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Abram-the-Greathearted-Msg-6-22 · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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Speaker 1: We're engaged in the study of the life of Abraham,
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Speaker 1: an ancient story with a very relevant and always appropriate
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Speaker 1: series of applications for our day in which we live.
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Speaker 1: They will be a little bit challenging as you hear
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Speaker 1: the words of Genesis chapter fourteen, Red And I'll just
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Speaker 1: leave it at that. When I first looked at it,
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Speaker 1: I thought, you got to be kidding. I'm supposed to
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Speaker 1: get something out of that, And then before it was over,
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Speaker 1: I was on the edge of my seat. It's so exciting.
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Speaker 1: What a privilege it is to teach God's word, and
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Speaker 1: what a great joy it is to connect with you
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Speaker 1: in the teaching. It is because the chapters like this
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Speaker 1: at most men who fill pulpits do not exposit the
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Speaker 1: word of God lest they come across stuff that's tough.
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Speaker 1: But it's the tough stuff that often yields the best stuff.
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Speaker 1: You'll find in your worship folder and outline that you
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Speaker 1: may want to use if you like taking notes or
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Speaker 1: doodling or whatever you want to do on the outline.
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Speaker 1: That's there for you, and you can have it ready
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Speaker 1: once you find Genesis fourteen. Maybe stand together for the
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Speaker 1: reading of excerpts from the chapter and it came about
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Speaker 1: in the days of Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch King
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Speaker 1: of Elassar, Ketterer Laomer, king of Elim, and titled King
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Speaker 1: of Goem, that they made war with Bera, King of Sodom,
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Speaker 1: and with Burshai, King of Gomara, Shinab king of Admah,
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Speaker 1: and Shemeber king of Zeboim, and the king of Belit.
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Speaker 1: That is so hard. All these came as allies to
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Speaker 1: the valley of Sidim, that is the salt sea. Twelve
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Speaker 1: years they had served Karlaomer, but the thirteenth year they
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Speaker 1: rebelled Verse ten. Now the valley of Sidim was full
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Speaker 1: of tarpits, and the kings of Sodom and Gamarrow fled
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Speaker 1: and they fell into them. But those who survived fled
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Speaker 1: to the hill country. Then they took all the goods
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Speaker 1: of Sodom and Gamara and all their food supply, and departed.
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Speaker 1: They also took Lot, Abram's nephew and his possessions and departed,
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Speaker 1: for he was living in Sodom. Then a fugitive came
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Speaker 1: and told Abram the Hebrew, and he was living by
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Speaker 1: the oaks of Mamory. The Amorite brother of Eskol, the
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Speaker 1: brother of Aner, and these were allies with Abram. When
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Speaker 1: Abram heard that his relative had been taken captive, he
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Speaker 1: led out his trained men born in his house three
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Speaker 1: hundred and eighteen and went in pursuit as far as Dan.
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Speaker 1: He divided his forces against them. By night he and
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Speaker 1: his servants and defeated them and pursued them as far
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Speaker 1: as Hoba, which is north of Damascus. He brought back
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Speaker 1: all the goods and also brought back his relative lot
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Speaker 1: with his possessions, and also the women and the people. Then,
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Speaker 1: after his return from the defeat of Karlaomer and the
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Speaker 1: kings who were with him, the King of Sodom went
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Speaker 1: out to meet him in the valley of Shaveh, that
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Speaker 1: is the King's valley. Twenty one. The King of Sodom
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Speaker 1: said to Abe, give the people to me, and take
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Speaker 1: the goods for yourself. Abram said to the King of Sodom,
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Speaker 1: I've sworn to the Lord God, most High, possessor of
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Speaker 1: heaven and earth, that I will not take a thread
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Speaker 1: or a sandal thong, or anything that is yours, for
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Speaker 1: fear you would say I have made Abram rich. I
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Speaker 1: will take nothing except what the young men have eaten,
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Speaker 1: and the share of the man who went with me
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Speaker 1: and are as golden memory. Let them take their share.
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Speaker 1: Doesn't that sounded like fun? I mean, aren't you glad
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Speaker 1: you're not preaching today? Yeah? Please have a seat in
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Speaker 1: my more than seven and a half decades on this earth,
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Speaker 1: I've never been more concerned about our nation. Never. I
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Speaker 1: think many of you feel the same way. I realize
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Speaker 1: better than most of you that this is not a
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Speaker 1: political gathering, and I do not have a political thought
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Speaker 1: in mind. I only have the importance of a Christian
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Speaker 1: responsibility in mind. You must inform yourself and then pray
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Speaker 1: you You must do that some things in life are
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Speaker 1: just as serious as they could possibly be. Let's pray
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Speaker 1: for our great country. Will you join me? We are
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Speaker 1: free today, our father, because great men and women, unselfish, courageous,
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Speaker 1: took up the fight and provided liberty. They wrenched it
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Speaker 1: from the hands who would have taken it from us.
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Speaker 1: They stood against the foe. They were willing to give
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Speaker 1: their last full measure of devotion or what they believed
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Speaker 1: was a cause worth fighting for and, if necessary, dying for.
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Speaker 1: May we realize the implication and understand that it is
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Speaker 1: worth living for guide us as a people to follow
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Speaker 1: your will as we do our part as good citizens
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Speaker 1: of these great United States of America. Thank you for
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Speaker 1: those who have paved the way. Faithful war warriors, strong hearted,
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Speaker 1: godly statesmen and women, those whose vision was clear, those
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Speaker 1: whose hearts were strong, people with guts and the spine
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Speaker 1: and determination to carry out their task in difficult places
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Speaker 1: and lonely places, and cold and wet, hard places. They
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Speaker 1: were there for us. And we acknowledge that today we
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Speaker 1: have just read that you are God most High. You
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Speaker 1: will have your way, You will do as you please.
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Speaker 1: Maybe look back and realize you let us and how
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Speaker 1: you had your way for your own glory. We sit
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Speaker 1: in this comfortable place today with gratitude for those who
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Speaker 1: have made that possible. And now we give our gifts
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Speaker 1: that ministries like this one and others might go forth
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Speaker 1: with courage and new strength. May these gifts help children
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Speaker 1: in youth and adults, the aged, the sick, the dying,
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Speaker 1: the broken, the bruised, the forgotten, as well as those
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Speaker 1: healthy and strong and able to earn a living. We
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Speaker 1: set apart these gifts for your greater glory, and we
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Speaker 1: give them with great joy and generosity, the matchless name
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Speaker 1: of Jesus who set us free. We pray, everyone said. Amen.
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Speaker 1: Everything in the Bible falls into one of three categories. People.
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Speaker 1: They are woven all the way through the fabric of
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Speaker 1: the scriptures. There are people. And second would be events,
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Speaker 1: some of them extremely significant, others of them quiet and
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Speaker 1: almost insignificant. Sometimes the events flow together and become a
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Speaker 1: little complicated. But there are events, And then, of course
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Speaker 1: there are great ideas, great truths. The first two are
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Speaker 1: obvious to most who read the Bible. We see the
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Speaker 1: names of people. We understand they are folks who lived
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Speaker 1: and breathed back then, just as we do today. They married,
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Speaker 1: they buried, they were sick, they were well, they fought,
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Speaker 1: they lived together in harmony, and on and on and on.
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Speaker 1: There are people, and then we come across events. They
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Speaker 1: may not be as familiar to us. But the longer
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Speaker 1: we are reading the scriptures, the more we understand how
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Speaker 1: the events flow together. But those great ideas are missed
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Speaker 1: by the hurried reader. I thought of a word picture
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Speaker 1: that might make this clear. Think of the Holy Scriptures
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Speaker 1: as a lovely stream that flows over boulders and rocks
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Speaker 1: down through a mountain pass. Within this stream there are fish,
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Speaker 1: fish that live and swim along and learn and grow
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Speaker 1: and reproduce, and sometimes they fight and other times they
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Speaker 1: live at peace with each other. As they live their
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Speaker 1: lives in this stream, the fish are like the people.
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Speaker 1: In the stream, there, of course, is water. This water
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Speaker 1: flows consistently, sometimes hurriedly, into a churning motion, and sometimes
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Speaker 1: even rapids. They twist and turn as the waters unfold
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Speaker 1: from their origin to their destination, moving along in the
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Speaker 1: strong currents in the direction of gravity. The waters are
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Speaker 1: like the events, just as the fish are like people.
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Speaker 1: Every once in a while, in certain streams and places
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Speaker 1: around the world, there are golden nuggets that are found
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Speaker 1: by people who take the time to look. We've all
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Speaker 1: seen pictures of the old gold miner as he has
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Speaker 1: come to this stream and is sitting there or kneeling there,
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Speaker 1: and he's sifting through the sand to find those little nuggets,
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Speaker 1: those little priceless gems. The great truths of the Bible
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Speaker 1: are like those golden nuggets. Nuggets are not found by
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Speaker 1: impatient people. It takes time, It takes a while before
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Speaker 1: a discovery is made. Those gold nuggets are the great
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Speaker 1: ideas we are more adept at discovering and learning about people.
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Speaker 1: We are pretty good at understanding the events, but because
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Speaker 1: we are often hurried, we miss the jewels, the gold,
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Speaker 1: the nuggets. Edwin Hatter years ago wrote it this way.
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Speaker 1: That word is like a deep deep mind, deep deep mind,
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Speaker 1: and jewels, rich and rare are hidden in its mighty depths.
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Speaker 1: For every searcher there, You and I who read the
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Speaker 1: Bible become searchers if we care enough to find the gold. Anybody,
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Speaker 1: I said earlier, can find the people. Anyone can notice
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Speaker 1: the events, but only the careful student finds the gold.
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Speaker 1: There is gold in Genesis fourteen that isn't obvious to
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Speaker 1: the hurried reader. As a matter of fact, the gold
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Speaker 1: is seen in an old man, whom Benny would say
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Speaker 1: virtually over the hill. But in God's situation when he
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Speaker 1: uses him, the man has hardly gotten along in life
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Speaker 1: with what the Lord wants him to do. His name,
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Speaker 1: of course, is Abraham. He's hidden in this stream in
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Speaker 1: the sense of his greatness. You see, this is not
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Speaker 1: a chapter about the madness of King Kadar Laomer or
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Speaker 1: the strangeness of a priest named Melchizedek. It's a chapter
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Speaker 1: about the greatness of a man named Abraham. That's why
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Speaker 1: I've given the title to this message, Abram the great Hearted.
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Speaker 1: What does it mean to be great? What are some
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Speaker 1: quality ease that characterize someone who falls in that category
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Speaker 1: of greatness? As I thought about it, four came to mind.
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Speaker 1: And certainly this isn't an exhaustive list, but it'll get
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Speaker 1: us started. The first thing I noticed about genuine greatness
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Speaker 1: is that there is a genuine unselfishness. I've never met
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Speaker 1: a selfish great person never will. This genuine unselfishness works
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Speaker 1: itself out in a refusal to hold things tightly. There's
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Speaker 1: a generosity of heart and a desire to share, an
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Speaker 1: ability to give whatever may be the need to give
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Speaker 1: to that need genuine unselfishness. Second, there's a willingness to
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Speaker 1: sacrifice for others. You notice that the previous characteristic to
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Speaker 1: do with possessions on selfishness. This has to do with people.
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Speaker 1: Great individuals do not care about the differences in others.
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Speaker 1: They overlook that you don't have to be like them
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Speaker 1: for a great person to see value in your life.
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Speaker 1: They're willing to sacrifice for those individuals. Third is an
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Speaker 1: absence of greed. Great people are not in it for
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Speaker 1: what they can get out of it. Their first question
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Speaker 1: is not how much will I be paid or what
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Speaker 1: are the benefits that come to me. There's no narcissism
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Speaker 1: in greatness. Acts of greatness are characterized by an absence
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Speaker 1: of greed. Fourth, I would name the restraint of power
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Speaker 1: restraint of control. Great people are often in authority. They
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Speaker 1: have influence, they hold positions of authority over others. But
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Speaker 1: they don't strut their stuff. They don't play king of
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Speaker 1: the mountain. They don't pull rank and remind you that
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Speaker 1: they're important and year to fall in line. They leave
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Speaker 1: a lot of choices in life up to you. That's
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Speaker 1: called a restraint of power and control. Understand, I'm not
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Speaker 1: saying that people are not important or that the events
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Speaker 1: are insignificant. No, they all work together. But what we're
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Speaker 1: looking for in this chapter is the nugget of greatness.
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Speaker 1: It'll emerge if you spend enough time in these twenty
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Speaker 1: four verses. If I were to put it all in
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Speaker 1: one word, it would be humility. Humility. This nugget of
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Speaker 1: humility is seen in the life of Abraham. He's not
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Speaker 1: overly impressed with himself he's not a rich landowner who
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Speaker 1: builds a high fence around his property. And as we
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Speaker 1: will see, he's a man who shares even in a
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Speaker 1: time of war. You'll be interested to know. The first
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Speaker 1: time war is mentioned in all the Bible is in
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Speaker 1: the second verse of chapter fourteen, where these kings made
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Speaker 1: war with other kings. First mention of war. But even
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Speaker 1: in a setting of war, Abraham the great hearted shows
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Speaker 1: himself unselfish. A lot of this has a background that
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Speaker 1: you remember from our last time together. Recall it. Abram
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Speaker 1: is coming to the land of Canaan, and the Lord says,
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Speaker 1: look to the north, south, east, and west. It's all yours.
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Speaker 1: And the Lord gave him great riches. He became heavy
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Speaker 1: in wealth. Lot trailed along and was a part of
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Speaker 1: the caravan, and he really had no right to any
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Speaker 1: of the land. But Abram realized that the herds of
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Speaker 1: Lot were growing and multiplying as his own were. And
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Speaker 1: you remember what he said chapter thirteen. He pulled Lot aside,
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Speaker 1: and he said, please, please not. There'd be no strife
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Speaker 1: between you and me, or between my herdsman and your herdsman.
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Speaker 1: He's not the whole land. Before you separate from me.
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Speaker 1: If you want to go to the right, I'll go
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Speaker 1: to the left. You want to go to the left,
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Speaker 1: I'll take the right. You want to go up here,
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Speaker 1: I'll go down there, or vice versa. You make the choice.
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Speaker 1: You hear the genuine unselfishness in those words. He's releasing
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Speaker 1: the choicest of the land of Canaan to Lot. Remember
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Speaker 1: what Lot did? He looked out over the land Verse ten,
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Speaker 1: He lifted up his eyes, and he saw he compared
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Speaker 1: one place with another. And then verse eleven says he
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Speaker 1: chose for himself all the valley of the Jordan, all course,
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Speaker 1: where the grass was tall and rain was frequent. When
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Speaker 1: his cattle walked there, the grass scraped their bellies. Plenty
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Speaker 1: of food, plenty of water. I'll take that. But of
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Speaker 1: course a Lot was short sighted, and Abram let him be,
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Speaker 1: and not one to control him. Because a Lot overlooked
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Speaker 1: the fact that the city of Sodom was in the valley,
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Speaker 1: alongside the twin city of Gamarra, where wicked people lived.
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Speaker 1: A Lot put it out of his mind, didn't think
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Speaker 1: how that would affect him or his wife and family.
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Speaker 1: He went there because it was the best of the land,
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Speaker 1: and Abram let him go. Remember that when we get
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Speaker 1: into this story, when we move rather quietly into chapter fourteen,
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Speaker 1: we don't know how much time has passed between the
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Speaker 1: end of thirteen and the beginning of fourteen. But all
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Speaker 1: of a sudden, the lens of scripture does a very
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Speaker 1: very tight focus on a group of men who were kings.
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Speaker 1: There are four kings named in verse one, and there
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Speaker 1: are five kings named in verse two. See the four
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Speaker 1: amraphel arioch ket Ar Laomer and title names that won't
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Speaker 1: mean anything to any of us unless you love ancient history.
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Speaker 1: Ket Ar Laomer is the main king, and he leads
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Speaker 1: all the others who become his allies. And at this
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Speaker 1: time the five kings mentioned in verse two live under
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Speaker 1: the authority of ket Arlaomer, and you see their names
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Speaker 1: Berah Bershi, Shinad Schemeber and the King of Beli, who
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Speaker 1: is never mentioned by name, But there are five kings there.
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Speaker 1: They all live rather peaceably together. As a matter of fact.
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Speaker 1: Verse three tells us they were all allies until the
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Speaker 1: five kings and their people grew weary of the heavy,
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Speaker 1: heavy authority of Ketter Laomer, and they rebelled. We read
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Speaker 1: of the rebellion in verse four. At the end of
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Speaker 1: the verse, they rebelled the five kings and their people
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Speaker 1: rebelled against the four kings, especially Ketter Laomer and the
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Speaker 1: fourteenth year Ketallyomer and the kings that were with him
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Speaker 1: came and defeated them. So we have a war. And
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Speaker 1: then to cut to the chase, we have a defeated
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Speaker 1: group of people as these kings that are victorious come
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Speaker 1: to take the spoil of victory. Now watch closely what
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Speaker 1: we have seen or some fish in the stream. We've
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Speaker 1: seen the movement of the waters, which spells war. There's churning,
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Speaker 1: there's twisting, there's rapids, and now rather than living at
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Speaker 1: peace with one another, they began to fight one another.
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Speaker 1: And they take on the main king named Killer Laomer,
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Speaker 1: and the fight ensues and ultimately Killer Laomer and his
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Speaker 1: allies win the war. They win the battle, and the
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Speaker 1: result is in verse ten, the valley of Sidim was
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Speaker 1: full of tarpits, and Slomgamar, probably trying to retreat from
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Speaker 1: the battle, fell into the pits and weren't able to
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Speaker 1: go further, and so they wound up captives. To King
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Speaker 1: Killer Laomer. Stay with me, it's going somewhere. They took
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Speaker 1: all the goods of Sodom and Gamara. They would be
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Speaker 1: the king Kener Layomer in his fellow allies, and they
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Speaker 1: took their food supply, and they departed. And not surprisingly
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Speaker 1: among the group was Lot, Abram's nephew and his possessions.
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Speaker 1: And they departed, for he was living in Sodom. His
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Speaker 1: his troubles are just beginning. This is one of them. Understand,
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Speaker 1: Abrams removed from it. He's living up in Canaan, Lot
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Speaker 1: in his family living down in Sodom along with other citizens.
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Speaker 1: They're all now with the mercy of Ketterer Laomer and mercy.
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Speaker 1: It was because in those ancient days kings really defeated
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Speaker 1: their enemies. And now he is he's a captive. Suddenly
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Speaker 1: there's a fugitive fish that swims toward Abram and says,
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Speaker 1: I have a message that you'll need to know about.
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Speaker 1: Your nephew has been taken captive Lotus verse thirteen. A
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Speaker 1: fugitive came and told Abram the Hebrew first time in
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Speaker 1: all the Bible. He's called that Abram the Hebrew. Now
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Speaker 1: he was living by the oaks of memory. The I'm
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Speaker 1: a right brother of Eskal and brother of Ayner. These
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Speaker 1: are three friends that are in that area, and this
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Speaker 1: is where Abram lives, and he hears your nephew's in trouble. Now,
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Speaker 1: I told you to remember that Abram let Lot choose,
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Speaker 1: and Lot chose for himself that land. Right now, someone
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Speaker 1: who isn't great hearted would have leaned back in his
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Speaker 1: rocking chair and said, okay, it's time for him to
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Speaker 1: learn some hard lessons. The land on his own. Didn't
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Speaker 1: have enough foresight to realize he was in a threatened area.
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Speaker 1: It's time for him to buck up. If it's a fugitive,
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Speaker 1: he's to become, then a fugitive it is. Or he
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Speaker 1: could have been indifferent and said, so what, I got
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Speaker 1: nothing to do with that. That's lots concerned. I got
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Speaker 1: no dog in that fight. That's that's not that's not
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Speaker 1: of any concern to me. Let him, let him. He
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Speaker 1: made his bed, let him, let him sleep in it.
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Speaker 1: Or he could have been proud and said, I'm not
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Speaker 1: surprised at all. I told you so. But he doesn't
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Speaker 1: do that. He doesn't respond that way. Great people don't
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Speaker 1: do that. They don't judge others because they find them
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Speaker 1: in need they're moved over their knees, as Abram has
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Speaker 1: moved over his nephew's needs. And this brings us to
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Speaker 1: the second of those four points of willingness to sacrifice.
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Speaker 1: Watch what happened all on his own intrinsically motivated verse fourteen.
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Speaker 1: When Abram heard his relative had been taken captive, he
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Speaker 1: let out his trained men born in his house three
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Speaker 1: hundred and eighteen and went in pursuit as far as Dan.
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Speaker 1: If you had a map, you would see that takes
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Speaker 1: him up to the north. And he pursues these enemies
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Speaker 1: who have taken his nephew and others captive, and he
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Speaker 1: begins a rescue mission. But by the way, verse fourteen says,
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Speaker 1: he's got three hundred eighteen trained warriors. This man thinks ahead.
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Speaker 1: He knows that when you live in an open land,
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Speaker 1: you've got to defend yourself, and you've got to have
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Speaker 1: men ready for fight. So imagine these are people who
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Speaker 1: were among his herdsman, and maybe his herdsman's children, maybe
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Speaker 1: his own servants of their children. But he's got three
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Speaker 1: hundred and eighteen folks ready to fight, and indeed they do.
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Speaker 1: Abram says, let's go. They're in need, Let's go rescue them.
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Speaker 1: And that's exactly what happened. Verse fifteen. He divides his
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Speaker 1: forces against them by night. That's pretty good strategy. He
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Speaker 1: and his servants and defeated them and pursued them as
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Speaker 1: far as Hobo, which is north of Damascus. I mean,
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Speaker 1: this old warrior makes Rambo look like a whimp. He's
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Speaker 1: out there with three hundred and eighteen guys fighting against
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Speaker 1: armed soldiers, and they wipe them out, they finish them off.
28:29
Speaker 1: And a lot is a rescue. By the way, never
28:35
Speaker 1: anybody rescue.
28:36
Speaker 2: You.
28:39
Speaker 1: Think back for a moment to a time that you
28:42
Speaker 1: had a real need. You were in a jam, maybe
28:47
Speaker 1: you had gotten yourself in trouble, and here came along
28:53
Speaker 1: an individual who was willing to be there for you.
29:00
Speaker 1: You didn't really deserve it, but this person is a
29:03
Speaker 1: person of grace. I want to tell you something I've
29:06
Speaker 1: never shared before. Many years ago, back in the sixties,
29:12
Speaker 1: Cynthia and I were rearing a house full of small kids.
29:18
Speaker 1: That's costly enough, but along with that came sickness, and
29:22
Speaker 1: with the sickness came an enormous medical expense. And even
29:28
Speaker 1: though we had not bought over our head in the
29:30
Speaker 1: little home we owned. We realized not long after all
29:37
Speaker 1: of this hit us that we couldn't make our house payments.
29:43
Speaker 1: Maybe you're in that jam, or maybe there's something like
29:47
Speaker 1: that where you needed help. We prayed, We wondered how
29:53
Speaker 1: we could deal with this. We would surely lose our
29:55
Speaker 1: house if this continued. I was a part of a
29:58
Speaker 1: Bible study of men in the North Dallas area. At
30:01
Speaker 1: the time, I was serving as an assistant pastor to
30:05
Speaker 1: another church North Dallas, and I became friends with several
30:10
Speaker 1: of the men. One of them was extremely gracious man
30:17
Speaker 1: who also happened to be eminently wealthy. I made it
30:21
Speaker 1: the point never to milk that or take advantage of it.
30:27
Speaker 1: Rich people are often hit up by those who have needs,
30:31
Speaker 1: and they're all kind of hints dropped and all that,
30:34
Speaker 1: and I chose not to do that. But I'm driving home.
30:39
Speaker 1: He's driving, and we're in his new Buick driving home,
30:42
Speaker 1: and he said, how are you doing, Chuck? And I said, well,
30:49
Speaker 1: I'm okay. He says, not really, how are you? I said, well,
30:53
Speaker 1: I'm not doing very well. What's wrong? And I told him,
30:58
Speaker 1: I spelled it out. I said, I'm in a jam.
31:01
Speaker 1: And I don't know how the Lord's going to work
31:04
Speaker 1: that out. He said, We're going to go to your home,
31:08
Speaker 1: and when we get there, I want you to get
31:10
Speaker 1: your coupon book for your house payments, and I want
31:13
Speaker 1: you to give it to me. No, man, I can't,
31:17
Speaker 1: you know, he says, it's my idea. Okay, it's not yours.
31:22
Speaker 1: I've always had trouble receiving. And so once again I
31:26
Speaker 1: fought the idea. He said, no, let me have it.
31:30
Speaker 1: Month after month after month after month after month after month,
31:35
Speaker 1: he made our house payments. Some of you would know
31:39
Speaker 1: his name if I gave you his name right now.
31:43
Speaker 1: That is a great hearted individual. Never once, never once
31:50
Speaker 1: did he take advantage of me. Because of that, I
31:53
Speaker 1: was never embarrassed. You've never heard the story because I've
31:56
Speaker 1: never told you. I'm not going to assure you he
31:58
Speaker 1: would never tell you. One of my heroes, one of
32:04
Speaker 1: those great hearted rescuers. In fact, on occasion we run
32:09
Speaker 1: across each other and I'll say to him, a I
32:12
Speaker 1: want to thank you again. He says, you know what,
32:15
Speaker 1: that has been so long ago. Get over it. And
32:19
Speaker 1: I say to him, I can never get over it.
32:23
Speaker 1: I will never forget that I thanked him over and over,
32:27
Speaker 1: and if I were to see him this afternoon, among
32:30
Speaker 1: my first comments would be thank you again for helping
32:34
Speaker 1: us when we were in a jam. There's not a
32:38
Speaker 1: word of thanks from a lot, not a word. But
32:43
Speaker 1: great hearted people don't do it to be thanked. They
32:46
Speaker 1: don't have a clipboard where on one side these are
32:49
Speaker 1: the things I've done. The other the other side, these
32:52
Speaker 1: are the dunces that never said thank you. They don't
32:55
Speaker 1: do that. They set it aside. You're great hearted when
33:01
Speaker 1: you rescue without calling attention to yourself, are expecting to
33:05
Speaker 1: be written up in the paper or put in lights.
33:11
Speaker 1: Here's Abram that comes on the scene and all on
33:14
Speaker 1: his own, fights a battle and becomes, if you will,
33:19
Speaker 1: a bit of a celebrity. I mean, he's overthrown all
33:22
Speaker 1: the kings, this wealthy landowner from the north. And so
33:30
Speaker 1: he comes and he brings Lot and sets him free
33:33
Speaker 1: and puts him back in his home. Verse seventeen. After
33:36
Speaker 1: his return from the defeat of Kedar Laomer, remember that fish,
33:41
Speaker 1: that's that main king of the other kings, and the
33:44
Speaker 1: kings who were with him, the king of Sodom went
33:47
Speaker 1: out to meet him that's Abram in the valley of Shaveh,
33:52
Speaker 1: which is the king's valley. So the king of Sodom,
33:55
Speaker 1: who has benefited from this victory, goes to meet Abram.
33:59
Speaker 1: We're going to see what he wanted to do in
34:01
Speaker 1: a moment. In the meantime, word travels all the way
34:05
Speaker 1: to Jerusalem, called in ancient days Salem Shalom for peace.
34:12
Speaker 1: And this king's name who comes out of nowhere is Milchizedek,
34:17
Speaker 1: known to us as Melchizedek. A number of things are
34:22
Speaker 1: said about the a priest. I called him a king.
34:25
Speaker 1: He's a priest, he's the king of Salem, but he
34:27
Speaker 1: was mainly the priest of God most High. And Melchizedek
34:32
Speaker 1: comes on the scene. We don't know his genealogy, we
34:34
Speaker 1: don't know his background. All we know is that he
34:37
Speaker 1: was one respected dude. And he shows up on this
34:41
Speaker 1: battle scene and sees Abram. Look at this verse eighteen.
34:46
Speaker 1: He brought bread and wine, and he was a priest
34:49
Speaker 1: of God most High. Look what did he do? Well?
34:53
Speaker 1: He blessed Abram, and he said, blessed be Abram of godless,
35:00
Speaker 1: be Abram of God most High, possessor of Heaven and Earth.
35:03
Speaker 1: The praise goes to God. But bless you, Abram, for
35:07
Speaker 1: your courage, for your great heartedness. Here is bread, here
35:11
Speaker 1: is wine. Let's celebrate. Verse twenty. Blessed be God most High,
35:16
Speaker 1: who has delivered your enemies into your hand. And Abram
35:20
Speaker 1: realizes that Lookidaakh, who makes that comment, is standing there
35:24
Speaker 1: with the bread and wine, and Abram immediately gives him
35:27
Speaker 1: a tenth of all he has. Absence of greed. I mean,
35:35
Speaker 1: a smaller man would have said, oh you noticed, glad
35:39
Speaker 1: you found me, where's the medal of honor? If BED
35:45
Speaker 1: have given him in the medal, he wouldn't have worn.
35:46
Speaker 1: It wasn't about him. So he says, how can I
35:52
Speaker 1: ever thank you enough for the blessing. I'll give you
35:54
Speaker 1: a tenth of everything I have. This is not a
35:57
Speaker 1: tithe demanded by the law of Moses. There is no
36:00
Speaker 1: This is before Moses. There is no commandment. This is
36:04
Speaker 1: before the commandments. This is a spontaneous response of a
36:09
Speaker 1: great hearted man who says, you bless me. I'll tell
36:12
Speaker 1: you this is what I want to do. Take a
36:15
Speaker 1: tenth of everything I have, take it back with you.
36:19
Speaker 1: Take it back, and out of respect I give it
36:22
Speaker 1: to you. I love that scene. The King of Sodom, Remember,
36:29
Speaker 1: I said we'd come back to him. The King of
36:31
Speaker 1: Sodom said to Abram, give the people to me. Now
36:35
Speaker 1: that the battle's over. Let me have the citizens back
36:38
Speaker 1: for my city, and you take all the goods for yourself.
36:42
Speaker 1: There's lots of stuff here you can have. It's all yours. Man.
36:48
Speaker 1: Abram stood up tall and said to the King of Sodom,
36:53
Speaker 1: I have sworn to the Lord alone, God, most high
36:59
Speaker 1: possessor of on earth. I will not take a thread
37:03
Speaker 1: or a sandal, fong, or anything that is yours for fear.
37:08
Speaker 1: You would say I made Abram rich. Stop right here,
37:16
Speaker 1: there's a nugget in the stream. You see the word swore.
37:23
Speaker 1: Abram says, I have sworn to the Lord. When do
37:27
Speaker 1: you do that? I can't find it. It's not in here.
37:35
Speaker 1: I've looked. I want to all the way back to
37:37
Speaker 1: Adam and Eve. Where is that? Swarry? Where did you
37:40
Speaker 1: do that? You know why? It's between him and the Lord.
37:45
Speaker 1: He didn't put in his journal. He didn't announce it
37:48
Speaker 1: for generations to come. But when he has a chance
37:51
Speaker 1: to take the spoils of war and to be rewarded,
37:55
Speaker 1: he said no, no, no, no, please. I will not
38:00
Speaker 1: take a thread or a sandal thong, or anything that
38:03
Speaker 1: is from anyone else. I won't take the slightest thing.
38:10
Speaker 1: Two reasons. First of all, my loyalty is to God.
38:16
Speaker 1: My word to him is at stake, and I've promised
38:19
Speaker 1: him whatever may come, it's yours, Lord, and I will
38:24
Speaker 1: not take the spoils of war. And the second, I
38:28
Speaker 1: don't want anyone around here ever to think that some
38:31
Speaker 1: other man made me rich. When I was alone with
38:36
Speaker 1: the Lord on one occasion, I swore to him, if
38:40
Speaker 1: he ever gives me victory, he will get all the praise,
38:45
Speaker 1: he will get all the credit. I can't take any
38:51
Speaker 1: of this. What a magnificent model, great heartedness, absence of greed.
39:01
Speaker 1: It's easy to fake, that, isn't it. If you listen closely,
39:07
Speaker 1: you'll hear the chin of the King of Sodom hit
39:10
Speaker 1: his chest. He's never met anybody like that. We've rarely
39:15
Speaker 1: met people like that. Years ago, I was a pastoral
39:21
Speaker 1: intern with a man to this day I miss. He's
39:26
Speaker 1: now dead named Ray Steedman. Ray Steedman was a pastor
39:31
Speaker 1: of the Peninsula Bible Church for over forty years in
39:34
Speaker 1: Palo Alto, California. Sent and I were there among his
39:37
Speaker 1: first interns. Just love Ray's honesty and integrity. He had
39:47
Speaker 1: gone to a conference up in Vermont, Stay to a
39:50
Speaker 1: lovely little bed and breakfast, and while he was there,
39:54
Speaker 1: he noticed that there was on the table these quaint
39:57
Speaker 1: little round tables where he had breakfast alone, a pewter
40:03
Speaker 1: salt and pepper and creamer and sugar. Really lovely little set,
40:09
Speaker 1: and each one of these tables this little pewter set.
40:15
Speaker 1: He came back and when he stood before the congregation,
40:19
Speaker 1: I was right there. I remember the story. He said.
40:21
Speaker 1: I want all of you to know, at a great time,
40:22
Speaker 1: while I was away, we had good ministry and so thankful.
40:26
Speaker 1: But I want to tell you about a temptation I had.
40:28
Speaker 1: He was speaking on a particular temptation. He said, I
40:33
Speaker 1: I was sitting at this breakfast table all alone, no
40:36
Speaker 1: one else was around, and I thought, boy, I'd really
40:42
Speaker 1: like to have this salt, and I could just take
40:47
Speaker 1: the salt. And there's one on every other table that
40:49
Speaker 1: gotten a boatload of them, and so I just take
40:53
Speaker 1: these two. He said, I was really tempted to do that.
41:00
Speaker 1: He said, I'm here to tell you that I restrained,
41:04
Speaker 1: and so grateful that I didn't, or I'd have to
41:09
Speaker 1: confess to you today this is what I've done, and
41:11
Speaker 1: to tell Elaine about it and all of that. So
41:13
Speaker 1: you met, you could heard a pen drop, he said. So,
41:16
Speaker 1: I'm so thankful that the Lord gave me the strength
41:20
Speaker 1: not to do that. The following Sunday, there was a
41:25
Speaker 1: box on his desk, beautiful wrapping in a bright ribbon,
41:32
Speaker 1: and he's there in his study and he opens it
41:34
Speaker 1: and there's this pewter set sugar, creamer and salt and pepper.
41:40
Speaker 1: The congregational member that had heard the story contacted the
41:44
Speaker 1: Bed and Breakfast and had them said, ray the whole set.
41:50
Speaker 1: So he brought the box to the pulpit. What I
41:55
Speaker 1: really want to tell you is I lusted after the
41:57
Speaker 1: twenty one inch television that was in the.
41:59
Speaker 2: Room, and you love it.
42:12
Speaker 1: He did not get a television. By the way, you
42:18
Speaker 1: know what, I think, I don't believe Abram was even tempted,
42:27
Speaker 1: because he swore to the Lord, God Most High. What
42:32
Speaker 1: a nugget. This is, what a great sign of great heartedness.
42:38
Speaker 1: And by the way, don't don't miss the very last
42:41
Speaker 1: verse that's got another little piece of gold in it. Look,
42:46
Speaker 1: I will take nothing except with the young men of Eton.
42:49
Speaker 1: So that's gone. And the share of the man who
42:53
Speaker 1: went with me and ores golden memory. Let them take
42:59
Speaker 1: their share. He refused to force his convictions on others.
43:06
Speaker 1: He didn't turn around and say to ask gold and
43:10
Speaker 1: enter and memory not. You're not going to take anything either,
43:13
Speaker 1: are you.
43:15
Speaker 2: You don't do that.
43:15
Speaker 1: When you're great hearted, You make your decision, you have
43:18
Speaker 1: your convictions, and you leave their choice up to them.
43:21
Speaker 1: Because you see, he restrains his power and control over others.
43:30
Speaker 1: He lets it be, He lets it go rarely in
43:35
Speaker 1: the scriptures, when you find a nugget that special in
43:39
Speaker 1: the midst of the fish and the stream and the
43:43
Speaker 1: waters of all of the other things going on, there's
43:48
Speaker 1: a there's an integrity in that, isn't there? But you
43:51
Speaker 1: love it? I read years ago of a pastor in
43:55
Speaker 1: London who was fairly well known and had his church
43:59
Speaker 1: and study downtown. And it took a trolley ride to
44:03
Speaker 1: get him from where he lived to this church, and
44:07
Speaker 1: this particular monday morning after a busy Sunday, he got
44:12
Speaker 1: on the trolley and the driver gave him the change
44:16
Speaker 1: after he gave bought the ticket, and as he sat down,
44:20
Speaker 1: he looked and he counted through the coins and realized
44:26
Speaker 1: that he had much more change than he should have gotten.
44:30
Speaker 1: And his first thought was, my how greet The Lord
44:33
Speaker 1: supplies our needs, and he moves in mysterious ways his
44:38
Speaker 1: wonders to perform. So the longer he sat there, the
44:42
Speaker 1: hotter these coins felt in his hand, and he when
44:46
Speaker 1: he got up to get off the trolley at his stop,
44:49
Speaker 1: he said to the driver, you gave me mistakenly, gave
44:53
Speaker 1: me too much change. The driver said that was no mistake. See,
44:57
Speaker 1: I was in your church service last night when you
44:59
Speaker 1: spoke on honesty. I just thought I'd put you to
45:03
Speaker 1: the test. You never know, you never know, you never
45:16
Speaker 1: know who's watching. But you don't do it because they're watching.
45:21
Speaker 1: If you did, you'd fake it. We live under the
45:28
Speaker 1: all seeing eye and presence of Leon, our great God,
45:37
Speaker 1: who desires to find integrity and vulnerability and unselfishness in
45:43
Speaker 1: his own people. Sometimes Cynthia and I'll be traveling together,
45:49
Speaker 1: got our family with us, and I may have been
45:52
Speaker 1: a little irritated and may have said some things that
45:58
Speaker 1: I shouldn't have said. Lo and behold, I look up
46:03
Speaker 1: and there's a parishioner sitting right there. We never miss
46:07
Speaker 1: your broadcast on insight for living. Brother, guilty is charged.
46:16
Speaker 1: Now where do we start doing that? Right there? We
46:27
Speaker 1: start by falling before the cross, and we say, Lord,
46:36
Speaker 1: I have the perfect model of great heartedness and my savior.
46:41
Speaker 1: And I bow before you at this cross, and I
46:46
Speaker 1: say nothing in my hands. I bring simply to your cross.
46:50
Speaker 1: I cling. I give you whatever I have. I offer
46:55
Speaker 1: you my life. I give you my mind, I give
46:59
Speaker 1: you my family. I give you my possessions. I give
47:02
Speaker 1: you the car I drive. I give you the house
47:04
Speaker 1: I live in. I gave you the job I have.
47:07
Speaker 1: It's yours. And we swear before our God. If that's
47:14
Speaker 1: the way we want to live possible. You've never even
47:20
Speaker 1: stood at the foot of the cross. By the way,
47:23
Speaker 1: all the ground is leveled there. There's no rank, there's
47:28
Speaker 1: no hot shots and nobody's and big deals and insignificant folks.
47:36
Speaker 1: They're all the same. And you come to the cross
47:40
Speaker 1: and you say, Lord Jesus Christ, I am not worthy
47:48
Speaker 1: to call you my savior, but I would love to
47:52
Speaker 1: come take my life. I vow before you, I pray
47:57
Speaker 1: that you'll give me an ear for what you teach,
48:00
Speaker 1: and then deafen me to what is around me in
48:03
Speaker 1: this lost culture. Give me a way to walk that
48:08
Speaker 1: has integrity, so that when too much change is given me,
48:13
Speaker 1: I give it back. When credit comes to me that's
48:18
Speaker 1: deserved by another, I reflected. You see, our light is
48:24
Speaker 1: like moonlight. He's the sun. He originates light. All light
48:30
Speaker 1: on the moon is reflected light. We're just reflectors. So
48:38
Speaker 1: we start by falling before the cross, and we continue
48:45
Speaker 1: following in his steps. Along the way, we ask, literally,
48:51
Speaker 1: how would Jesus have handled this? What would Jesus have done?
48:56
Speaker 1: Or maybe even an example from this gret, how did
48:59
Speaker 1: he handle it? Now, Lord, by your strength and because
49:05
Speaker 1: of your pleasure and your glory, I ask you to
49:09
Speaker 1: guide me as I carry out this responsibility. You may
49:14
Speaker 1: have been wonderfully blessed, and I applaud that it came
49:18
Speaker 1: from the Lord God. Be sure you follow in his steps.
49:24
Speaker 1: You may be up against it, and you wonder where
49:28
Speaker 1: he's going to lead you trust him. Trust him. I've
49:35
Speaker 1: never seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread,
49:39
Speaker 1: wrote David. Let's bow together. The fish have swum through
49:49
Speaker 1: the stream. The water has flowed over the boulders, But
49:56
Speaker 1: the nuggets are there, priceless choice, golden nuggets of truth
50:10
Speaker 1: in this heart. In this case, they revolve around great heartedness.
50:15
Speaker 1: I would love to see the Lord raise up from
50:17
Speaker 1: among you who hear these words today, a handful of
50:22
Speaker 1: you who change. You become models of those who rescue others.
50:32
Speaker 1: You lose your selfishness, you stop anticipating a reward, and
50:39
Speaker 1: you refuse to pull rank, putting others in their place
50:46
Speaker 1: through shame and guilt. If you've never met the Savior,
50:53
Speaker 1: oh he hasn't walked away, He's right here. We exist
51:03
Speaker 1: in this ministry to help folks who have lost their
51:06
Speaker 1: way find their way back. Nothing thrills us more than
51:11
Speaker 1: to help you do that. Connect with us if you
51:15
Speaker 1: wish to do that right now, just in your own heart.
51:21
Speaker 1: Lord God, I'm a sinner. There's distance between you and
51:26
Speaker 1: me because of that. But I thank you that Jesus
51:30
Speaker 1: paid the price, the penalty and paid it in full.
51:38
Speaker 1: Tell you what, Lord, I give you all of my
51:40
Speaker 1: filth as I take him. Thank you for forgiving me.
51:52
Speaker 1: Oh Lord, we love you, and we've lived around you
51:58
Speaker 1: long enough to know that you're the deal. You don't
52:05
Speaker 1: create hypocrites, and you don't put people on this earth
52:09
Speaker 1: that carry out your will through selfishness and greed. Every
52:15
Speaker 1: once in a while, you put a nugget in the
52:19
Speaker 1: stream and we find him. Thank you for the great
52:27
Speaker 1: truth that we've uncovered from this otherwise rather obscure chapter
52:33
Speaker 1: of scripture. May we never forget Abram's great hearted response
52:41
Speaker 1: to one who did not deserve it. More than that,
52:47
Speaker 1: maybe we begin to live in that way, motivated by love.
52:54
Speaker 2: And compassion.
52:58
Speaker 1: In the name of the greatest bottle of both, the
53:03
Speaker 1: Lord Jesus Christ, we pray everyone said amen.
53:11
Speaker 3: The preceding message, Abram the Great Hearted was copyrighted in
53:16
Speaker 3: twenty twelve and twenty fourteen, and the sound recording was
53:19
Speaker 3: copyrighted in twenty fourteen by Charles R. Swindall, Inc. All
53:24
Speaker 3: rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial
53:28
Speaker 3: use is strictly prohibited.