MONDAY, August 25th, 2008

Hey Everyone! Today is the first day of the second week of School! Make sure that you guys give your all each day! You will be glad that you gave your best for the rest of your life. Whether you are at school, at work, at church, at home, or at the mall.: Give 100%, 100% of the time!

We had a great night last night! I am so glad that several of you came out to Jasons Deli after church with us! There were 28 people there! Wow! That was so fun!

A Thought From Yesterday:
Many of you did not write down your specific principles regarding vision. I trust that you did take the time to write them down on your own elsewhere. If you did not write them down, I want to encourage you to take a few minutes and do that. If you do not set the boundaries, then whenever times get tough, you will go farther than you intended because you werent thinking about har for you have gone... WRITE THEM DOWN SOMEWHERE!

Genesis 11

1 Now 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 may reach unto heaven; 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.

Wow! What a great story. We see the descendants of Noah are all together and they decide to build a tower so that they could reach heaven. Their desire in this is to be closer to God, not in holiness, but in height. They figure that they can work their way to Heaven: They would simply build a glorified staircase that took them to heaven.

There are several problems with that concept. First of all and most importantly WE CAN DO NOTHING TO WORK OUR WAY TO HEAVEN. IT IS IMPOSSIBLE!! We can only rely on the work of our savior Jesus Christ and His death on the cross!!

When we try to earn our way to heaven we will always fall short, just as the people in this story do.

The second lesson made clear through this passage is that we cannot rebel againt God and win! I have heard people say it like this: YOU CANNOT SIN AND WIN!!!

That truth is made clear in this passage.

God tells Noah and his family in Genesis 9:1 to multiple and replenish of "Fill the earth". This term gives the idea of spreading out and seperating themselves into different nations around the world. But we see that they create this city in Direct Disobedience to God... They build this tower expecting to build a giant metropolis for all of them to live together in.

Well, God has a solution for man's disobedience: Change their languages... Can you imagine this... one minute you are talking to your friend and everything is good, and then the next minute he cannot understand anything you are saying and you cannot understand anything He is saying. Everything sounds like people are just "Babbling" Hence the story of the tower of Babel.

These people were so confused that they could not finish the tower. So they found the people they could communicate with, and they went and "filled the earth" like they were supposed to do. Think about how great it would have been if they obeyed the first time... There would only be one language all around the world! If that were the case then I would have been able to understand what that Chinese guy was saying on TV last night during the Olympic closing ceremony!!!! Man!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, the key truth I understand in this passage, is YOU WILL NOT WIN AGAINST GOD!! Stay on track with him! Trust Him! Obey Him! Live for Him!



You can read the rest of the chapter if you would like to, but it is the geneology. Try to pull out your main application from verses 1-9. There is definitely enough good stuff in those verse to teach us something. The rest of the chapter is below.



10 This is the genealogy of Shem: Shem was one hundred years old, and begot Arphaxad two years after the flood.
11 After he begot Arphaxad, Shem lived five hundred years, and begot sons and daughters.
12 Arphaxad lived thirty-five years, and begot Salah.
13 After he begot Salah, Arphaxad lived four hundred and three years, and begot sons and daughters.
14 Salah lived thirty years, and begot Eber.
15 After he begot Eber, Salah lived four hundred and three years, and begot sons and daughters.
16 Eber lived thirty-four years, and begot Peleg.
17 After he begot Peleg, Eber lived four hundred and thirty years, and begot sons and daughters.
18 Peleg lived thirty years, and begot Reu.
19 After he begot Reu, Peleg lived two hundred and nine years, and begot sons and daughters.
20 Reu lived thirty-two years, and begot Serug.
21 After he begot Serug, Reu lived two hundred and seven years, and begot sons and daughters.
22 Serug lived thirty years, and begot Nahor.
23 After he begot Nahor, Serug lived two hundred years, and begot sons and daughters.
24 Nahor lived twenty-nine years, and begot Terah.
25 After he begot Terah, Nahor lived one hundred and nineteen years, and begot sons and daughters.
26 Now Terah lived seventy years, and begot Abram, Nahor, and Haran.
Terah’s Descendants
27 This is the genealogy of Terah: Terah begot Abram, Nahor, and Haran. Haran begot Lot.
28 And Haran died before his father Terah in his native land, in Ur of the Chaldeans.
29 Then Abram and Nahor took wives: the name of Abram’s wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor’s wife, Milcah, the daughter of Haran the father of Milcah and the father of Iscah.
30 But Sarai was barren; she had no child.
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.

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

Pastor Lee, I put a devotion on about 7:45 this morning, but I went to check it now to see what more you wrote, and I see ZERO comments!! What is going on wit dat?!?! I guess I will have to live with it and type it again.

Why would it be disobidiance if they build a tower that was 500 feet closer to God?

P.S. Pastor Lee, I witnessed to my next door neighbors and...well unfortunatly they didn't what anything to do with being born again or church because they have a "secret" religion. I said to them that it was their choice I don't want to force it on you. When I walked out of their house I felt happy and sad. I was happy that I have done my job and obeyed Jesus but I felt sad because they were not interested in it and still lost.

weird high school kid said...

WOW if they got it right the first time I wouldn't have to take dumb spanish. alright i hane to go i am using alex's computer so i will finish them later ttyl bye.

Rachel☺; said...

Whew once again, the second i got home from school i fell asleep.
Its sooo tiring to me idk why.

Theres are so many reasons to obey God, yet i sometimes still do not!
Neither did these people, and of course, God can always find a way to get what He has asked for.

That would be SOO crazy to have the language you speak and share with your friends and other people changed on you just like that!
And then to think if it were not for that one incident, we would all speak the same language; very cool.

When God gives you something great, His plans usually come with it; we should never forget where it came from and what its purpose is (from God.)

The Lord wants us to glorify Him with everything we recieve and sometimes i know i dont do that as i should, just as these people decided they did not want to glorify Him by spreading His creation around the earth.

I should remember where my blessings have come from and what Gods instuction for them are.

Anonymous said...

ok so this passage talks about people trying to cheat thier way into heaven.no matter hard high thier tower is there is no way to get to heaven besides accepting jesus as your lord and savior.Its like i know people and they go to church all the time but they deffinetly dont live the way god would want them to be living.they would curse and they never pray and just do alot of things they shouldnt be doing and dont live thier lives to glorify god.no matter how much they go to church the only person who can save them is jesus christ and going to church doesnt give them a free pass to heaven.you can cheat god he is the only one who is all knowing and all seeing and cannot be decieved ,but people think just because they go to church they will have eternal life .they have it all confused. so i need to work on keeping myself in check by staying faithful in prayer,in the bible,and in my devos so that i can set a good example for my god and try to positively effect people around me so they want to live for god too.

and also i just got back fom volleyball abd did what seems like 100 full court suicides and my legs feel like pure jello.after im done with my chores i think im gonna go mellow out because i get the privledge of going through it for a second time tomorrow.but we need to be kicked into shape because we have 3 games next week starting on the 9th =)))))!im very excited.i also lok forward to seeing you ALL on here tomorrow and hanging out with you ALL wednesday night and sharing what i will be an amazing time with you all!!!see you soon!

Anonymous said...

omg i deffinetly meant you cannot cheat god i reapeat YOU CANNOT CHEAT GOD!!!wow big mistake on my behalf!lol=)

Anonymous said...

sorry i haven't been on...i made up my devos...ive been wicked busy w/stuff w/the fam, not 1 moments rest...but anyways...im at my aunts & the comp is bein slow so yeah...

Yeah, i wish they woulda listened &spread out cuz takin a forigen language stinks=[

basically what i get is that u gotta listen 2 god! He has all kindsa power &makes things like this happen when u dont obey...

just listen & u dont gotta worry bout the consequences

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO puppy's startin 2 have contractions...u can feel her tummy tense up once in a whil & its like...syncronized i guess is the word! she started right b4 i left & i felt her babies move yesterday!!!

ima be a grandma sooooooooooon!!! Any1 want sum kittens???

Amy :) said...

I'm learning about this in skool so this is probably easy for me.

This is cool how God changed every language into the different sections and ALL the different words and stuff!! Ok some of these people were probably hit in head way too many times. They tried to be closer to God by building a building very very high, and not in holiness. WOW.

I wish i could have been there last night but i didnt have a ride AGAIN, so i had no way of getting there i bet you guys had lots of fun and i hope to go with you guys next time.

Bethany B. said...

ok well this passage hits home! God releived us by dying on the cross for all of our sins. He loves all the people in the world and wants what's best for everyone. People trying to cheat thier way into heaven is wrong and stupid. In the bible it says that the only way to go to heaven is by Jesus Christ believing he died on the cross for us and repenting of our sins. Following up on Christ after salvation is also a smart thing to do after becoming a born again christian.

We can always put or faith in him, at all cost and at all times.
Especially now. Pastor Lee please pray for me cause Im goin through a confusing time right now it's not that big a deal so don't worry!Just please remember to keep me in your prayers.

Anyway I'll stop preaching and I'll just say that Im glad I have God on my side!!!!!!!!!

weird high school kid said...

I like this story because it is so relivant to right now. Just as the decendants tried to work their way up to heaven most people that are lost today think that they can get to heaven with good works. We need to tell them that no one was good enough to eserve heaven but Christ and that the only way to heaven is through Him.

HADOKEN!!! said...

srry josh forgot to log out before he left my house.

I like this story because it is so relivant to right now. Just as the decendants tried to work their way up to heaven most people that are lost today think that they can get to heaven with good works. We need to tell them that no one was good enough to eserve heaven but Christ and that the only way to heaven is through Him.

Mallory B (basketball team) said...

Ok, so this passage just basically says to remember the only way you can get to heaven is through Him, and not by building buildings or towers because that is not what He wants you to do, He doesn't want us to try and cheat our way to heaven. God would rather us pray, do our devotions, and hear from Him instead! Also after these men try to make a tower to heaven, God changes their language so that no one else knows what in the world they are saying. I think that is cool and that shows the power of God and what He can do if you don't obey Him, read His word, pray, and do other things that He wants you to do!(right away)

Well hope yall have a good day off school tomorrow!!! WooHoo! C-yall WEDNESDAY! bye!

RYAN said...

i think we should learn from the olden days. i think that one global communication will be so convenient. no one would have to worry about understanding anymore. i wonder how God sscattered up the people. it must have been odd to wake up in a strange unfamiliar place around the world.

Kacey! said...

Wow, God is so powerful! I've always wondered why there wasn't just one language if we all came from Adam and Eve. It is true, what we do will effect future generations. If Noah and all those people obeyed God then things would be so much different today! We should keep that in mind the next time we are tempted to do something wrong.

(: No school tomorrow! I finally get to make up some hours of sleep!

Rachel☺; said...

hmm,
i think just the fact that they didnt all speak the language mde them stick with thos of the same language and branch out to different land to create places for that language..
????

how DID that work??

weird high school kid said...

You know I could just lie about it, but in truth it was either jessie or alex beals that used my account the second time. Oh well now for MY, Joshua LaPerriere's, devotions.

Today we see some foolish fool people try to make a tall tower to god. Even if that was physically possible we need to get closer to him in a spiritual way not physical. besides every second that goes by is a second closer to us dying, therefore a second closer to seeing god, that is if you're saved.

Lessons of the day

1 it is physically and structurally impossible to build a tower to god.

2 we need to get closer to him spiritually so do your devotions and pray to god every day.

Tylermon33 said...

this starts out by a bunch of people getting together and instead of listening to God and spreading out they stayed together and tryed to build a huge tower to heaven instead of trusting God to get to heaven. then when God saw them trying to build a huge tower to heaven He made them all speak different languages and no one could understand each other. so when the people were trying to talk to each other they couldn't understand what they were saying and they couldn't communicate to each other, so they seperated and finally listened to God and stopped building the tower and seperated. then they called the tower the tower of babble because no one could understand each other and it sounded like they were babbling. so we need to listen to and obey God the first time and we shouldn't try to do things our own way because we will always fail.

aicirt said...

Wow, They reason we have different languages is because people were trying to unify and try to get to Heaven by building a tower. If it wern't for this day, we wouldn't have all the amazing languages that we have today. Languages fascinate me and I want to learn them all. What happened at Babel changed the world into what it is today.

Anonymous said...

Ok so God i think was mad when they wanted to build a tower that reached the hevens well first of all they would die all the way up there but thats not the point the point is they go look at what God made now lets try to be higher then him WHAT DO YOU REALLY THINK YOU CAN DO THIS so God then punised them with different languages and we do that somethimes we try to be higher then God when we say stuff like ohh i dont need God i can do it on my own ummmmmmm no yopu CANT and then we get punised for doing it.

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