Washington, DC International Christian Church

“Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.  Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me.   Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.  Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will turn back to you.  Save me from bloodguilt, O God, the God who saves me, and my tongue will sing of your righteousness.  O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise.  You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.  The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God you will not despise.” Psalm 51:10-17

“Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently.  But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted.  Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.   If anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.  Each one should test his own actions.  Then he can take pride in himself, without comparing himself to somebody else, for each one should carry his own load.” Galatians 6:1-5

The process of spiritual restoration is amazing! On Sunday, December 14th we welcomed Sean “Tiny” Stafford back into the fellowship of sold-out disciples as we celebrated our Christmas service!  Sean’s heart for God and his actions to seek him are to be imitated.  Sean has lived a challenging life, enduring abuse at a young age and other family issues, while continuing to be an A-student.   The pressure of the world and the enticement of sin led to his incarceration before he began to turn his life around.  After being invited out the church in Syracuse, NY, he was baptized into Christ in 2002.   As he read his Restoration Letter to the church on Sunday, he tearfully shared his disillusionment by the controversy and rebellion ensued by the Kriete Letter in 2003, and how it led him to allow the sins of mistrust and slander to become rampant in his life once again.  He decided to “fall away” from his relationship with God (Luke 8:13) and moved down to Virginia to engage in a life of grotesque sin.  Once he heard about the planting of the Washington, DC International Christian Church, he contacted me and joined us for our Inaugural Service on September 14th of this year.  He became eager for advice and discipling in his life and on his own volition decided to drive over three hours to church every Sunday to join us for service!  Not only did he drive up to DC and sleep on the brothers’ couches, but he also brought visitors!  One of the men who were present at his restoration on Sunday is the Executive Director for the Lost Boys and Girls of Sudan: The National Network in Washington, DC who is open to studying the Bible!
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“To those who sold doves [Jesus] said, ‘Get these out of here! How dare you turn my Father’s house into a market!’ His disciples remembered that it is written: ‘Zeal for your house will consume me.’” John 2:16-17

“It is fine to be zealous, provided the purpose is good, and to be so always and not just when I am with you. My dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you, how I wish I could be with you now and change my tone, because I am perplexed about you!” Galatians 4:18-20

In the Greek the word “zeal” is transliterated as “zelos.”  Its meaning includes “the ardor (passion) of embracing, pursuing, or defending something (good); a fierceness of indignation.”  Recently, I felt a burning zeal that inspired me to action.  Last Friday I was planning to meet a friend for bible study at the corner of one of the busiest streets in Washington, DC – 7th St & H St NW – the Gallery Place/ Chinatown Metro Station.   As I made my way up the Metro escalator to the street, I could hear the sound of an angry man on a microphone.  I arrived on the street corner and saw a black man on a soapbox, dressed in black leather and surrounded by other black men in black & white army fatigues – the infamous Black Hebrew Israelites.  Black Hebrews believe the descendants of American slaves and the indigenous peoples of the Americas make up the 12 tribes of Israel.  They also believe that “the white man is the devil” and that they are the only “people of God!”  After listening to his argument for a while, I was burning with anger.   Paul’s charge to Timothy in 1 Timothy 1:3 was running through my head – “command certain men not to teach false doctrines any longer.” This man was being extremely defamatory and humiliating to the multi-racial crowd that had gathered around them.  He even called other black men around him who disagreed with him, the “n” word!  I saw another brother arrive for the study and asked him to call our friend.   When he received no answer, I decided to make this Black Hebrew my bible study!
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“Now the whole world had one language and a common speech.  As men moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there.  They said to each other, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar.  Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth.”  But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower that the men were building.  The LORD said, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them.  Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.”  So the LORD scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city.  That is why it was called Babel —because there the LORD confused the language of the whole world. From there the LORD scattered them over the face of the whole earth.” Genesis 11:1-9

“Whatever disunites man from God also disunites man from man.”  ~~ Edmund Burke

In Genesis 11, we get an inside look at how the various languages, families and nations on earth ended up being divided and scattered.  To put it bluntly, the Tower of Babel is the true story of people attempting to “make a name for [themselves].” It is a lesson from history that we can learn from today!  Pride against man and against God will scatter us.

Earlier in Genesis 9, God had said to Noah and his sons, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth.” Though Noah’s descendants did spread out as God had said, at some point they stopped “filling the earth” and instead settled in one place.  They knew what they had to do.  Perhaps they decided to stop trying to understand God’s plan and began making up their own.  They stopped obeying God’s direction and became rebellious!  Their decision to “settle down” was in direct defiance of God!   They started building a tower that would “[reach] to the heavens.” How worthless of an attempt was that?  How does this relate to us?
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