, August 15, that America won the war before in the previous

Shemitah. (August 15, 1945) World War II: Japan surrenders to end the war.

A great shaking is coming to America - a great warning - and it is God's mercy

because without a great shaking, there can be no revival.

• God's heart is revival and we have to be ready - anything that can be

shaken will be shaken.

“let us make a name for ourselves”

They didn’t want to be scattered like God commanded them to do.

They did not just want to get together, they wanted to sin.

They did multiply but they did not fill the earth (scatter) as the second half of

God’s commandment had told them to do.

• They clearly did not want to obey God's command to fill the earth - they

wanted to remain together.

People cannot thwart God's plan - He will do what He sets out to do.

God confused their language so they could not understand each other, and He

scattered them over the face of the whole earth.

God's will was still accomplished, but it would have been much easier on the

people if they had listened to God and obeyed Him.

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Delayed obedience or partial obedience is disobedience.

• It is not up to us to pick and choose the part of God's instructions we want

to follow.

• God sees the big picture and works everything together for good.

He is worthy of our full obedience.

At first glance, it may not seem like a sin to build a tower, but God always sees

the hearts of men.

1 Chronicles 28:9 tells us, "The Lord searches every heart and understands every

motive behind the thoughts."

• Look at the motive behind their plan.

• Count the times they refer to themselves in Genesis 11:4: they said,

"Come, let us build for ourselves a city, and a tower whose top will reach

into heaven, and let us make for ourselves a name, otherwise we will be

scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth."

Not one time do they mention God.

• They do not consider His will or His glory, nor do they even ask for His help.

• They had their own plan and it seemed good to them, and they set out to

do it.

What does God say about this attitude?

Proverbs 3:7 7 Don’t be wise in your own eyes.

Have respect for the Lord and avoid evil.

The Bible tells us that the leader of Babylon was Noah's great-grandson, Nimrod

(Genesis 10:8-10).

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He was a mighty warrior in defiance of the LORD and his name means "rebellion,

let us revolt, we will rebel.”

Rebellion was a major factor in the building of this city and tower.

The people wanted to make a name for themselves - to glorify themselves.

• It had been only three generations since God revealed His incredible

power by engulfing the earth with water, and these very people were

spared through the line of Noah.

Yet the people decided they deserved a name for themselves instead of giving

glory to God.

God again showed mercy by merely scattering the people instead of punishing

them severely.

Psalm 33:10 10 The Lord blocks the sinful plans of the nations.

He keeps them from doing what they want to do.

What talents or gifts has God given you?

Remember that He is the giver of all good gifts (James 1:17).

We should give Him the credit for everything we accomplish, not take credit

ourselves.

Genesis 11:5-6 NKJV 5 But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men

had built. 6 And the Lord said, “Indeed the people are one and they all have one

language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they propose to

do will be withheld from them.

This section is taken from:

© 2007 BibleLessons4Kids.com

All rights reserved worldwide.

At first glance, it might seem as though God was threatened by what the people

were planning to do, so He decided to stop them before they got too powerful.

• Nothing could be further from the truth!

God is not threatened by man - ever.

God is infinitely greater than man in every way.

God's very hands stretched out the heavens (Isaiah 45:12), and with one breath

of God, human life began (Genesis 1:7).

Isaiah 55:9 NIV 9 “As the heavens are higher than the earth,

so are My ways higher than your ways

and My thoughts than your thoughts.

God was actually saving the people from themselves by confusing their

language and scattering them.

The phrase, "They have begun to do this," in Genesis 11:6 means to defile

oneself, to pollute, to desecrate.

It comes from the root word that means to begin to make oneself sick or weak.

• Their plan to make a name for themselves was self-destructive.

• We can never have peace and joy when we are the center of life.

“Bring back everyone who belongs to Me. I created them to bring glory to Me. I

formed them and made them.”

Isaiah 43:7

God created each of us for His glory, not our own.

That means we were made to know Him, to worship Him, and to praise Him.

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God created each of the men who built the tower of Babel, and He knew they

would not find the peace and joy they were looking for by building a city

dedicated to themselves.

God, in His wisdom, knew they would only be satisfied when they were seeking

to praise and worship Him.

It was an act of mercy to scatter them.

There is no joy apart from God.

Have you been focused on yourself, trying to make yourself happy?

While you may find things to make you happy for a short time, you will not have

lasting inner joy.

But, ironically, if you are willing to turn away from selfish ambitions and focus on

God, you will truly find joy.

This is a deep abiding joy that will be with you during even the most difficult

times.

The people of Babylon were disobedient and had wrong motives.

So what does obedience and right motives look like?

God commands His children to obey Him (Leviticus 18:4), and He promises to

pour blessings on those who obey His commands (Deuteronomy 28:1-14).

Why is obedience so important to God?

Obedience protects us.

God knows our future and He wants what is best for us (Jeremiah 29:11).

Also, our obedience draws others to God (2 Corinthians 9:13).

Perhaps more than any other reason, God demands obedience because it is an

outward show of our faith - faith that God is good, faith that God is all-knowing

and all-powerful, and faith that God can be trusted.

Romans 1:5 tells us that, "Obedience comes from faith."

Hebrews 11:6 says, "Without faith it is impossible to please God." (NIV)

Faith means "to trust or believe."

Adam and Eve did not trust that God wanted what was best for them, so they did

not obey Him.

Instead they trusted the serpent, and sin and death entered the world (Romans

5:19).

Noah trusted that God could and would do what He said, so Noah obeyed God

and his obedience saved his own life, the lives of His family, and the entire

human race.

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If a stranger came up to you and told you to drop everything and come with

him, you would not do it.

You do not know him, and you do not trust him - and rightly so!

But if your parents ran up to you with a worried look and told you to drop

everything and come immediately, you would do it.

You know your parents love you.

You have faith in their judgement, and you trust that they want what is best for

you.

You would do what they asked because you trust them and God requires the

same from us.

“Then they would put their trust in God. They would not forget what He had

done. They would obey His commands.”

Psalm 78:7

If you have trouble obeying God, more than likely you do not fully trust Him.

You cannot trust someone whom you do not know so spend time in His Word

and in prayer, so that your trust will be firmly planted in Him.

God commanded them to multiply and to fill the Earth.

If someone offered to give you one million dollars, or offered to give you one

penny, but would double your money every day for a month, which would you

take?

You should take the penny.

In 31 days time, you would have well over ten million dollars ($10,737,418.20)!

That is the principle of multiplying.

Why does God tell Noah and his sons to be fruitful and multiply?

Why does God repeat this command so many times in Scripture?

God wants His people to produce Godly offspring but there is another principle

at work as well.

We who are Christians should be fruitful - multiplying the numbers of believers (1

Timothy 2:3-4)!

What happens if we don't?

God is not content to see all His believers huddled together enjoying each

other's company while there are people who sit in darkness without His truth.

We see in Acts that God allowed the scattering of the believers for just such a

reason.

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The last words Jesus spoke on earth before returning to Heaven were recorded

in Acts 1:8, "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and

you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the

ends of the earth."

Jesus commanded His followers to be witnesses - tellers of the truth - throughout

the world.

• Notice what happened in Acts chapter 8: On that day, a great

persecution broke out against the church at Jerusalem, and all except the

apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. Those who had

been scattered preached the word wherever they went. - Acts 8:1, 4

God allowed a great persecution of the believers.

• He could have stopped those who were hunting down and harming the

early Christians, but He allowed it because it caused the believers to be

scattered.

This was how the early church spread throughout the world, thus fulfilling God's

plan.

• Consider your own walk.

• If you are a follower of Christ, are you remaining huddled with other

believers at all times?

Are you purposely seeking opportunities to reach people who do not know the

truth of God's forgiveness and salvation?

If you shared the truth of the Bible with just one friend in one month, then the next

month you and that person each told one person, and so on, how many months

would it take for millions to hear the truth?

(Hint: 1 x 2, x 2, x 2,...)

It is the same multiplication principle as the penny (10,737,418.20 souls).

One out of 4 people you share the Gospel with may become a disciple – those

are Biblical odds (the parable of the soils).

The Plan of Hope & Salvation

John 3:16 NKJV 16 “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever

believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

John 14:6 NKJV 6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the

Father except through Me.”

Romans 3:23 NKJV 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

Romans 6:23a NKJV 23a For the wages of sin is death,

Death in this life (the first death) is 100%.

Even Jesus, the only one who doesn’t deserve death, died in this life to

pay the penalty for our sins.

The death referred to in Romans 6:23a is the second death explained in

Revelation 21:8.

Revelation 21:8 NKJV 8 “But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral,

sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with

fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”

Romans 5:8 NKJV 8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners,

Christ died for us.

Romans 6:23b NKJV 23b but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Revelation 21:7 NKJV 7 “He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be

My son.”

Romans 10:9-10 explains to us how to be saved.

Romans 10:9-10 NKJV 9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that

God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one

believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto

salvation.

Romans 10:13 NKJV 13 For “whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved.”

If you have questions or would like to know more, please, contact First Baptist

Church Jackson at 601-949-1900 or http://firstbaptistjackson.org/contact/