Oprah Winfrey owns a television station called OWN and there was a popular show on this network called Iyanla Fix my life, and the whole purpose of the show was Iyanla being a family therapist would go to the homes of these troubled families who was having problems in their families or in their marriages, mistakes made that they couldn’t fix themselves and they would invite Iyanla to come help them fix their problems and give them some insight on what the problem is and the root cause of the problem and how they can go about fixing the problem, and this is why the show is called Iyanla fix my life, and the first question she would always ask was “Why am I here, why did you call me here”? And they would give a brief description of what the problem was, and then she would say, what you’ve been doing obviously hasn’t been working, if it had then I wouldn’t be here. She would then say I’ve come to interrupt the pattern” the familiar behavior, the cycle, and sometimes God has to come interrupt some things in our lives because sometimes in the process of trying to fix our own lives and trying to make it happen, we start trying to build our lives on our own, now you say Min Lamazon why would you say that? It’s right in the text, verse 6 says “Behold, they are one people, and they all have the same language and this is what they have started to do”, how often do we so quickly forget what God has done for us and we stop trusting Him when trouble arise, and we start trying to save ourselves outside the will of God. We start giving too much credit to our education, we start giving too much recognition to our jobs, and to our good looks, but somebody here over forty can help me testify that as the years goes by those good looks will began to fade and I don’t care how you dye it or how you tuck it, or how you tighten it, I don’t care how good it looks on the outside, you’ll still find that there is a leak in this old building and sooner or later you got to relocate to another home, because only God can keep you when your hair turns grey, only God and let you be like Moses who even in death he had the strength of a young man, vibrant and strong, I wish I had a bible reader here. Only God and interrupt the process of aging, He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength, Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: (Here it is!) But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint. And when you start to depend on something other than God to supply your needs, and you start trying to do it on your own, you don’t depend on God when you run into trouble, you just swipe a credit card and pay your way out of it, when you lose things, I’ll just replace it with another one, because my good education and my good job has allowed me to become dependent on other things that I made a god out of. That’s you cutting up down here, and you building an empire for yourselves, that’s stacking bricks using the best earthly material, that’s purchasing the best earthly tools to build with, but what looks good to you stinks in God’s nostrils and in order for God to bring you back to Himself, God says I’m coming to interrupt the process, I’m coming to shake the very foundation of your house and every safety brick you stack God said I’m going to tear it down, you think you build a wall around your good health, you think you got the perfect family, you think that six figure job got you covered, you think you got the perfect spouse? God said I’m coming for everything you build outside of me. And this is what they have started to do. And in order for God to finish His original plan that was established in the Garden of Eden after Adam and Eve messed up, He had to interrupt what He knew would become a pattern, because sin never stays a single onetime thing, sin is contagious and it spreads fast, sin is the apple that Adam and Eve ate, that beautiful apple with a rotten core
This Tower of Babel involves the people of Babel attempting to build a tower that will reach to heaven. It is one of the saddest and most significant stories in the Bible. It is sad because it reveals the widespread rebellion in the human heart, how far the human heart will move away from God. It’s significant because it shows how far we are willing to go from the presence of God
Up until this point in the Bible, the whole world spoke the same language, meaning there was one common speech for all people. The people of the earth had become skilled in construction and decided to build a city with a tower that would reach up to heaven, and by building the tower the inhabitants of the city wanted to make a name for themselves and also prevent the population from being scattered across the earth:
For they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth." Let us disregard everything God said and do our own thing (Genesis 11:4, ESV) my question I’ll ask today is “how far are you willing to go from God to make a name for yourself?” What are you building that you left God out of, that you felt you no longer need to include God in your plans?
This passage of scriptures takes place after the flood and in these passages of scriptures we learn of a particularly important and powerful person named Nimrod and he is the son of Cush whose father is Ham the son of Noah. Nimrod names means to rebel. Nimrod eventually became the father of two of the greatest empires in the bible and in world history, the Assyrian and Babylonians, he was the first great leader of a world civilization, Nimrod presence and accomplishments confirms the unique and early leadership role African American people played in world history, unfortunately, he also led the world away from God. God forbid! “Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of My pasture!” says the LORD, and I don’t care what race you are or who you are, anytime there is a misleading of God people, I don’t care where it comes from God said I’m coming to interrupt the process
A key but subtle, theme hinges on this word East in verse 2, And it came about, as they journeyed east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. When God pushed Adam and Eve out of the garden, He sent them east, when Cain was removed from God presence after killing his brother Abel, the text says he too went east, Lot chose for himself all the valley of the Jordan, and Lot journeyed eastward to Sodom and Gomorrah. Then behold, seven ears, thin and scorched by the east wind, sprouted up after them
East represents a journey away from God. So, when we see the people gather at a valley in the land of Shinar in the East, the author is telling us that the next scene will move humanity further away from God
The people of Babylon or Babel made a declaration of independence-not from another nation, not from their enemy but from God himself, for they said let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the sky, let us make a name for ourselves, let us separate from God, let us stop depending on God for help. Look at what happened to our fore fathers they all drowned, what if another flood comes, look at what happened to my grandmother she prayed all the time and she still got cancer, my mom trusted God and I watched her suffer, my fore fathers slaved and look at how we are still being treated, I did the best to raise my children and my child struggling with drugs, how can I trust a god that has let me down, how can I trust that another flood won’t come, my bible tells me to trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not to your own understanding, (here’s the shout) but in all thy ways acknowledge Him. Anytime you find yourselves leaning against anything but Him, you’re heading east far from God
These people were so busy trying to discredit God they didn’t pay attention to the rainbow, they forgot about the promise where God said I will never destroy the earth again by water
But how many of you know it will come a time when God will get tired and come see what you got going on
Genesis tells us that God came to see the city and the tower they were building. He perceived their intentions, and in his infinite wisdom, he knew this "stairway to heaven" would only lead the people farther away from God. The goal of the people was not to glorify God and lift up his name but to build a name for themselves when God told mankind: "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth." God wanted people to spread out and fill the whole earth. By building the tower, the people were ignoring God's clear instructions.
Babel is derived from the root meaning "to confuse" God observed what a powerful force the people's unity of purpose created. As a result, he confused their language, causing them to speak many different languages so they would not understand each other. By doing this, God thwarted their plans. He also forced the people of the city to scatter all across the face of the earth. And I came to tell somebody this morning if you think you making it on your own, if you feel like you don’t need Him, if you feel like your money Is all you need, if you feel like your husband or wife is all you need, if you feel like your job will supply all your needs, if you feel like you got pretty good health and haven’t been to the doctor in a long time and you feel alright, you’re like the rich man who Jesus called a fool. He made good business decisions, he became wealthy (you gonna help me close this want you) he has a too much blessing, he decides to store up his riches in barns and eat, drink and be merry, but I hear the Lord saying let us go down and pay him a visit since he thinks he’s doing this on his own, he’s a fool, he’s a fool because he didn’t give, he’s a fool because he didn’t plan for eternity, he’s a fool because he didn’t know who his soul belong to, he’s a fool because he didn’t send anything ahead, he’s a fool because he didn’t think about a relationship with God, he’s a fool because he left me out, and like the Towel of Babel God said I’m coming interrupt the process, I’m coming! I’m coming to shake some sense in you. Somebody can help me testify that money can’t buy a good night rest, money can’t buy a peace of mind, when I lost all I had my education couldn’t save me, when the bottom fell out I didn’t have a friend in the world. God said I had to interrupt what you had going on, I had to hurt you to heal you, I had to make you cry to make you smile, I had to break you in order to put you back together again. You gonna help me close this want you, but two thousand years ago on a skull shaped hill on a blood stained cross, He came to interrupt the stain of sin, He came to take the sting out of death, the foundation of the earth was shaken, the sun refused to shine, somebody said the moon dripped away in blood and I hear somebody saying “surly this man was the son of God! If you see me crying sometimes it’s alright, He’s interrupting some things, can somebody help me say I got it, I got it, I got it, ya’ll I got it!
