God on our behalf. We're particularly thrilled the fifth day of every month because that's our day. And we ourselves use it every day and enjoy knowing the names of those who are serving the Lord all over the world. And it's an opportunity to fellowship and prayer in that work which is being done. I've had the unique privilege of being with the Africans and learning the language from them. There were no grammars. We had to listen to them talking and learn the language from them and then write it down and later to translate in the language. I used to spend my time as a younger man out in the courtyards of the various villages listening to the people telling their stories because they had no written record, no history that was written in the area. And so they took the opportunity night by night, the older men to tell the younger men some of the stories. the history they would say. And some of the history was quite added to, I'm sure. And I want to tell you one of those stories right now from the Alur tribe in the northeastern part of Zaire. I've heard this actually from the people themselves. They said that years ago, as they on a nice moonlit night, looked up at the sky and saw the moon up there, they decided that that place up there must be a wonderful place how bright it was and how shiny and yes sometimes the door was partially shut other times it was completely shut but other times it was wide open now it would be a wonderful thing if one could get into that door and into that wonderful celestial city where all the troubles of the world wouldn't exist certainly there must be much joy up there so according to the story They decided that they would make a pole, a bamboo pole that would let them reach that door so that they could go in and see the wonderful celestial city. So the story was given as being perfectly authentic, and I don't like to dispute them, but nevertheless, they cut bamboo and they put the first stick of bamboo right into a deep hole which was dug, and they pounded around the pole so that it was good and solid. And then they had quite a collection of bark cloth or bark that is drawn into cords, which they used to tie the bamboo piece to piece. And after the first one was put in, they sent a man to the top and passed up another bamboo pole to him and some kamba, as we call it out there, cord. And he tied it into place and then went up to that and another man came up. continued this work and remarkably it didn't topple over. It stood good and firm and they went on and on and they passed on to these various ones who were scattered up yonder, who were lined up there on this pole. They passed on bamboo poles and added and added and added and it became a national project and the women in the tribe were cooking the food and they were sending the food on up and the work continued. They sent the bamboo on up and they sent the cord on up and they built and built and built. And really the progress was remarkable because they were getting very close to the wonderful doorway to the celestial city above. When the termites started work on the bottom pole and the pole came tumbling over and all those on the pole were thrown in all directions. And some who were at the very top where their bodies had become very strange, white. They'd lost all the good color in their bodies, and they were thrown way over the city and over the seas. And this is what they call the white people over in white man's land. They were thrown far away. And others, as they went up, were not getting much in the way of food because some was passing them by, and they were quite small indeed. And they were thrown into the forest, and they got to be called pygmies after a while. but they were thrown into the forest area because they weren't being fed enough on the way up. And then the various other ones were scattered here and there, and that's how there was the dispersion of the people in the world. And they said, of course, our efforts were good, but we've failed, but we've failed. I'd like to read a little bit from the eleventh chapter of Genesis. We often wondered in Africa at many, many things that resemble early Bible history that they seem to know out there, a bit distorted, things that have to do with sacrifice, animal sacrifice, and blood sacrifice, very important in Africa. And things like the number seven is a very significant number. If a mother has twins, and that years ago was a crime, if she had twins, She had to stay inside her hut, and she couldn't go out of the hut until seven days. And then she could only go out of a back door in the hut, and she had to step over blood that had been poured on the doorstep. And as she walked over the blood, she was purified and received back into the tribe and excused from the crimes she had committed of burying twins. But of course that didn't save the twins because one was always sacrificed as well. Not sacrificed in a religious way but was put to death because he was a twin. So we've been, we've heard these stories for many years and observed, well here's one story, the story of Genesis eleven. Now this is an important pivot chapter in Genesis because before this time it was more or less all the sons of Adam. And after this, there's more or less a distinction of various parts according to the sons of Noah. You notice in the tenth chapter, we have the account given concerning the various sons of Noah, the three sons of Noah and their children. This is a sort of a chronological anticipation of the history that followed. A detailed preview or rundown. of the later history of the Noahic people, Noahic people. Notice in verse two, the sons of Japheth, and then verse six, the sons of Ham, and verse thirty-one, the sons of Shem. Usually we say Shem, Ham, and Japheth. It's Japheth, Ham, and Shem here. And it's interesting that after the first nine verses of the eleventh chapter of Genesis, we have the history of Shem for for practically the rest of the Old Testament. But here we have them together. And notice their languages in this preview in verse five concerning Japheth. By these were the borders of the nations divided in their lands, every one after his tongue. And then concerning the sons of Ham, in verse twenty, these are the sons of Ham after their families, after their tongue. And verse thirty-one, these are the sons of Shem, after their families, after their tongues, in their lands, after their nations. And so there were many languages that were the languages of these sons of Japheth later in the history that followed. And notice the sons of Ham. This is interesting to us who work in Africa because these names are names known in Africa even today. In verse six, for example, well, Kush is considered to be Libya. Mishraim is certainly Egypt. If you take an airplane in Egypt, you'll find you're on Air Mishra. And they use the same name as they have here in the sixth chapter. And Putt, which is considered to be Ethiopia. Libya is Kush. And notice some of the sons of Kush. Here's one. Verse eight, Kush. who was the son of Ham, begot Nimrod, a mighty man on the earth, a mighty hunter before the Lord. Therefore it said, even as Nimrod, the mighty hunter before the Lord. And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel. And in the land, at the end of that verse, in the land of Shinar. And so that introduces us to the eleventh chapter, where the whole earth was of one language and one speech, one universal language. And it came to pass. They journeyed from the east going west and found a plane in the land of Shinar. And we notice in verse ten in the last chapter this was the area of Nimrod in the land of Shinar. And they said one to another because they had ambition and they decided that they wanted to preserve their unity. and they wanted to avoid dispersion. They wanted to be together and make a name for themselves. And so we have this very well-known passage of the Tower of Babel, as it's often called. Verse three, they said one to another. Notice how egotistical was their plan. Come, let us make brick and burn them thoroughly. Notice in verse three, let us make brick. And verse four, come, let us build us a city and a tower. whose top we reach unto heaven. And let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth." This is the world's first skyscraper, I suppose you could say, there in Nimrod's land. Totally egotistical, absolutely for themselves, with nothing concerning God in their thoughts. They wanted to build a tower for themselves, In the ingenuity of man, let us make us a name. They built for a name, a name for themselves. And as I think of this, I think of this as being a characteristic in the world today. So much of our planning, the world's planning, shall we say, is for self, is for self-aggrandizement and for fame. Let us make us a name. Let us build us a tower for ourselves. Let us make bricks, something that we can make. But God's altars were of stone. But let us manufacture something that will give us a name. Now, I've had quite a bit of experience making bricks because that's how we built in the early days. We first of all made adobe bricks, just dry bricks and dried them in the sun and built them in the buildings. That was fine as long as you kept them covered from the rain. Then we went on and made bricks. We got a little machine. You could bring out two bricks at a time, pressed down, and they were good. They dried in the sun, and then we piled them into kills and burned them. And I remember one time, the largest I made of many kills, I remember I had five furnace holes, and that was a kill that had ninety thousand bricks. We burned. And those bricks, of course, were used in building buildings, school buildings and dwellings there at Nyankundi. They decided to use to make their own bricks and they had slime we have here for mortar. It's really a bituminous product which is found there in the Shinar plain, they say, and there are no bricks there, there are no stones there, so they made the brick. Man's materials and the man's ingenuity and the desire, self-aggrandizement, the top might reach heavenward to avoid dispersion for self-interest and to maintain their population concentration. And they forgot all about the Lord on high. And the Lord came down to see the city in the tower, verse five, which the children of men builded. They forgot the Lord and the Lord was observing. I think just at this moment we can apply this even to ourselves, to ourselves as individuals and collectively. In the planning of the world today, God is forgotten in so many instances, and men in their ingenuity are going on and on and on and forgetting God. But there can be no real blessing when God is forgotten in our planning. And our efforts, unless they are empowered by the Holy Spirit of God, have no eternal value, but are those things which are passing and which are of no eternal value. The forgotten God on high, verse five, observed man's puny efforts, noted man's unity of language. And the Lord said, came down to see the city and tower and said, Behold, the people are one. They have all one language. And this they begin to do. Now nothing will be withheld from them, which they have imagined to do. Come, let us go down. And they are confound their language that they may not understand one another's speech. The God, the God in the plural, shall I say, one God in the plural, the Trinity, let us go down. The purpose was to confound the language. And in the second chapter of Acts, we had the language given back to people to announce the glories of God in that wonderful time of a change of dispensation, introducing the time the dispensation of the grace of God through the gospel and the formation of the church. Here there's a confusion of language. The Babel has come and their languages, the language here is confused and they are dispersed. Come let us go down and confound their language that they may not understand one another's speech. I've often thought in reading that how remarkable it was that these who had been building together before, at this point, no longer understood one another. The forgetting of the former language in the dispersion and the use of other languages is a remarkable miracle indeed. Man forgot his own tongue. They couldn't communicate. And so they were scattered throughout the whole world. The Lord scattered them abroad upon the face of all the earth, and they ceased building the city. Therefore the name of it is called Babel. You remember later the name occurs concerning Babylon. It has to do with confusion. I thought of it this way. The omnipotent God cannot bless efforts independent of himself. And any work that's done in the energy of the flesh will not know God's blessing. Except the Lord build a house, they labor in vain to build it. And I'm speaking as a missionary because I know something about work on the mission field and how important it is to know the guidance of the Holy Spirit of God in all our efforts for Him. Fleshly zeal leads to failure, to confusion. As Robbie Burns said, the best laid plans of mice and men can after Gly and leave us not but grief and pain for promised joy. Going ahead in our own efforts, Be it in our individual lives or in our corporate testimony without the guidance and blessing of God, it's without eternal value. I mentioned the other day of how my plans were to be in the advertising business. My plans were to be active and in the position of some importance in the graphic arts. And then I learned that the pathway to blessing was yielding my life in the hands of the Lord, that He might mold my life as clay in the hands of the divine potter. And oh, that was the time that I started knowing the blessing of God in my life. And as I look back after over the years, I praise God for the time when He spoke to my soul that I should not plan my own life, but I should give it without reserve, wholly and completely, into His gracious hands. And so I feel personally as As believers, we need to know the Lord Jesus as the potter who can mold our lives that we might be vessels meet for the master's use. That verse that we quoted, I think, this morning in Acts nine, when Saul saw the Lord by faith and the Lord spoke with him and rebuked him. Who art thou, Lord? I am Jesus whom thou persecutest. Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And then the Lord told him to go. He said, I send you to open their eyes, to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they might receive forgiveness of sins and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me. This has been a precious verse to me. And then Paul said, therefore I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, but went. went and preached the gospel. Personally, and I often speak along this line to young people who have their lives ahead of them, but it concerns every one of us in the problems we have in life, decisions we have to make, that they might be made in dependence upon God Himself in the enablement of His Holy Spirit. Collectively, or before I go to that, may I just say as to unbelievers, if we have any one in our company this evening who has not come to know the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior. I can assure you that there can be no joy and blessing or peace in your life until you know personally the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior. There is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved, but the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. And he said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me. This is the unique way of salvation. But the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, who died and who rose again, who one day will come for his own, he is the one who shed his precious blood. But we might know forgiveness of sins. We might be accepted in the beloved. We might know what it is to be redeemed by his own precious blood. Collectively, not all of our activities need right objectives, directives, as we yield ourselves to the guidance of the Holy Spirit of God. Oh, that our lives might not be as missionaries or might not be as individuals or collectively, to make us a name, to guide for ourselves a sense of collectivity, a sense of oneness for self and for the glory of self. Oh, that our lives might be yielded to him, that he would guide us in his way in every detail. I think of this in connection with missionary activities. In missionary activities, there is much that is done in the energy of the flesh on various mission fields of the world. It's a great sorrow. We meet some people who are going out to serve on the mission fields for some special task, perhaps specialists in nutrition. We've not had them in the Nyongkundi area, but I'm thinking of another section of Zaire. We've met some of these people as they come in to go to their fields, but they themselves don't even know the Lord Jesus Christ. They have had training. in some special skill and they're being sent out to do a job on the mission field and they themselves are out of Christ. Oh, the first thing of course we need is to know the Lord Jesus Christ is our Savior. And I would say that out there on the mission field we've learned that we're not to labor to make a name for ourselves. We're not to labor to win glory for ourselves. The Lord will not give His glory to another. And for all that has been done out, Jondra and Africa, we would give glory to the Lord because the work has been His. If it were not for the active work of the Holy Spirit of God, there would be no work such as we see out there today of thousands of African believers going on for God, being built up in the most holy faith, going on as Christians, going out to witness in teams and as individuals, as campaigns. going into the distant tribes with the gospel and seeing souls saved and seeing them formed in groups of believers as local churches. It's not for self. Our work out there is not for glory for man. It's for the glory of God. And we thank him that he has glory through this work that has been done. I'm thinking of Nyan Kundi again. Brother, you pronounced it very well. I'll maybe explain how you could slightly improve it. another time. But Nyankundi is a remarkable mission station and it's in a series of mission stations that are really remarkable. When visitors come and they see Nyankundi, I don't know if any of you have been to Nyankundi out there. I know that the Christians would enjoy if you went out to visit and go out to some of those local churches to visit them, they'd enjoy that. I know when Bill Bush brought thirteen for a trip one time out there to Nyankundi, And they came all thirteen of them, and they wanted to see the pygmies. They're interesting to see, and they wanted to see any animals that could be seen. But they wanted to see the local churches, the assemblies of believers through the area. And they went and saw some of those groups of believers. And well, the Africans have never forgotten about these people from way overseas that they wanted to see our local churches. They wanted to see our gathering together. They wanted to sit down and worship the Lord with us. They've never forgotten that. And so it's a good thing. Sometimes if you're planning maybe a trip to include a trip to some of the mission fields, some mission fields you may be particularly interested in to learn more about the field. and also to encourage the Christians who are there. Well, I can say when people come to Nyankundi, almost inevitably they said, I never had the idea as much was being done as this. They see the various things and they see the beauty of the place and some of the buildings that have been built and they see the masses of people that are there. They see the medical center with all the activities that are going on. These works that we call ancillary works, they're parachurch works, if I can use that expression. They are handmaidens to the gospel. Hudson Taylor called them the scaffolding for the building that is being done, the spiritual building that is being done. As people go around and see all these things, they see the medical center, they see the school work in the area with which we're working over six thousand students in schools, various schools, primary schools, secondary schools, schools for home economics, nursing schools. all of these things and they say something in the tone of Queen of Sheba. The half has not been told. We hadn't expected anything like this. We can never convey. And even in the presentation on Thursday that I hope to give with the slides, it'll only be a little cross-section in that time to tell you of the vastness of the work that's being done out there. When we see the three planes based there and you see the medical center in which five evangelical missions are collaborating and happy fellowship. One church at Niyankundi, the Assembly of Believers there, and all fellowshiping together, rejoicing in the oneness of the body of Christ, sitting together, a testimony, a definite evidence of the oneness of the body of Christ in a practical way, that we can work together with them in the Gospel and in the Medical Center, and we fellowship together and partake together of the Lord's Supper, rejoicing in our oneness in Christ. As we think of Yankundi, of course, there's a satisfaction as we see what has happened and we've had such a part in it in the years. But we remember another man who took glory for himself, a man who was in Babel called Babylon in his day. Nebuchadnezzar said, Is not this great Babylon that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power and for the honor of my majesty? You know what happened to Nebuchadnezzar? He went and he ate grass like the oxen and and his nails grew and his hair grew and so on until he could know that the Lord reigned. The Lord said, I will not give my glory to another. But can I tell you, what is our work out there? What is the priority? Yes, the gospel, of course. We as missionaries go out first of all to tell men and women dying in their sins that there's no way of salvation apart from faith in the Lord Jesus and resting in His finished work on Calvary's cross. That's our task. And the Lord blessed it as we give that forth in a wonderful way. But we are building, shall I say, like those people in the eleventh chapter of Genesis, we're building for a name, but it's for the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. No other name but his name. That name which is above every name. That the name of Jesus, every knee should bow and every tongue confess that he's Lord to the glory of God the Father. Building the church. He said, I will build my church, and we're participating in this work. Christ loved the church and gave himself for it. At the present time, the Holy Spirit is at work in Africa, calling out from among the nations a people for his name, and we participate. What privilege it is to be ambassadors for Christ there, beseeching men in Christ's stead, for he's in heaven, beseeching men to be reconciled to God. This is the work. And so the Lord... is calling out from the nations of people for his name. One here and one here, fifty there, and a hundred there. He's calling them out in his own gracious way for building. Let's look for a moment at this first epistle of Peter, Peter's first epistle at chapter two. I'm going to go right ahead to save time, find it and follow with me. First Peter two and verse four. Or verse three, If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious, to whom coming is unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God and precious. Ye also as living stones are built up a spiritual house and holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. And then in verse six, Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect precious, and he that believeth on him shall not... be confounded. Praise the Lord that the living stone is there, and the Lord Jesus Christ is the stone, the living stone himself. Look with me in the third chapter of First Corinthians. First Corinthians chapter three, verse ten. First Corinthians three, ten. According to the grace of God which is given me as unto a wise master builder, I have laid the foundation and another man buildeth on it. But let every man take heed how he buildeth upon it. For other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. That mystical building is going up. And we can see it there. Although it's a mystical building and not visible, we can see it in the lives of the Christians out here in Africa. The building is being built on that living stone. And all of these stones are being hewn by the Holy Spirit out of the mountain, out of the world, and called out and fitted into place in this mystical building. Now look with me at Ephesians chapter two, Ephesians two. At verse nineteen, Ephesians two nineteen. Now therefore you know more strangers and sojourners, but fellow citizens with the saints and of the household of God. and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom all the building fitly framed together, groweth unto the holy temple in the Lord, of whom ye also are built together for inhabitation of God through the Spirit. All of these stones are being hewn out by the Holy Spirit of God, and they're being fitted into place in the church, into this mystical building which is going up silently. You remember in the time of Solomon's Temple. Those stones that were brought and built into the temple were already prepared before they got up to the site of the temple. They were prepared in the quarries down below. And how they ever managed to bring them up to the site of the temple, I'm sure I don't know. But certainly they brought them up and they laid them in position and they all fitted in position. And there wasn't the sound of metal, there was no sound of a hammer or a chisel to correct those stones. They were correct from down in the quarry and they were brought up and put into place in the temple of Solomon. Nowadays the Lord is calling out for among the nation's people, all of whom are living stones. They're living stones to be built upon the living stone. And they're all in position. And the Lord has a position for each one of those living stones that are being incorporated into the church, which is the building, this mystical building that is in process of being built. The Lord builds and we work to build too. Paul said that in the first chapter, the third chapter, first. Corinthians which we read that there's an activity which engages us. This is our activity on the field. Preaching the gospel, that this work of calling out for among the nations a people for the name of the Lord Jesus may continue and they succeed and they may be incorporated into this mystical building which is the church. I think we should look at Ephesians chapter four because here while the metaphor is a different one we receive the same instruction. Ephesians four. Verse fifteen. Here we have the picture of the church as a body. And of course we have it as a bride too in the fifth chapter. But here in the fourth chapter we have the body. Four fifteen. Speaking the truth in love, we may grow up into him in all things who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body strictly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplies, according to the effectual working and the measure of every part. makeeth increase of the body unto the building up of itself in love. And so we all have a part. We're in the body. We're in the family of God, yes. And we're in the body of Christ, members of his body. Stones, if you like, in his building, put into position. And he has us to have a part in the maintenance and the building of the church. But as a body, we have a task to perform. in all of those parts of the human body, each with its task to perform. And so in the work of the Lord, the work goes on. And we as the church, we have our tasks to perform. Every one. Each one has his place, and each one has his work to do. And for the growth of the body, it's necessary that every part functions as he desires to the very best. Nothing of sin to prevent that. smooth working and efficient work in the very part for the glory of the Lord Jesus and for the building up of the church. I just like to say our hearts rejoice because in that area around Yankuli there are sixty-four local churches like this that are completely indigenous and autonomous. That is their depending just on the Lord. They are the African people, the local African people with local elders overseeing their gatherings. And in the grace of God, there's a spontaneous expansion as they're going on, and new ones are being formed year by year more. And the work goes on to the praise of the glory of our Savior. And so we are building. We're building for a name, not like those poor folk back yonder in the time of Babel. But we're building that the Lord Jesus may be glorified and that his church may be formed. How gracious he is that he gives to each one of us a part. functioning in the body of Christ, the church, having our place in this mystical building that is being built, giving us the opportunity of participating in the guidance of the Holy Spirit of God, in the announcing of the glad tidings that these parts might, these stones might be called out and fitted by the Holy Spirit into the mystical building which is the church. Shall we pray? Gracious Father, we praise thy holy name for the wonders of the Work that is being done in this day, in this age, in this time of grace, as souls are being saved through faith in the Lord Jesus and are being incorporated into his body, joined to him, the living head, the one who... And has control over all the members. and we bow in grateful praise and thank thee for thy goodness. And so, Lord, give us to think on these things that our hearts might be encouraged and refreshed, and we may participate in the way thou hast chosen, each one of us, in the place of thy choice, and in the way for which thou hast gifted us by thy Holy Spirit. Receive our thanks. Bless us now in the precious name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.