Following Instruction
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ILLUST: Following directions
ILLUST: Following directions
No GPS - “Turn where old Nelson’s house used to be...” - (other funny) - OR - List of instructions, #20 says to ignore the others, just put name on it
Men, kids
Adam and Eve, Cain, people around Noah
Noah’s descendants - Babel
Think about this - God gave us instructions, and to avoid confusion, He also sent Jesus, to SHOW us. Still…we struggle
1) More questions answered - The Tower
1) More questions answered - The Tower
Wikipedia calls it an “ancient origins myth”
Building construction - no building stone there, so made from mud brick
Shape - Ziggurat - succession of terraces, successively smaller - temple/worship place at top (where deities lived) - (SLIDES - Images)
Possibly Ancient Mesopotamia, Babylon, Iraq, Northeastern Syria?
The dispersal of “races” - See slides
SLIDE - 8 people on ark - will re-populate the world
SLIDES - World maps
SLIDE - Biblical view of origins
2) Motivation to build
2) Motivation to build
Selfish pride
To make a name for SELF
These people know who God is, but take it upon selves to decide how to worship
“Let’s worship God the way we want to, make Him a pagan high place, and then let everyone know how great WE are.”
“They’ll see this great tower reaching up into the sky and think about how amazing WE are”
Refused to scatter
Refused to follow clear direction/instruction in Gen. 9:1
And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth.
“What part of fill the earth did you not understand?
Ever ask kids this kind of question?
Their disobedience showed a lack of love/trust for God - the command will be clear in Deut 6:5
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.
3) Lessons for Us
3) Lessons for Us
How well do we follow directions?
“If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.
We are a proud people, especially being “Americans”
Are we a “love God” people?
Many Christians are Americans first, then Christians, and it should be the other way around
We are a proud nation
Take away my free speech, my guns - we’ll fight
Threaten me about going to church and worship...
POINTS
When Israel was great (under Joshua) - the glory was GOD’s - see Josh 24:15
“If it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served which were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
When Israel was low (Judges), the glory was “each doing what was right in own eyes”
When the church was great, see book of Acts, all glory pointed to God
The church is in decline - it’s now about the people, instead of being about God
It’s about the experience, the feelings, the “what’s in it for me?”
QUESTION: Do you come to church to GIVE or to GET?
(Betty Lamb joke, maybe have breakfast more often, to get people to come…) - SAD truth, most will not come to selflessly surrender themselves to God and simply worship Him
Our nation - will not be great, because there is no place for God in the public arena, and church leaders have been willing to “stay in their own lane”
Our church - will be great when we declare the greatness of God - and GOD ALONE
I pray that people would equate Cornerstone with the amazing Creator God!
SUMMARY - OUR DIRECTIONS
SUMMARY - OUR DIRECTIONS
Go make disciples - everywhere, as you are going, point to God
Die to self (just the opposite of Babel)
Be holy - the selfless giving glory to God
Children - obey parents in the Lord - it’s the same for them, obeying parents makes God look great! People wonder how you get your children to obey, and you get to talk about the LORD
See 2 Timothy 3:16
All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness;
Follow directions - we have the directions/instructions
Understand that correction is needed, and shows God’s love for us
JUDGMENT and SALVATION
JUDGMENT and SALVATION
Realize that God has always used judgment in tandem with salvation
His people, His followers, stand out separate from those being judged
Adam and Eve - curse promised, along with promise of Redeemer
People of Noah’s day - judgment to come, 120 years - get in the ark
Judgment of Flood with salvation of the Ark
Moses and the people in Egypt
Judgment on Pharaoh alongside the deliverance of God’s people
(Let Joshua 24:15 sink in again)
CHOOSE!
Israel captivity in Babylon - judgment with a promise, urging future generations to follow in faith
Israel- rejects their Messiah, even after the resurrection - alongside people who follow Jesus and believe
GOD’S PEOPLE ALWAYS STAND OUT AMONG THOSE BEING OR TO BE JUDGED
Judgment to come! - a promise, a certainty, guaranteed
We warn of the judgment to come
We share the promise of Jesus, sparing believers from judgment
ALL MUST CHOOSE
Everywhere there is judgment, there is salvation
And those being saved - people can tell
Problem - lost people can’t tell the difference today, between “Christians” and not
It’s about following instructions
Repent, be saved - Mark 1:15
and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”
Surrender - 2 Tim 2:11
It is a trustworthy statement: For if we died with Him, we will also live with Him;
Tell others - Mark 16:15
And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.
If you’ve received and followed instructions, now give them
You’ve received, now give
And show the world that your life is about seeking Him, close to Him, above all else