1. TODAY (1) Genesis 11 and three NT texts
We Gather week by week as Citizens of the USA and of other Countries
- Evelyne Oliver ( our past 2 weeks)
We all want our countries/nations to be blessed – as we should

2. TODAY USA ELECTION (2) Frustrated: Hurting
So little concern about the poor and disempowered
all sides so much about “economy” and “our group” – poor gods!
Hurting
Several say costs to you already in pipeline
Less empowered friends even more so

3. TODAY USA ELECTION (3)
Embarrassed by so much said and done in the last 18 months
Embarrassed Especially by what Christians have said and done in last 18 months

4. TODAY (4)
Goal Today: is Not to talk about those people who are not here
Speak to us - who are here to:
Challenge Comfort Encourage

5. TODAY & ALWAYS: FOLLOWING JESUS MEANS (1)
PRIMARY IDENTITY is NOT:
-Independent, Republican, Democrat, or your Nationality/Country
PRIMARY TRUST & ALLEGIANCE is NOT:
-Independent, Republican, Democrat, or your Nationality/Country

6. TODAY & ALWAYS: FOLLOWING JESUS MEANS (2)
PRIMARY TRUST & ALLEGIANCE IS:
-To God and to Jesus who God has appointed to be Lord, King, and Messiah (Acts 2:36) Now and Forever
PRIMARY IDENTITY IS:
Being Loved and Forgiven Followers of Jesus Together in our Daily Living

7. GENESIS: We can learn so much about-
God
Humans
Family
Culture
Environment
Self
- so what can we learn from Genesis 11

8. Genesis 11:1
1Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. 

9. Genesis 11:2-3
2And as they migrated from the east, they came upon a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. 3And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.” And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar. 

10. Genesis 11:4
4Then 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; otherwise we shall be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.” 

11. Genesis 11:5-6
5The LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which mortals had built. 6And the LORD said, “Look, they are one people, and they have all one language; and this is only the beginning of what they will do; nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. 
YHWH jealous?
YHWH wishs to protect human race from the self-destruction we are so capable of?

12. Genesis 11:7-9
7Come, let us go down, and confuse their language there, so that they will not understand one another’s speech.” 8So the LORD scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. 9Therefore it was called Babel, because there the LORD confused the language of all the earth; and from there the LORD scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth.

13. 1 Timothy 2:1-6 (1) (like Jeremiah to exiles in Babylon)
1First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for everyone, 2for kings and all who are in high positions, so that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and dignity. - Recent or current Emperors included Nero, Caligula, Domitian!

14. 1 Timothy 2:1-6 (2) (like Jeremiah to exiles in Babylon)
3This is right and is acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, 4who desires everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 5For there is one God; there is also one mediator between God and humankind, Jesus the Messiah, himself human, 6who gave himself a ransom for all —this was attested at the right time.

15. Acts 17:26-31 (1)
26From one ancestor God made all nations to inhabit the whole earth, and God allotted the times of their existence and the boundaries of the places where they would live, 27so that they would seek for God and perhaps grope for God and find God—though indeed God is not far from each one of us.
All nations and empires rise and fall
God’s goal for each nation - “search for God”

16. Acts 17:26-31 (2)
28For “In God we live and move and have our being”; as even some of your own poets have said, “For we too are God’s offspring.” 29Since we are God's offspring, we ought not to think that the deity is like gold, or silver, or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of mortals.
“all God’s offspring” – world & culture wide
Gold and silver make terrible gods

17. Acts 17:26-31
30While God has overlooked the times of human ignorance, now God commands all people everywhere to repent (turn), 31because God has fixed a day on which God will have the world judged in righteousness by a human whom God has appointed, and of this God has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.
- While we often see clearly how others should “repent/turn” are we praying for how we should?

18. Psalm 46:1-11 – Renee’s Psalm (1)
1 God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. 2Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change, though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea; 3though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble with its tumult. (cracks in environment showing!)

19. Psalm 46:1-11 (2)
4There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High God is in the midst of the city; it shall not be moved; God will help it when the morning dawns.

20. Psalm 46:1-11 (3)
 6The nations are in an uproar, the kingdoms totter; God’s voice is uttered, the earth melts. 7The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge… (cracks in world cultures showing)
10"Be still (deep breath), and know that I am God! I am and will be exalted among the nations, I am and will be exalted in the earth." 11The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge.

21. PRAYER TIME - Renee

22. COMMUNION is a Place of: Challenge – Comfort - Encouragement
Where a broken body becomes the bread of life
Where the pouring out of life-blood becomes the new covenant of life giving
Where GOD IS GOD and JESUS has been appointed LORD
And, that God and that Jesus – love us, love you, and love all your “neighbors”