Talk
I want to preach the message:
Stop building your tower. Start building God’s Throne.
I want you to help me preach this message to that person beside you.
What tower are we talking about? I’m talking about the Tower of Babel– if you know that story from Genesis Chapter 11. But just in case you don’t know, we’re going to backtrack to Genesis.
I need to backtrack. I cannot jump right away to the Tower of Babel story.
How many of you think that you’ve heard the Tower of Babel before?
In Genesis 1:28, God gives us this mission:
When we read that passage, we think it’s almost like God is saying, “Have children.”
But it’s not only about having children. This is about you and I scattering and filling the Earth wherever we walk.
The earlier verse was about us being images of God. So, when God says, “Fill the Earth,” He means that we fill the Earth with God’s Presence.
Because you are a God-container. You are a God-bearer.
So, whenever you walk into your office, school, mall, and your home, you bring the Presence of God with you.
When you talk with someone, that person senses the Presence of God through your words. When people look at you, they will not only look at you, but they also need to see the God who lives in you.
Question: Did man obey that Word we just read today?
Not really.
Instead of filling the Earth
with His Presence, we fill the Earth with evil– which culminates in the Tower of Babel story.
Now, for modern eyes reading this and modern ears listening, there’s nothing wrong with that plan to build the city and the tower. Looks nice! The plan is good. But the reason we don’t get this story is we’re modern people. This was written 3,000 years ago.
When an ancient person hears the story, the reaction will be like, “Huh!”
I will give you the meaning of the story and I want you to react in that way.
Heaven was God’s throne and man wanted to take over. This was a coup against God.
Now, react in 1, 2, and 3: “Huh!”
Now you understand the story. That’s basically what I’m trying to say. Now you might ask me, what’s the problem with being scattered?
Wasn’t that God’s command in Genesis 1 — to fill the Earth, multiply, scatter, bring the Presence of God to everyone?
With the Tower of Babel, the people would like to set themselves apart from others. They feel superior to everyone.
Now, this is the most important point I want to share with you about this story.
We’re going to go deep in this Talk. Whenever a talk is deep, I want you to go louder.
The reason I want you to be loud is this: If the talk is deep, you might just get lost.
You just miss one sentence, and you say, “What was that?”
I want you to lean in the Talk. I want your full attention. I don’t want you to miss anything. I want you to be loud when you respond, okay?
This is a dialogue. I’m not going to be one guy talking. If you agree with something, say, “Yeah or Amen.” You clap your hands. You stand up.
Babel Is Babylon
I encourage you that from now on, you will read
Tower of Babel as Tower of Babylon.
Why? Because in the original Hebrew language,
Babel and Babylon are the same word.
I want you to use the word Babylon because when the biblical authors wrote Genesis and they wrote the story of the Tower of Babel, they were pointing to an actual Empire.
During the time that Genesis was being edited and compiled, there was an empire called Babylon. In the year 487, Babylon conquered Israel. Babylon besieged its capital, Jerusalem– destroyed it, burned the Temple to ruins. Deported Israelites 2,000 miles to Babylon. Cruel nation! Massacred, pillaged, robbed, and raped.
So, when Genesis was being compiled and edited, guess which was the Tower of Babel? It was really the Tower of Babylon.
Look at somebody beside you and tell that person, “Beware of the spirit of Babylon.”
The Tower of Babylon can be captured in two words:
- God-Rebellion
- Self-absorption
The Tower of Babylon is God-Rebellion: “We don’t want You anymore.
We don’t need You anymore. We want to raise our own name without Your help. And guess what: God, I’m going to define what is good and bad in my terms, not according to Your terms. I do not need You. I’m building the tower, my throne.”
We create Babylon in our lives. What does that mean?
Babylon is something that you create in your own life, in your own attitudes, in your own perspectives. Babylon is created in governments. It’s created in companies and businesses. It’s created in your own habits. It’s created in your own family. Oh gosh, we need help.
What’s Babylon
The Empire of Babylon is long dead and gone. Persia conquered it in 439 BC.
A bully never lasts. There’s always a bigger bully that comes along, right?
The kingdom of Babylon is gone but Babylon is alive and kicking in us. Do you agree?
The world is in a mess because we’ve allowed Babylon to take over our world.
What we need to do as God-followers is to reject Babylon. Let’s renounce Babylon. Let’s start building the Throne of God.
Put your hands over your chest and say: “Father, come help me to discern when I’m following the spirit of Babylon. I want to follow You and build Your throne in my life every day. I want to be a real God-container that’s so transparent, that when people see me, they see You. When people hear me, people hear You.
When people experience me, they will experience You. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.”
Have you ever heard of a company that makes bad products that are harmful to their customers– but they do it because it earns them money? That’s Babylon.
One politician friend of mine came up to me and said, “Bro. Bo, some of the politicians don’t want the citizens to get better financially. They don’t want to get them out of poverty.”
I asked why.
He said, “If they get out of poverty, the politicians cannot buy their votes anymore in the next election.”
That’s sick. That’s Babylon. There’s so much Babylon in our society. There’s so much evil and we need to renounce that.
But do you know that Babylon starts in our families?
We’re all Filipinos. Our families are Filipinos, but some families are Filipino Babylonians.
Babylon can be any government, or political group, or business, or even a church.
Yes, even a church. When a church says, “Holy people only,” it’s Babylon. When a church says, “We’re better than others,” that’s Babylon.
Babylonian Family
Babylon can even be the wrong family. Even a family that unites for the wrong reason.
I thank God I’m Filipino.
You know what’s beautiful about Filipinos? We love family. We’re very family-oriented.
But how many of you understand that if you love and follow God, loving your family is not enough?
Warning: Your love for your family can be selfish. It can be Babylonian.
If you say, “As long as I can feed my family and as long as I can send my kids to the best school that money can buy, I’ll be happy…” That statement seems normal but that’s Babylonian.
Hello! You’re a God-follower. You cannot think about just your family. Filipinos are family first.
We have a family-first culture and that’s supposed to be good. Many Filipinos don’t have a family-first culture. We have a family-only culture. That is evil. You cannot think about just your kids
I just came from our Wealth Conference in the Truly Rich Club.
It was a two-day Conference– yesterday and today. It’s still going on.
People think it’s all about money that I teach. In this Conference, I pointed out, and I’m sharing this with you: I want you to be the best version of who you are — the best mom, the best dad, the best husband, the best wife, the best son, the best artist, the best engineer, the best accountant, the best singer, the best dancer. You’ve got to elevate your skills to be the best that you can ever become.
Because you are not doing this for yourself. You’re not even doing it just for your own family. You are doing it for God’s Family of Families.
Family First
I’ll repeat that innocuous normal statement:
“As long as I can feed my children, I’ll be happy.”
It should be: “As long as I can feed my kids.
I’ll be ‘partially’ happy because every single day, there are 95 children who die in this country because of hunger.”
Do you understand that today, 95% of kids here died yesterday? Yes, 95 kids died on Friday. Another 90 tomorrow.
Another 95 kids die. And then, we’re happy that our children are fed. That’s Babylonian.
We should be Family-first — not Family-only.
In the Philippines, 13% of Filipino children are malnourished. Can you imagine how many millions those are? Do you know that when children are malnourished from ages one to five, their brains are permanently underdeveloped? When they grow up, they cannot handle jobs that require high thinking.
My gosh. And we condemn them to poverty. We need to do something.
But you might say, “Bro. Bo, how? I’m a small person. I’m just a BPO agent. I’m just a nurse.” “I’m just a sales lady.” “I can’t even feed my own family.”
That’s why I made a Wealth Conference. That’s why I have the Truly Rich Club. That’s why I encourage you to be better because it’s not about you anymore.
We’re so used to being small: hide, don’t create waves, don’t stand out.
No. You owe it to those kids who will be dying if you don’t be the best version of who you are. Earn as much as you can because you want to be a better gift to the people around you.
In our company, our Logistics guy started as a messenger. Then he became part of the Logistics — the guy in the stock room.
He shared yesterday at the Wealth Conference: “I thank Bro. Bo that I have learned how to invest. Before, I didn’t own a house. Now, I have two houses.”
I was just at the back. I was listening to him. I said to myself, “Wow, he has two houses? I have only one.”
But I love his testimony. Tell the person beside you:
“It’s not about you.”
Be a superstar. Be the best. God calls us to love more than our family.
The Antidote
Jesus came to free us from Babylon.
This is the antidote: Whatever you’re attending right now is God’s Family of Families. This is God’s antidote because here, you are surrounded by people who are of different backgrounds and different bloodlines. Why are you sitting beside each other?
Why do we come here every Sunday? Why do we love and serve each other?
Because this is God’s antidote.
Under One Roof Talks 1, 2, and 3 are about your biological family. Then we moved out and we had Talks 4, 5, and 6– about God’s Family of Families.
Now, this is what Jesus did when He came into this world. He formed a family with his disciples. He started building His family.
Think about this: Do you know how crazy the disciples were? Absolutely wild.
At right, the one on the upper right is Chuza, one of Jesus’ disciples. You don’t know him much. He’s a VIP. He’s a steward of King Herod’s palace. He followed Jesus. But with him are uneducated fishermen. The one on the lower extreme right is Zacchaeus, a corrupt tax collector like Matthew who decided to repent and change.
The woman here had problems with seven demons.
Now, this is what Jesus did when He came into this world. He formed a family with his disciples. He started building His family.
Think about this: Do you know how crazy the disciples were?
Absolutely wild.
Think of all these people Jesus formed into a family. Very different people.
Isn’t that amazing? God’s antidote is a Family of Families.
Let’s care for each other even if we’re not related by blood.
Jesus was not content with this. This was just Phase 1. These were all Jews.
God-Bearers
If you may recall, in the Talk last week, Jesus moved into Phase 2. He went to the Gentiles.
He talked with a Samaritan woman, not a Jew, sitting by Jacob’s Well.
Because of that one conversation, the entire Samaritan village came to know Jesus.
Then, He went to the Gadarenes and met demon-possessed people. *
Do you know why I know they were not Jews but Gentiles?
The demons went to the pigs.
If a territory has pigs, no Jew would go there because Jews don’t like pigs.
They don’t eat pigs.
How many of you understand this? When Jesus multiplied bread– the miracle of bread multiplication– how many people did He feed?
How many people did Jesus feed during the Multiplication of the Loaves?
Not only men. He fed 5,000 including women and children.
Please understand this. He did that miracle twice.
First time, 5,000 men– all Jews. Then, there was a second miracle. Jesus fed how many in the second miracle? 4,000. Where did it happen? Decapolis, the 10 cities for Gentiles– 4,000 Gentiles.
Two miracles on the multiplication of loaves — because Jesus was now reaching out to Jews and to Gentiles.
Guess what? Jews and Gentiles started following Jesus even if they hated each other. This is the opposite of the Tower of Babel.
Jesus is teaching us how to live with other images of God– whether we like them or not.
Do you like that person beside you? Do you like that person behind you? Jesus is saying those persons are still God-containers and God-bearers.
*In the New Testament, Gadarenes refers to some location on the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee. (Matthew 8:28-34)
‘Explosive’ Story
Can you tell me what Parable this depicts?
The Parable of The Good Samaritan
This story is not a bedtime story. This is explosive. Jews hated Samaritans to their core and vice versa. Three reasons Jews hated Samaritans:
- Political: Some 1,000 years before Jesus was born, there was a civil war in Northern Kingdom versus Southern Kingdom. Northern Kingdom, the capital was in Samaria. Southern Kingdom, the capital was Jerusalem.
- Racial: In the year 500 BC, Assyria conquered the Northern Kingdom with Samaria as capital. Intermarried with the locals, and their offspring became the So, the Jews looked at the Samaritans as half-breed Jews.
- Religious: The Samaritans believed in Yahweh. Prayed to Yahweh– but they did it in their own way. They did not go to Jerusalem to worship. They did not like the Temple of Jerusalem, so, they built their own temple in Mount
I want you to know that in the year 190 AD, the high priest of Jerusalem sent soldiers to Mount Gerizim to destroy their temple.
Can you just imagine how they hated each other?
So, Jews and Samaritans hated each other so much– and then Jesus comes along and says, “May I tell you a story?”
In reply, Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return,
I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’ “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?” The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.” Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”
Another Story
The Parable of the Good Samaritan does not appeal to me. Because we’re not in that culture. We’re not in that context. May I make you feel what the first listeners of this story felt?
I’m going to end with this:
I want you to imagine a person in your life, that when you look at him: cringeworthy, repulsive, repugnant.
When he walks into the room, your eyes roll upwards to the ceiling. When he enters the room, you’re looking for the exit. Why? Maybe because he’s a loud mouth or maybe because he curses and you don’t like cursing. Maybe you don’t like the way he dresses. Maybe he smells. Various reasons.
You know what sealed the deal? Last election, he voted for the wrong person.
He voted for the person that you hate. He didn’t just vote for that person.
He campaigned for that person. From that time on, you never liked him. In your mind and in your heart, prejudice built up. You basically called him Mr. Bobo. When you’re with your friends, you laugh at him and ridicule him.
One fateful day, you’re walking on the road, minding your own business. Then, you feel a very painful whack at the back of your head. Boom! You’re sprawled on the road, lying in your pool of blood. You’re in a daze.
Then, you saw two guys wearing masks, hoodies, carrying baseball bats.
So… that’s what hit you.
The guys bent over, got your wallet, got your phone, and walked away laughing. You’re going in and out of consciousness.
Then you saw a guy walk by. You wanted to raise your hand to ask for help but you could not. Your body was in shock. The man looked at you and then walked away as if he did not see you.
After a while, you saw another man walk by. You wanted to shout. You wanted to cry out for help but no sound came out of your throat.
He saw you. You saw him see you but he did not only walk away, he ran away.
Tears began to roll down your cheeks and you’re wondering, “This is the day am I going to die?”
When what appeared as though it was like forever, you heard the rush of footsteps and there was this person who bent down. You could not see his face but he took off his shirt and he put it over your head wound to stop the bleeding.
Then, you felt being carried to a car and then you lost consciousness again.
When you woke up, you were in an emergency room. You had doctors and nurses there.
The Same Story
The next morning, you woke up and the doctor said, “You’re one lucky guy. Do you know that if that person did not bring you here in the nick of time, 10 minutes late, we would not have this conversation. You would be in the morgue.”
Three days later, you were discharged from
the hospital and you went to the Billings office to pay for your hospital bill– only to find out to your shock… The cashier said that the guy who brought you to the hospital left his credit card and said he was going to pay for everything.
The cashier added, “So, this morning I charged him.” You asked the cashier who brought you to the hospital.
The cashier said, “He said he’s your friend. Here’s the receipt. “
You read the name and every fiber of your body trembles. It’s the person that you disliked. It’s the person who ridiculed you. It’s the person you ridiculed. It’s the person you called Mr. Bobo.
That is the Parable of the Good Samaritan.
Jesus, the Brilliant Storyteller, was shaking our prejudices.
He’s saying, “You might be wrong… All of you are my children.” God is not asking us to be best friends with everybody.
God is not asking us to be naive and not to have boundaries.
What God is asking us is to let go of our anger and our need to get even with people who hurt us.
This is the only way to become a Family of Families.
I invite you to worship the Lord, the real Good Samaritan. Babylon has beaten us. Let’s face it. We act selfish. We rebel against God. We insist on our own way of defining what’s good and bad for ourselves. Babylon has beaten us. We’re now sprawled on the road, lying in our own pool of blood.
Then, Jesus comes with His own wounds. He bandages our wounds and then He pays for the bill on the Cross.
Pray with me. Lift your hands if you can. Just be grateful for your Rescuer. Be grateful for your Savior. Say:
“Jesus Thank You for loving me and for saving me from Babylon. I want to belong to You. I want to represent You in this world. Thank You for making me a God-container. Lord, help me that wherever I go, I’m bringing Your Presence and Your Love to the people around me. In Jesus’ Mighty Name.
Let the glory of the Lord and the love of God come
