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Series Code: BOLS
Program Code: BOLS000054S
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00:05 Sermon #S029 - Stop Babel-ing - (Part 1)
00:19 Pastor Snell: So let's stand to our feet as we go to the word today, as we go to the word. 00:24 Go with me in your bibles to the book of Genesis chapter 11. 00:27 And again, this is the final message in our series entitled Family-ish. 00:34 And we're going to spend a little time talking to you no matter what station or family you are in, 00:40 if this series has helped you, let me hear you say amen today. 00:43 [Congregation: Amen] 00:45 Pastor Snell: Amen. Genesis chapter 11 and we're going to begin together verse number one. 00:48 And it's going to feel like a strange place or a strange story to talk about family. 00:53 But if you kind of stay with us, hopefully it'll all come together. 00:56 Genesis chapter 11, and we'll begin together at verse number one. When you get there, just say, pastor, 01:07 I'm here. [throat clearing] The Bible says, now the whole earth had one what? 01:13 One language and one what? And one speech. 01:19 And it came to pass as they journeyed from the East that they found a plane in the land of Shinar and they dwelt there. 01:26 Then they said to one another, come and let us make bricks and bake them thoroughly. 01:31 And they had brick for stone and they had asphalt for mortar. And they said, come and let us build ourselves a city 01:39 and they tower whose top is in the heavens and let us make a name for ourselves. 01:45 Let's we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth. But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, 01:54 which the sons of men had built. 01:57 And the Lord said, indeed the people are one and they all have one language. And this is what they have begin to do. 02:07 Now, nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them. Come and let us go down and confuse their what? 02:19 Their language that they might not understand one another's speech. 02:24 So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of the earth and they cease building the city. 02:32 Therefore its name is called Babel because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth. 02:41 And there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of the earth. 02:46 Today's saints for a little while I want to talk to you under the subject, 02:50 stop babbling, [laughter] turn to your neighbor say, stop babbling, turn to your neighbor say, stop babbling. 02:59 Amen and amen. Let's look to the Lord together today. Father, once again, in this finite space of time, 03:11 would you communicate eternal truth? Father, I'm praying that you would do a work of revival, 03:20 not just reviving church attendance or a revival, that is the change of exterior habits. 03:27 But Lord, I'm praying that you would revive communication and oneness and unity within the families of the household of faith. 03:37 So Lord, my prayer today is that every trap the enemy has placed to sabotage unity, 03:46 may it be exposed that Christ might be glorified in our homes. 03:51 So Lord, would you hide in the shadows of the cross that Jesus alone might be seen, 03:56 that Christ alone would be heard? And at the end of our time together, may Jesus alone be praised. 04:02 We ask this in the name of Him who is all together lovely. It is in the name of Jesus that we pray. 04:08 Let God's people say together. Amen And amen. 04:12 You may be seated in the house of the Lord again talking to you under the subject stop babbling. 04:22 Friends with some regularity. 04:28 I use this dictation feature on my phone in order to send text messages so that instead of typing them, 04:38 I verbalize the messages I want to send. And even though it's very convenient to do that, especially while driving, 04:49 there is a very unique danger in sending text messages by voice so that because I have a certain Southern accent, 05:00 Siri misinterprets some of the words I say in a way that'll make you question my character. 05:10 So that sometimes when I pronounce words like shot or sheets, 05:18 Siri will misinterpret the word and translate something I did not say. 05:27 So that sometimes I'll say a word like fork and she will send it as another F word. 05:37 Are you hearing me? And it's funny because one day I text my wife and I said, I'm going to the store to get some forks. 05:46 And she replied, what kind of store are you going to in order to get that? 05:51 [Congregation: Laughing] 05:54 Pastor Snell: And there are times where because of bad translations, people are responding to the pastor with shock 06:02 and with awe and disgust and I believe friends that the devil uses Siri to try to compromise my witness. 06:09 And my mini... Are y'all hearing me today? And friends, what it speaks to is the danger of poor translation. 06:19 You see, misunderstandings are caused by poor translation. 06:24 Conflicts arise because of poor translation. Relationships are destroyed because of poor translation. 06:33 And marriages end when people have poor translation. And what I'm learning, 06:39 friends is that the burden of being understood is rest on the communicator, not the hearer. 06:46 In other words, what does not matter is my intent. The only thing that matters is what I actually say. 06:54 So that whether I am preaching a sermon, whether I am talking to my wife, whether I'm talking to my kids, 07:01 it doesn't matter what I intend, the only thing that matters is what they're able to understand 07:08 and see this is important because in our story today we see what happens when the language gets confused. 07:16 In Genesis chapter 11, we find humanity being repopulated after the flood and understand that as they move toward the East, 07:26 that they are so traumatized by the flood that they concoct a plan to build a city and a tower that reaches into the heaven. 07:37 And the purpose of the tower was so that if God decided to send another flood, 07:43 they could climb up into their tower and be safe. 07:47 And the Bible says, friends that at this time the whole world had one speech and one language. 07:54 And note that post diluvion intelligence an ingenuity was so sharp that they made great progress in this objective. 08:04 In fact, the Bible says that God began to marvel at their progress. And he notes that the people have one language, 08:13 they all have one speech, they all work all together and nothing they plan to do can be withheld from them. 08:22 And see, God's objective is to scatter them and confuse them by confounding their speech. 08:30 The only way he could stop the evil from succeeding was from stopping them from speaking the same language. 08:37 And this is the point today, church, that what God did to sabotage evil, 08:44 the enemy does to sabotage the marriages of the church. 08:48 His constant goal is to disrupt unity by sabotaging your ability to understand one another's communication. 08:58 In fact, in the body there are husbands that are frustrated 09:02 because their wives don't seem to understand where they are coming from. 09:08 There are wives who have building resentment because their men can't quite digest what they're trying to get across. 09:16 And the issue friends is that marriages in our time function like a modern day tower of Babel 09:24 because our houses are places of constant misunderstanding. 09:30 And see, friends of mine understand that there is much misdiagnosis in the house. 09:36 You see some think that their issues are financial issues, but the issue is not finance. 09:42 The issue is that we don't know how to communicate about money. 09:46 Some think the issue is sex when the larger issue is that we don't know how to communicate our needs. 09:53 Some think the issue is just that we've got trials. The issue is not trial. 09:58 The issue is that your trials cause you to turn on one another. 10:03 And I want to spend some time today talking about the issue of unity 10:08 and communication so that we can get to a place where we stop babbling. 10:13 Are y'all with the pastor today? So go back with me if you don't mind to Genesis chapter 11. 10:18 And I want you to look with me at verse number six, Genesis chapter 11 and verse number six, stay with me. 10:24 We are going somewhere today. 10:26 The Bible says, and the Lord said indeed the people are one and they all have one language. And this they begin to do. 10:37 Now nothing they propose will be withheld from them. Understand friends, 10:43 the first thing that our text teaches us today is that there is nothing that a united people cannot build. 10:53 Let me talk to y'all on this side. Let me talk to the marriages on this side that there is nothing that a united family cannot 11:02 build. 11:04 In other words, when a couple is on the same page, when they have oneness of mission and oneness of purpose 11:11 and they are one in spirit, that there is nothing that they cannot accomplish. In fact, let me just say this, 11:19 that a power couple is not just the one that shares a large bank account. 11:25 A power couple is the one that shares the same vision and and see in our homes family the greatest deficit. 11:34 It is not a deficit of money, it is not a deficit of food, it is not a deficit of church. 11:41 It is a deficit of oneness and unity. See, the problem in our time is that we are not functioning like teammates. 11:50 We are functioning like free agents that live together. In other words, we have different visions, we have different goals, 12:00 we have divergent values. And we are wondering why things so consistently go left. 12:07 And let me be clear today, friends, that your greatest relational asset is not your chemistry, it's your unity. 12:16 See, let me say this, friends, I need you to get that the devil doesn't fear your income. 12:22 The devil is not afraid of your profession. The devil is not intimidated by where you live. 12:29 But the devil is going to work with hellish fury to sabotage your oneness 12:35 and make sure that man and wife are not on the same page. 12:39 Are y'all with me today? And see friends of mine, when you don't know your greatest asset, 12:45 you protect the wrong thing. And see my contention today, friends, 12:50 is that we are putting the greatest amount of security around the things that have the least amount of value. 12:58 Isn't it amazing that in order to keep our money safe, we put it inside of a bank. 13:04 In order to keep our jewelry safe, We put it inside of a vault, in order to protect our internet, 13:11 we have a firewall, in order to protect our car we have an alarm, in order to protect our property we have a ring light 13:19 and we have all these things to protect earthly values, but we have nothing to protect our unity and our oneness. 13:27 In other words, your guarding your car but your unity is naked and exposed and see, understand friends, 13:36 the reason that they have unity early on is because they safeguard their unity. 13:42 And what I want to say to the families of God is that we've got to put some safeguards around our unity. 13:49 Are y'all with me today friends? In other words, your greatest asset is not your chemistry, it is actually your unity. 13:56 And so my wife and I have some safeguards that make sure we stay on the same page. 14:02 See that's why Sister Snell doesn't put me on blast in front of company because she wants to safeguard our unity. 14:10 The reason I don't complain about her to other folk is I want to safeguard our unity. 14:16 The reason we don't publish our drama on Facebook is because we are trying to safeguard our unity. 14:23 The reason we don't run to our parents with every issue is we're trying to safeguard our unity. 14:30 And what I'm saying to somebody is you've got to lock the door, you've got to close the window, 14:35 you've got to send some folk home so that you can maintain the unity. 14:40 [Congregation: Amen] 14:42 Pastor Snell: That God has purposed you to have. Are y'all hearing me today friends? 14:45 And see, let me be clear that one of the reasons that they have early success in Babel is 14:51 because they're all building according to the same vision. And see 14:58 understand beloved, that it is the vision of what is going to be that aligns everybody's gifts. 15:05 It is this blueprint that puts everybody in their right role. It is this blueprint that gets everyone on the same page. 15:13 It is this blueprint that gives them the needed buy-in. 15:18 And the reason they're able to build with success is because friends of mine, 15:23 they are building according to the same vision or blueprint. And see this is my point today, 15:29 friends, the reason we can't build stuff is not because we don't have tools. 15:36 The reason some can't build is because they have no blueprint. 15:40 In other words, some have no plan, there is no vision that guides everybody in the same direction. 15:49 In other words, there are some of us that are waking up every day and just deciding how we are going to go. 15:56 We are moving from one problem to problem and one crisis to crisis. And our marriage is reactive instead of proactive 16:06 because there is no vision that is guiding us to a predetermined in. Are y'all hearing me today friends? 16:13 And see, and that's why the writer of the book of Proverbs says that where there is no vision, the people perish. 16:22 In other words, in the Hebrew it doesn't read that they perish or die. The Bible says where there is no vision, 16:28 the people cast off restraint. In other words, where there is no vision, everybody just does whatever they want to do, 16:37 there is no unity that draws everybody into oneness where there is no vision. It is like a body that operates with palsy. 16:45 There is activity but it's not coordinated for a single purpose. And see, the reason we sometimes struggle is 16:54 because there is no financial vision for what we are building. 16:58 There is no spiritual vision about what we're going to become. There is no child vision about who you are building them to 17:06 become. And we are just going out with tools and just hammering nails because there is no vision that guides our structure 17:16 and see friends of mine. I need you to know that every marriage, are y'all hearing the pastor today? 17:21 That every marriage has to have a vision? It's got to have a destination. Because when you know your destination, 17:29 it tells you what direction you ought to go in. In other words, if I leave out of here and I want to go to Madison, Alabama, 17:38 I cannot head to Memorial Parkway. My destination tells me where I turn. 17:44 It tells me what I should avoid. It tells me where I should stop. It tells me what path I ought to omit 17:51 because the way way I know how to go is because I know where I'm going and see friends of mine, 17:59 I need us to know that because there is no financial vision for the home, 18:03 there are no directions for what we are to be doing today because there is no vision for retirement at 55. 18:11 There is no vision to get the kids through school debt free. We don't know when to sacrifice. 18:15 We don't know when to save. We don't know what to set aside because if there is no destination, 18:21 we operate without directions. And see friends of mine. 18:27 There's a reason that every marriage needs a vision because what me vision does is vision keeps you resilient. 18:35 Vision allows you to be able to see through faith the things that have yet to come to pass. 18:42 You see, people without a vision will make lasting decisions based upon a present situation. 18:51 And the reason they'll make every decision based upon the present is 18:55 because they can't see beyond what is into what shall become. 19:01 And that's why every head of household ought to have a prophetic acumen to them. 19:08 So that when is hard in your home, 19:11 you can look to your wife or to your children and let them know it won't always be this hard. 19:17 Am I preaching to anybody today? In other words, friends of mine? There's got to be a vision about where you are going. 19:23 There's got to be a vision about how it's going to get better. There's got to be a vision about how it's going to be improved. 19:31 Because if there is no vision, you'll make all of your future plans based on a current assessment. 19:37 In other words, let me say it this way, see how many of us understand that even though it's cold in November, 19:45 it's not going to be cold in July. In other words, when you operate without a vision, 19:52 when you assume that things can never change, it's like throwing away all your summer clothes 19:58 because it's cold outside today. In other words, it's like throwing away all your shorts and your flip flops 20:04 and your tank top because it's cold today. Why? 20:07 Because we're forecasting the weather six months from now based upon the outlook today. 20:12 But how many of us know that just like fall turns into winter and winter turns into spring, 20:18 that the same way seasons change in nature? How many of us know that seasons can change in your marriage 20:25 and it may be a dark season today, it may be a hard season today. Obstacles may be against you in this season, 20:33 but can somebody rejoice that one day spring is going to come and bring new life and refreshment? 20:42 Are y'all hearing me today? 20:44 The second reason they have success in early Babylon is that everybody's able to enthusiastically play their role. 20:58 In other words, friends of mine, when you went to the workshop at Babylon, you've got the wood workers doing their jobs, 21:07 you've got the artisans grafting with great skill. You've got those digging ditches doing so with great effort. 21:15 You've got those planting the gardens doing their jobs. You've got the ladies who are baking the bricks 21:21 and you've got the men who are doing the heavy lifting. 21:25 And when you go to Babylon, you don't have the wood workers trying to tell the piper what to do. 21:30 You don't have the piper trying to tell the electricians what to do. 21:33 You don't have the electricians trying to tell the artisans what to do. 21:37 The reason they've got success is because everybody has respect for everybody's role that's building. 21:46 Are you hearing me today friends? 21:48 And see, one of the things I need us to understand is that as we try to grow into the roles that create a great team, 21:56 I need you to understand this about teamwork. On a bad team, you have hierarchy on a championship team, you have roles, 22:09 okay, let me say this again. Let me slow it down. On a bad team, you've got hierarchy, you've got tears, 22:16 you've got a boss and you've got subjects. But on a successful team, you've got people that play different roles, 22:24 but each contribution is equally celebrated. 22:29 And see friends of mine, as we establish roles in our homes, 22:34 how many of us know that the roles ought to be based upon gifts and not just gender? Oh. 22:41 I knew y'all going to get quiet. 22:43 [Congregation: Clapping] 22:45 Pastor Snell: So since y'all quiet, I'm going to take a long time to preach this sermon today. 22:47 I'm going to sit here till all the sweat falls off my brow. Are y'all here in the pastor today? 22:52 In fact, friends, do y'all notice something in the Bible that scripture promotes roles not hierarchy? 23:08 In other words, I need you to actually even go back to the physical way in which God created Adam and Eve. 23:14 So that when God laid Adam down to the rest, that literally the physical act told a great story for how the relationship 23:22 was supposed to operate. So that when he opened up Adam's side, he left a hole there 23:28 because it was to create a point to where Eve was supposed to function. 23:33 In other words, he did not take a bone from Adam's head because Eve was not supposed to dominate him and rule over him 23:41 and dictate his every thought. He didn't take a bone from Adam's foot because he was not supposed to walk all over Eve. 23:48 But he took a bone from his side 23:51 because Eve was to walk by side by side in perfect equal partnership with the man that God gave her. 24:01 Are y'all hearing me today friends of mine and see, I need you to know that this whole idea of hierarchy in marriage, 24:08 we don't necessarily get that from the Bible. I need you to know that before sin Adam and Eve in their relationship, 24:15 they mirrored the roles that the God had modeled. But I need you to know that this whole idea of control 24:24 and hierarchy that didn't come until Adam and Eve sinned. 24:28 In other words, friends, one of the things that we confuse is sometimes when you read Genesis 3:16, 24:34 there is part of what God describes to Adam and Eve as the curse, 24:39 but then there's a portion of it that is simply the result of their behavior. 24:44 So that when God talks to the woman because of what she does, God says, okay, this is the curse. 24:49 He says, you going to have pain in conception and in childbirth. 24:55 But notice he doesn't continue with curse. He simply prophesized the result. 25:00 He says, the result of your behavior is that Adam is going to try to use his superior physical strength. 25:07 Your desire is going to be for him. But the problem is he's going to try to rule over you. 25:14 Are y'all hearing what I'm saying? 25:17 And understand that when God says that Adam's descendants are going to try to rule Eve, he has not describing his will. 25:24 He is just telling her this is going be the result of your decision. In other words, 25:29 because Adam Succumb to his wife Eve, do you realize in the beginning that Adam did not take initial responsibility? 25:37 Adam was like, man, God, that's the woman you put here. She gave it to me and I ate. 25:45 And you got to realize that Adam's curse is that he is going to work with sweat in the field each 25:51 and every day so that every day Adam works in the field and sweat falls from his face and he cuts his hands on briers 25:58 and thistles. 26:00 He develops a resentment and contempt for the wife that led him down this path. 26:05 And understand that after a while he begins to look upon Eve not as a valuable partner, 26:13 but as someone who is a danger to himself, a reckless and emotional creature that must be controlled and kept in place. 26:25 And after a while he stops leading Eve and he starts leashing Eve and understand friends. 26:34 He's at a place where he does not see her as someone whose opinion is to be valued 26:39 because it was listening to her that got me in this predicament in the first place. 26:46 And see, the crazy thing is, do you realize that Adam does not keep this disposition local to his marriage? 26:53 What do you think Adam teaches his sons about women? In other words, he teaches Cain and Abel and Seth and his sons, 27:03 he teaches them, don't let that woman control you. Don't let her have too much freedom. We are in this mess now 27:10 because I let your mama and grandma get too far away from me. Are you hearing what I'm saying? 27:17 So that by the time you get down to Genesis chapter 12, 27:20 you've got a full blown patriarchy where the woman is seen as a second class citizen and it is all a result of Adam's guilt. 27:31 Thank you so much for joining us for the Breath of Life Television Ministries broadcast with Pastor Debleaire Snell! 27:38 We hope and pray that you have been blessed by part one of “Stop Babel-ing.” 27:45 This is the fourth message in our series titled “Family-ish.” 27:49 Join us next week for Part Two. You don't want to miss it! 27:56 (Breath of Life Theme Music) 28:41 [END] |
Revised 2023-02-01