The Tower of Terror ~ The Tower of Trouble

my goodness no no no one more time give it up for our talented teams our dance team music team video teams production teams making church fun by the way if you ever thought about auditioning for our dance team Portia and Quincy or are two main choreographers to the ones that would be teaching you and coaching you they're starting to dance academy at the church as well so look I love that because I I can't dance at all I cannot clap on beat so I love people will have that gift T hey if you're a guest thank you for coming we're having a lot of fun man seats are filling up and this this campus we launched our October series brilliant for coming today cuz this is my favorite series maybe of the whole year I love the scary series and I know not every church you know wraps their arms right Halloween the way that we do it if you're watching online you know on our online campus or watching on television the Hillsong Channel and some other part of the world here in America I know Halloween has some dubious beginnings that was centuries ago on a different continent in America people of common sense 99.9% of people when they think of Halloween they think of three things and three things only candy costumes and more candy right that's all all they think about a little bit scary may be thrown in so we embrace that to bring people to the church more importantly to bring people to our King and so listen thank you for applauding but what I really want you to do is grab a bunch of invite cards and bite people so today Tower of Terror begins of course it's a homage to the great Disney right I think tower Tara baby is my favorite ride at Disney I loved it for years who's ridden Tower of Terror this campus raise your hand whoo hands up put your hands down who has written it and you don't like it why do you not like it oh because it's kind of scary because you know if you don't like Heights especially and that's done very well the special effects phenomenal the Disney cast they stay in character the environment is amazing but yes it ascends abrupt and it drops you severely now back to the day Oh Ruben when it started it was just one time up one time down but then someone thought we can make this more fun and now it has a random sequence you might go up and down a lot like it way up way down Rilla buck roll abrupt real quick up and down up and down can I mess it with you up and down guess what that reminds me of everything in my life I think kind of funny how life s is fluid nature these built-in ups and downs of the economy the economy has these ups and downs you know there I mean the economy has been strong for some time now but hang on history tells anything the economy has a cyclical nature what goes up eventually comes down the the the market will correct itself you know a bear market to a blue mark all those kind of things how about about your career your career you maybe man my gosh you work hard you work smart you take advantage of my opportunities you got a rage got a promotion got a corner office then someone buys the company and they eliminate your position you go from up today on single people we're my single people single people shirts by the glades bless your hearts man daddy has those ups and downs right those I didn't oh my gosh look at that girl she is beautiful I got to get to know her I got to get a date with her oh I got a date with our score today best date of my life she's phenomenal we've now been dating for three months I think my love oh she crazy up and she crazy Wow oh my gosh nice so here's the question today is your relationship with God one of those things like most things in life that has all these ups and downs meaning this is does God love you more one day than the next especially based on your performance like like hey you know God loves me right now I'm scoring points I'm in church at Sunday Friday night probably lost some points Friday night right so is my relationship with God or my salvation this fluid thing or is it something different than almost everything else in life because life man this broken beautiful world has these ups and down moments it's like the Tower of Terror but I don't think gods that way God's not the Tower of Terror the Bible says your God is a strong tower their God is a rock that your God is a fortress your relationship with God should be the one thing in your life that is rock-solid and unchanging the one dependable constant your life should be your relationship with God through Christ I want to show you an example of this practice and dynamic in the Bible take your Bible let's go to Genesis chapter 11 Genesis chapter love just to make sure you're wide awake and with me let's say that text together loudly Genesis chapter there you go and to set the stage because I really believe your relationship with God should be this thing that is so solid that you're confident you walk through life not with arrogance but with them with the spiritual swagger cuz you know whatever comes your way whatever he goes up or down your walk with God is a solid thing it is Granite's mysterious examples in Scripture you stay in Genesis Hebrews chapter 4 verse 16 says as we pray look at the attitude as we approach God do we cower are we anxiously unworthy here's what it says by the way that is way up there that I got well hurt my neck do this all day long let us therefore approach God's throne of grace with with confidence as we pray we come with confidence we come with biblical boldness why because what God has done for us how about this about heaven can you know for certain that you're on your way to heaven already have to hope every day God's no ticking boxes keeping score one day you get point today's you lose points maybe he's just had before God you take the up elevator to have enough down elevator to the bad place right Katie can you know yes Lucas says in first John chapter 5 verse 13 I can have confidence that I'm saved I'm heaven bound look what it says this is such a great promise I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life let me stop right here in about 20 minutes I'm gonna wrap this thing up at the edge of the stage give me people call prayer partners in the front row and they're here to help you navigate your God decision if you don't know guys put the first back up one more time one more time if you would guys can you go alright if you don't have this nailed down if you don't know right now if you walked out of church you got hit by a bus that you take your next yeah total doesn't happen with both ways but if that happens your next breath would be a heavenly breath you don't know for certain that you were saved come find one of them why would you spend one more hour of one more day not knowing for certain that you're saved and bound for heaven you don't have to hope guess live in fear anxiety man I really hope I scored enough points to some day that's not the way it works you can know for certain you can have confidence so I won't talk about it yeah bees for the next twenty minutes get ready to make that move when church is done so here we go so you can have this confidence it can be an amazing thing let me go ahead and take you to this remarkable story Genesis chapter 11 a very early story in human history by the way I've never ever in 20 years taught on this passage before why it's a bit of a weird story some people think this story is not factual II think it's more of a religious fable I think it is a factual story but I'm not toddling it before maybe the reason why is it is is the first major construction a project in the history of humanity and maybe that's the reason I'm not taught on this because you all would know me soon as I say construction you know I'm out of my lane I'm out of my lane example what brothers here love a good trip to Home Depot who loves some Home Depot raise your hand who loves and brothers and sisters as well who look home deep racially I'd be proud grunt a little bit yeah manly love Home Depot Home Depot can't stand Home Depot do not like do you work at Home Depot I'm not fact let me flesh this out a little bit there's there's this fake holiday a fake holiday called pastor Appreciation Month past Appreciation it's fake it's a fake holiday by the way almost every holiday too is a fake holiday I mean Christmas is not a fake holiday Easter's not a fake holiday Passover is not right Shawna's off but most of them people made up a holiday right like a national sibling day that's fake national by dog day that's fake national burrito day that's fake pastor Appreciation Month that's a fake holiday the Christian bookstores made it up right so to sell cards or something so I'm not gonna tell you what it is dude I'm not fish for your appreciation but some of y'all know this is Hank Oh pastor Appreciation Month and you will send me a token of appreciation this has been beautiful over the years and typically it's a little greeting card a customized to a pastor greeting card or the fine thing is almost all of like 98 percent these cards have the same thing on the front a picture of Jesus holding a lamb Jesus holding like a little lamb like very pastoral or Jesus on a rock with a bunch of sheep around him Jesus with the Sheep ugh everyone has this picture in fact some y'all bought me like artwork like a framed picture of Jesus and the lamb and Jesus in the Sheep I guess these substances that's the way pastors must decorate their houses with lots of pictures no Jesus is sheep just everywhere Jesus is sheep it's actually not what I do and I so appreciate the gesture the thought is so kind it's not necessary so it's so thoughtful but the one thing it makes a card even better is when there's a gift card inside the card get my Justin talk to anybody where there's a little gift card inside the card birthday card Christmas card it will give a card inside this up Wow are you kidding me the so kind that it's so enough thank you so much but I can tell if someone is a priesthood but they don't really know me if the card has Jesus in the lamb then inside the gift card is from Home Depot now everyone who owns a house eventually has to go to Home Depot right whether you want to who hates Home Depot racially if you hate ok yeah it's my people right if you don't don't enjoy it right now by the way guys I'm not surrendering my man card no other man leasing out that gift card is to Dick's Sporting Goods I'm in Vista BassPro praise Jesus that's a worship experience right there just hope the Pope at Home Depot confuses me and based on where the store are more confused like you walk into every Home Depot on my experience when you walk into it all the stuff on this side I understand we walk at the front doors right think about Home Depot you walk in these things walkway over here owes to landscaping Department I understand that I understand sod and grass and fertilizer I can recognize the hose I can actually use a rake I can understand those things inside the building grills I love a barbecue grill and they're assembled already praise Jesus they're assembled lighting looks like like if we walk it and you drift to this side of the store wherever here where's my construction people where's my construction people right all right you go side the store over here the right hand side the stores all this disassembled stuff lumber drywall sheetrock I think they're the same thing I even know right and the more I get to this side of the store the more my eye twitches I break out in hives because I don't do Home Depot I don't understand construction I appreciate people do if I break something I will pay you to fix my broken something I don't do that so I get a story about construction but in this story God's constructing something really neat and it's biblical so I would have died in with that disclaimer because I think it's a really cool passage Genesis chapter you're there this start in verse 1 verse 1 is the reason why some people disbelieve in the historicity of this story this is a fable didn't really go down in a history this way here's why verse 1 is on the screen oh by the way I need a different different towers tower tower of terror we all got back there Tower wise really alternative tower facades Freedom Tower beautiful patriotic all-american New York a little older anything more historic than that what do you have nice Eiffel Tower nice romantic I need an older what do you have older older tower Pete anybody ever been there that's beautiful viewers see it and everybody who's looking that has a camera right and they're all standing on the side doing this they all stand to go they'll do that number anything older I need something like circa 2000 BC Mesopotamia what do you have anything it's pretty good it's pretty good I like that three-dimensional some ancient looking tower all right because this is a story of the Tower of Babel tower about by the way as soon as I saw whether their building on the stage my production Bell but I need to preach on the tall things of the Bible they're really tall things so here's this really tall tower in Genesis 11 now verse 1 is why some people don't believe this story really went down in history it's a fable it's theological II true not historically true so on the screen ready right now it says verse 1 chapter 11 now the whole world had one language and a common speech like come on really like everybody on the planet spoke the same language like all the different people groups like use the same they all spoke like Chinese or Italian really that really you really think happened okay let the Bible give you context and see what's happening in the Bible this is Genesis chapter 11 even back up to Genesis chapter 9 what just went down Noah and the flood so at the start this is chapter 11 at the start of chapter 10 the entire global population populations just eight people so is there a small human family in Genesis chapter 10 the chapter four chapter 11 you still with me is a genealogy like two or three generations go by so the entire global populations probably just a few hundred people maybe a thousand max and they live in proximity so of course they speak the same language see one of the reason the Bible works is because it's true is true this really went down this actually makes sense if you pump the brakes and study just a little bit it yeah I guess this really really did happen verse 2 as people move eastward they found the plain of Shannara and they settled there get ready read they said to each other come let's make bricks good reading bricks baked them thoroughly they use bricks instead of stone and tar for mortar verse fours made this important verse in the narrative then they said come let us when we're not let us let us build ourselves a city with a large tower that reaches to the heavens so we may make a name for ourselves otherwise we will be scattered important verse over the face of the earth verse 5 interesting but the Lord came down to see the city and the tower that people were building make wait a minute timeout Coco Ghazi everything wise got to come down this is biblical humor this is irony this because this is the greatest tower that people have ever built this huge feat of genius engineering it's reaching to the heavens they thought and got like me see your giant tower where is it what we should tower wishes oh well pewdie tower down there oh it's so cute thank you for trying think Hey angels we better go down take a look at this cuz it's so far short of heaven is God making fun of the fact that you know we think sometimes were a big deal he's a big deal he's sovereign he's supreme he's unlimited here the unlimited God so it's it's God is God cracking a joke is what that is verse 5 god cracks a joke I've dropped out of verse seven come let's go down and confuse their languages they will not understand each other so the Lord scattered them from there over all the earth then they stopped building the city that's why it's called Babel because the Lord confused the language of the whole world get ready from there the Lord scattered good job scattered them over the face of the whole earth I want to quickly break down the key components of the story Bible scholars because there are several seemingly really good things that happen some new innovations that happen in the history of human family in Genesis chapter live in the Tower of Babel this tall tower reaching to the heavens I wrote these to Alan first we see there's one language one language would that would seem like a really good thing we all spoke the same language that's first one then in verse four they're building this massive tower and I think God designed us to design things he wants us to be creative to work hard to make plans to persevere so I think your building is typically a good thing there's a new technology in verse three so be all techie people is new tech invented a new innovation in verse three and finally a unity in unity gosh so hard to achieve but almost always a good thing so at a quick reading all these things seem like positive things I'll listen I am NOT a hater if you do to this church we don't hate on stuff we're not negative we're not about Scheldt not kind of church but at the same time why I'm not a hater I'm not naturally skeptical the Bible said I need to be discerning and look at things kind of carefully so actually I think about these things that typically are good things in this story they may not be good things they may be troubling things problematic things let me show you one by one a one language one language it's not allowed would one language simplify life it's not for a question yeah I mean one language you simplify a trip to Dade County no doubt about it right I understand what was going on so one language would seem like it's a simple thing it would seem like everybody speaking the same language that that would be good well guess what I don't think that was ever God's plan I don't think God is a one language kind of God I don't think God back in the first chapter of Genesis was planning on creating this homogeneous monolithic people group called humanity I think just my opinion here I could be wrong but I'm not I think God celebrates and glories in diversity I think God always attended for us to be diverse different ethnicities different races different customs different languages I think that was always God's plan from day one from Adam and Eve I think God is a God who's creative and God loves diversity think about it with me think of all the different cultures and all different races they think about the first parts of the Bible they picture Adam and Eve craned in their own racial trappings right they they kind of think of just in some cultures they think of Adam and Eve and you see a pain out of an e-bike there's no selfies or Instagram from back in Genesis but you know Adam and Eve are black other cultures Adam and Eve or white some cultures Adam and Eve are Asian Adam Eve sometimes they're Native American or Polynesian and Latin on and on and on you see that even Jesus I I grew up going to church and my church was was predominantly almost exclusively white I'm not sure why it was a case one reason might have been is every time you saw a picture of Jesus to get no photos or artists paintings of Jesus Jesus was a blue-eyed guy with blond feathered hair where he flip-flops right those Jesus was a white white dude right every time but you know different races see Jesus has their own race what color was Jesus we don't really know I know he was Hebrew Israeli but modern-day Jews in America have come through Europe they've intermarried so maybe he looked very brown skinned maybe like a modern-day Arab I don't know what race was the Messiah I think I heard a story through these 2 Christian Brothers Ben they loved each other and we were in the same church and one was a white guy was a black guy and they just had one dispute it was very good-natured they argued hey what color was Jesus white guys that meant Jesus's white every time I see a painting of Jesus he's a white dude black guy said no man Jesus is a brother he is so cool and the Bible he'd no doubt man he's Jesus is black and it happened they died on the very same day they see each other stand outside the pearly gates they high-five we're no way to heaven all so Jesus floats by on a cloud Jesus gonna be white or she's gonna be black Jesus rolls up buenos dias I've hear guests I don't normally crack bad preacher jokes I just had to roll that one out or he once in a while because I actually think this is a vital issue I think diversity was always God's plan I can't prove it from the first book of the Bible I could hint at it I think I can prove from the last book of the Bible because in Revelation the final book 66 books to the right there's a scene of worship in heaven when Jesus is wrapping up human history you're gonna begin the revelation the apocalypse and this is a scene of worship and look what this details says in verse 9 you purchase for God persons from every tribe and language and people and nation you've made them into a kingdom of priests to serve in heaven we're speaking different languages so one language is God's plan if when ethnicity was God's plan why do we still see diversity in different languages in heaven I think we probably understand each other but we speak different languages in heaven we don't all just be Hebrew or something or King James English in heaven I think our diversity remains cuz God glories in that so I probably shouldn't say this I might get some email but I don't care every once in a while because if you haven't noticed I'm a white person I've been a white person pretty much my whole life and and our church you look around right now our church is beautifully diverse you see every race every ethnicity man I love that about our church can every once in a while someone will kind of unplug and tell me hey a passionate I want to go to church because you're a white pastor I'm not a white person I'm a person of color I think I need to raise my kids in a church that's pretty much my cultures they understand this shared heritage and I get that at the same time I think this looks much more like heaven I think a church that's beautifully mixed up when it comes to the races we see everything I think this reflects heaven and sends a brilliant message to the world as America struggles for races racial reconciliation there's something so powerful and vivid about our vocabularies we're not just talking about it we're doing live together as we do life together different races side-by-side stay with me shoulder to shoulder there's something so powerful what happens is because I'm white and you're not weight but we're serving the king together what happens is we demystify and debunk the mythologies on each other and we see actually the differences are beautiful more alike than we are different as we're doing life and engage the mission of global transformation together that's what I think reconciliation looks like languages diversity I think it's God's plan the whole time the whole time because Genesis 1:1 God's creative what artist paints with one color what he can use a variety of color sorry I preach too long on that one but I care about that would allow one language one language maybe not a good thing quickly so so they're building they're building and building I would say is a good thing almost always building it as a positive thing God designed us to design things he built us to build things he made us to made things all the action Genesis work is part of God's original plan God gave Adam a job Genesis chapter 2 verse 15 on the screen right now and the Lord God took the man put him in the Garden of Eden to take a nap to sleep to lounge to scratch no to work God gave out of a job before sin entered the equation so a job is a godly thing it's a good thing so you have a job he's not the perfect job that is a blessing if you don't have a job with all due respect your job is probably to find a job and the Bible esteems work now don't become a workaholic but the Bible values work throughout the scripture cleese yesyes 9:10 whatever your hand finds to do do with all your might Colossians 3:17 and whatever you do it would have word or deed do all in the name of the Lord Jesus second Thessalonians 3:10 says if you won't work you don't eat gets my attention reach your man building that career is hard being successful is really hard work out of a hard work yes building a career is hard building success is hard but being broke is hard pick your heart right the Bible celebrates work it's almost always a good thing how about this technology technology shows up in verse three there's there's new tech all right now who's a techy person ratio and you love tech come on techie people own it come on techie make some noise thank you people make some noise right whoo come on techie people you love the newest gadget in this day I see all different ages by the way we're a multi-generational church some older people love tech oh now who is a proud technology dinosaur yeah come on who's taking notes with a pin right now god bless you yes that's good all right so is technology a good thing or a bad thing well typically I think it's a good thing because God called us in Genesis as people to steward and subdue creations so God wants us to create things he created us to create things so early its desire to innovate and create is a positive thing but I would say this caution and if you love tech by the way and I gotta be full disclosure I've had a bad week with tech I had a really bad day with tech tech was not nice to your pastor yesterday I mean I had a bad day I'm tired I go to the gym I put on my beach listen to my tunes and my son and borrowed my beats and I couldn't get like the Bluetooth to connect to my beats again from my phone right there connecting to someone else's beats in the gym that was so annoying I hope they like Anthony evidence because that's what they worked out too and I went home and we have you verse and you verse dog on it if the power goes out for like three seconds you verses down for two hours right and it's college football day it's Saturday I got no no TV Tech was not good and worst thing was I was so mad about the beast I put my phone down on a machine at the gym and it fell and it fell and it fell face down and this happened to my phone right there that happened I got a crack down here and what the heck is this green scary wide it's like a portal to new dimensions on my phone right now so I had a bad day with text so I am biased but overall I think Tech is a good thing but be careful more than tech mean a good thing or bed that bad it's a powerful thing so back to your smartphone oh my gosh what a revelation the smartphone we live in the information age and what we now have in the palm of our hand via your Android or iPhone was science fiction ten years ago it's a powerful thing powerfully good gosh you version the free app you version the Bible in multiple translations for free it's a free app reading plans if you're not sure how or where to read your Bible narrator's if you can't see your Bible because you're bad eyesight they'll read it to you I mean it is phenomenal if you don't have you version download it on your smartphone you may not be smart enough to have a smartphone do it right now is one of the best moves you can make by the way the church that innovated the you version that pastors kids been on staff here the last couple summers it's the biggest innovation in accessibility to the Word of God since the printing press awesome good thing the Bible is now available to you 24/7 at the same time so is pornography so staged so as negativity so as criticism social media oh my gosh I'd say connected with all these people I can see the life or feel horribly inadequate about myself as I compare my real life with their a highlight reel on Instagram so there's a tech innovation by the way a fun tech innovation did you catch the tech innovation in the story verse three here's the humungous tech innovation a brick is the first time in history they make bricks you like really I like the iPhone 11 a brick no big deal because before that to build a massive structure you needed cut stone at a quarry stone and there's no stone in Mesopotamia the stored in Egypt even still it's difficult dangerous so they found out how to make make bricks so brick was the big deal the innovation of the brick to build something remarkable and by the way don't underestimate a brick a brick can be a cool and powerful thing your brick is a wonderful thing a brick is a biblical thing it's a historical thing a brick is a cultural thing it's a ministerial thing it's a metaphorical thing I could preach a brick I'm serious that that pastor at church by the glaze my guys that sermon was so good it hit me like a ton of bricks that guy oh my gosh he's as subtle as a brick in the face I've heard about your pastor he's a few bricks shy of a load I hope some day he hits the bricks but hope he doesn't take his wife because she's cute she's built like a brick house there you go there's your brick sermon back bricks man love bricks I love and there's somebody having a brick in your hands a great thing oh oh oh sorry sorry sorry sorry that's that's a special brick that's a that's a fake brick that's made of styrofoam this brick is designed when your football team is losing this is called the fan brick right here when your team is losing like golfing game ah at the TV that's what that brick is for by the bricks are in the Bible so here a brick is an innovation it's a new way to build something great Exodus chapter 5 see with Bible scholars a brick is intimidation member Pharaoh when Moses want to set the people free so guess what I won't help you make your bricks anymore no straw for your bricks any funny you want to get yourself free there's always someone try to impede your progress then in extra fees in Shafter - a brick is an invitation to be a part of something bigger than yourself this one's awesome this one talks about the dynamic of the church I love this passage is on the screen right now this says in what he what God is building he used the Apostles and the prophets for the foundation get ready now he's using you fitting you in brick by brick stone by stone with Christ Jesus as the cornerstone you see a brick by itself is pretty much useless what do you do with one brick doorstop paperweight right but a bunch of bricks together in the hands of a master craftsman you can build anything and what the Bible's saying here we invite you to be part of something bigger than yourself and we come together there's a thing called the church the master craftsman Jesus with this grace of love puts us together in fashion something so amazing not a physical structure but a beautiful body on a mission of global transformation saying the church is so cool but you need the church and the church needs you brick by brick stone by stone and invitation so um so so yeah it is a problematic thing here man he even unity and unity always a good thing is he always a happy thing because yeah on the church we must be unified especially to church this diverse we got to be one Jesus prayed in John 17 that his church would be one his disciples would be one by the way did not pray for our sameness he prayed for our oneness that would be galvanized by His grace his love and the purpose of changing the world so yea unity typically is a good thing almost always unity is a good thing but not every time sometimes unity is a bad thing sometimes unity is a negative like really really when is unity ever a bad - okay two words organized-crime right I want my criminals disorganized and just unified right I don't want criminals all working together to unity that's that's a bad thing um drug cartel oh what's the same way want them not unified a street gang I want my thugs out there on the run right if you're swimming in the Amazon do you want to deal with one piranha or a bunch of unifi piranhas in a school right so in this case unity was bad they wanted they they want to be together they don't want to scatter they want us be together and humble a huddle together and sing Kumbaya together and that's not what God planned so why does God have this huge issue with this tower why is this tower it's not a Tower of Terror but it's a tower of trouble why is it so problematic here's the main thing back to verse 4 it's why they were building the tower first floors on the screen once again I've highlighted the same word shows up more than once then they said come let us build ourselves build ourselves a city where the tower that reaches to the heavens so we may make a name for otherwise will be scattered over the face of the earth seeing life is not just what you build it's why you build it that might be the last applause I get so I'm looking up your stuff some of y'all working really hard trying to build your career or build your reputation or build your resume that's all really good but the end the day if you're spending all your time just trying to build build your own name and your own fame at the end of your life I think you will not be happy with what you have built these men build this giant Tower and they're out there I'm building this for me I'm doing this for my fame I we have a society obsessed with influence and Fang you see surveys are chilled what's that number one number one thing that American kids want it's not success it's not to contribute it is to be famous I saw a Harris Poll just recently they they pulled 3,000 American kids then they pulled 3,000 Chinese kids when they're the number one job choice the future guess what was number one for American kids to be a famous youtuber for Chinese kids to be astronauts we're in trouble I'm just saying you say so here their goal was their own platform their own recognition their own fame just just be careful when you make an idol out of your fame or even your children's fame your success or their see God built you to build your life around a bigger purpose see I want to make a name famous and it ain't Hughes I wanna make the name of Jesus as famous as I know how I wanna spend my life with you he's living bricks building the name of Jesus I want my kids to be successful my kids to have good things I want them to do well academically and athletically but listen I don't mean to judge anybody here but I see a whole culture we're chasing our kids success in academics athletics work with Christian people who are pulling their kids out of church ministries to chase travel leaks but these are kids talented I get up in there a talented kid but you know you're hoping they get that d1 scholarship or they make the league I'm here to tell you in love he's not making the league there stare not be right now stay with me am i being mean I just mean statistically speaking so few kids get d1 scholarships and less than 1% of d1 scholarship kids ever make it to the NBA that means over 99% Nicoll for playing basketball and you pull your kids out of the student ministry or kids stuff to chase down these these fragile dreams and they don't build the solid spiritual foundation they need to manage life with its ups and downs so not telling you your kid can't play sports just pump the brakes and make sure you're not out of balance I would not trade one for the other I think you can do both but be wise if you have to pick one build the foundation of faith that would give them the strength to resolve their persevere even they make it to the league we have a bunch of NFL guys going through this church their careers are often done before they're 30 that if all your accolade and identity has been about your athleticism since you were six and that's done what do you do with life guess what they're staring at me right now lets me know I'm preaching really good because they when they clap that's good when they do this I'm really preaching good right so not judging you just be aware of what you're building because we're all building a path away and let me close with that idea so why is God so against this whole thing well here's the main reason why it's rebellion if you back up to after the the flood in chapter 9 verse 1 God says whoever want you to do no what no what no his kids know as though his daughters-in-law I won't you go out and once you fill the earth fill the earth be fruitful increase fill the earth but three different times in this story chapter 11 they want to huddle we don't want a scatter we don't want to do what God has clearly called us to do it's rebellion they're building an improper pathway see I'm not a builder I hate Home Depot you go to Home Depot work at Home Depot I apologize it's not my place I wanna make sure I'm building the proper pathway in life what's the pathway to success let me use the giant visual aid here what's the pathway for nobody right no one who's been successful ever says that was my pathway I started fast it was easy I got there quickly never in fact mega successful people will tell you by pathway look more like like this looking more like tower terror man elevator ups and downs you just grind you persevere you don't give up you quit you don't quit how about we have lots of folks in this church beautiful awesome people in recovery what's the pathway to health and recovery yeah there it is just don't give up don't tap out yeah it's messy you're gonna get there you're gonna get there we believe in you but how about here's something you understand least you know the historical context of what they're building here's why God is so against it they're actually building a way to get to heaven they're building with their own hands this tool to get to heaven and so every single man-made religion is the same formula here's how you get to heaven you work really hard you're grind you try to be good and you try to keep a moral code you go through certain religious rituals or practices say it up prayers and you earn your way to heaven you see this tower didn't look like the Tower of Pisa or the Eiffel Tower it was something called as ziggurats what they built in ancient Mesopotamia it's a step tower or more precisely a step temple it's a religious icon that had all these steps and you can actually walk up and the idea was you climb or you grind or you work your way to heaven the only exception to that is what the Bible teaches almost every single rule religion has a formula like this you work you believe but you pray you give practice good deeds go through rituals that hopefully as you stand before your God you take the up elevator not the down elevator and you spend your whole life worried maybe I mean it may be I'm going to some points maybe I didn't make the grade maybe I'm not good enough and the only exception is what God does in the Bible because biblical Christianity is the one faith where God comes to us God bought the path God sends his son God sent his grace in other pathways lead to fear this leads to confidence this leads to gratitude because my salvation does not depend upon me I just receive what God has already given he built the pathway he constructed the past okay that's called grace if you don't know for certain that you have that nailed down make your move today to be pray for your father God thank you so much for people right now as prayer partners assemble in their positions they're gonna make brilliant moves they didn't plan on saying yes to Christ Dave they recognize they can know for certain they're saved give them boldness to make the decision make this prayer in Jesus name Amen

Channel: Church by the Glades

Views: 1,522

Rating: 4.5294118 out of 5

Keywords: church by the glades, cbglades, fort lauderdale, coral springs, tamarac, margate, sample road, lake worth, miami, broward county, church, church service, sermon, creativity, south florida, message, fun, The Tower of Terror

Id: uA-Ldr3Q4mk

Length: 39min 5sec (2345 seconds)

Published: Sun Oct 13 2019