Glory Stealing

Worldview  •  Sermon  •  Submitted   •  Presented   •  41:43
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A Tale of two men:
I once sat at a table of preachers. I was 26 years old and had just become the pastor of a small, country church. I was invited and attended my first local pastor’s conference. As it would turn out, I sat next to an older pastor who was preparing to retire. I spent the next 45 minutes listening.. to him talk about himself.. who he was… all he had done. He was trying to impress… It had the opposite effect on me. I’ve never heard so much boasting. When I was finally able to get away I told myself I would never go to another one of those meetings… and for years I did not.
Fast forward several year. I member of my congregation invited me to an Alabama game. When the game was over he wanted to go to his rv and watch the Auburn game on the TV. We walked over to his RV. I was blown away. It was huge. It was shiny. Had bells and whistles of every kind. A few months later he said “Hey do you want to go to Kentucky to the Quartet Convention. I said sure when. TODAY. I said “In Louisville? its almost lunch. We won’t make it today.” “Yes we will, just meet me at the Talladega Airport. We will fly up on my plane and be back tonight. WHAT?
Never in 100 years would I have known that this man had these things. He was so discreet, so God honoring, so humble.
WE are to be about the Father’s business, not making a name for ourselves. We are to be outward focused, not “me” focused. We are to be building Kingdom and not our own.

The Command to Spread Out

Genesis 1:28 HCSB
God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and every creature that crawls on the earth.”
Genesis 9:1 HCSB
God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.

The Plan to Stick Together

Genesis 11:1–4 HCSB
At one time the whole earth had the same language and vocabulary. As people migrated from the east, they found a valley in the land of Shinar and settled there. They said to each other, “Come, let us make oven-fired bricks.” They used brick for stone and asphalt for mortar. And they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the sky. Let us make a name for ourselves; otherwise, we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.”
Don’t miss this.. There is a conscious determination to huddle. To stick together. Not to work together for God’s sake. Not to see their gifts, talents, and occupations as a way to do what God had told them, but they stuck together to prevent what God had said.

The Re-direction for God’s Purpose

Genesis 11:5–9 HCSB
Then the Lord came down to look over the city and the tower that the men were building. The Lord said, “If they have begun to do this as one people all having the same language, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. Come, let Us go down there and confuse their language so that they will not understand one another’s speech.” So from there the Lord scattered them over the face of the whole earth, and they stopped building the city. Therefore its name is called Babylon, for there the Lord confused the language of the whole earth, and from there the Lord scattered them over the face of the whole earth.
This is the biblical explanation for languages. In chapter 10 we are told that people groups developed their own languages and moved geographically to spread out. In chapter 11 we are TOLD how this happened.
While this is not a sermon about this, it also would explain the issue of color. I will be talking about this more next Sunday night.
PLease note that even though they were building a tower, God is seen as “coming down.” You will never make a name for yourself that God won’t be bigger still.
Twice it is said that “God came down.” And twice it is said that “God scattered them.”

History Repeats Itself

Acts 1:8 HCSB
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you, and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
Acts 5:42 HCSB
Every day in the temple complex, and in various homes, they continued teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Messiah.
Acts 8:1 HCSB
Saul agreed with putting him to death. On that day a severe persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout the land of Judea and Samaria.
I want you to listen to me carefully:
God has given us marching orders: It is to go into all the Earth and make disciples.
He wants us to scatter, we find ways to huddle.
We can get pretty caught up in “us and ours”
Youth groups can do it. Have a great trip, and those who didn’t go don’t fit.
Churches can do it.
The other week, Anita Bedwell talking about how exciting for new people to get involved at every level.
“It sure isnt the same since you left. Its not supposed to the same. If I was still there its not supposed to be the same.”
We must constantly keep looking for ways to be Kingdom Minded instead of building our own kingdoms.
This week we had folks doing mission work in Ecuador, in Kentucky, and our youth were worked a service project with the Panama City Rescue Mission.
Dad’s pastor preaching in a restaurant.
Church can’t be about “me” and “us” and “ours”
ITs got to be about Him.
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