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Lot and His Daughters - The Book of Genesis · Bible in a Year with Jack Graham

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  Speaker 1: Let us pray. And there came two angels to Sodom
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  Speaker 1: at even. And Lot sat in the gate of Sodom.
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  Speaker 1: And Lot, seeing them, rose up to meet them. And
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  Speaker 1: he bowed himself with his face toward the ground. Genesis
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  Speaker 1: 19.1 Dear Heavenly Father, Today I am making the conscious
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  Speaker 1: decision to not allow fear to be the driving force
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  Speaker 1: behind my decisions. I will not take matters into my
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  Speaker 1: own hands. to preserve my promised destiny. Instead, I will
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  Speaker 1: choose to trust in your process and timeline to bring
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  Speaker 1: all that you've promised into fruition. Lord, when I find
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  Speaker 1: myself in the cave of confusion, I will reflect on
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  Speaker 1: your faithfulness and consistency throughout my life. I confess that
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  Speaker 1: I will not make the same mistakes as Lot and
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  Speaker 1: his daughters. by allowing the sinful nature of this world
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  Speaker 1: to corrupt my mind and derail my relationship with you, God.
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  Speaker 1: I declare that I am the righteousness of God, unmovable
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  Speaker 1: and unshakable. My mind is clear, my heart is aligned,
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  Speaker 1: and my feet are standing on the solid rock of
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  Speaker 1: your word. In Jesus' name, amen. Thanks for making prayer
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  Speaker 1: a priority in your life. To hear the Bible come
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  Speaker 1: to life, stay tuned for The Bible in a Year.
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  Speaker 1: Brought to you by BibleInAYear.com.
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  Speaker 2: Lot and his daughters. Previously, we had learned about God's
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  Speaker 2: judgment on the land of Sodom and Gomorrah. The darkness
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  Speaker 2: that plagued their hearts bled into the city like a river.
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  Speaker 2: Their wickedness knew no limits, and God decided to destroy them.
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  Speaker 2: He showed mercy on Lot and his family, yet Lot's
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  Speaker 2: wife and son-in-laws were destroyed. Now we peer into the
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  Speaker 2: sickness of Lot's family, and although Sodom and Gomorrah had
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  Speaker 2: been destroyed, it still left its mark on Lot's bloodline.
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  Speaker 2: Inspired by the book of Genesis.
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  Speaker 3: Hello, I'm Pastor Jack Graham with today's episode of the
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  Speaker 3: Bible in a Year podcast. Today we're going to see
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  Speaker 3: what happens to Lot and his daughters in the aftermath
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  Speaker 3: of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. God in His
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  Speaker 3: mercy had spared Lot and his family. But as you'll
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  Speaker 3: recall from our previous passage, Lot's wife was unable to
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  Speaker 3: pull her eyes away from the evil of Sodom and
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  Speaker 3: was turned into a pillar of salt. Lot and his
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  Speaker 3: daughters now have a chance for a brand new start.
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  Speaker 3: But as we'll see, the sin of Sodom and the
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  Speaker 3: darkness that's all around them will have a profound effect
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  Speaker 3: on their future. The opening scene is one that few
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  Speaker 3: among us can imagine. Burning cities consumed by God's wrath
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  Speaker 3: are raining down ash and heat all over the region
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  Speaker 3: as Lot escapes with his daughters. It must have been,
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  Speaker 3: of course it was, terrifying. traumatic. And out of this
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  Speaker 3: terror and trauma will arise a story of deceit, carelessness,
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  Speaker 3: and corruption of God's design for families. As you listen,
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  Speaker 3: notice what motivates the actions of each person in the story.
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  Speaker 3: Notice how Lot, though he is not the primary bad
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  Speaker 3: actor in this account, is not without fault. The passage
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  Speaker 3: is one that will rightfully make us very uncomfortable with
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  Speaker 3: its theme. So get ready. But don't allow the shocking
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  Speaker 3: nature of the story to keep you from seeing the
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  Speaker 3: lesson that is in it. A lesson about what fear
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  Speaker 3: and a lack of watchfulness can lead to in our
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  Speaker 3: own lives. Now, let's listen in to the reading of
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  Speaker 3: today's passage.
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  Speaker 2: Darkness covered the skies and ash fell like snow across
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  Speaker 2: the surrounding land of Zohar. Faint screams could be heard
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  Speaker 2: from the distance. and fire illuminated the horizon like a sunset.
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  Speaker 2: Lot had fled to the mountains above Zoar with his
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  Speaker 2: two daughters. There they found refuge in a cave and
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  Speaker 2: hid away until they believed it safe to return. Exhaustion
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  Speaker 2: and hysteria marked their lives for days, and the minds
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  Speaker 2: of Lot and his daughters began to wander into darkness.
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  Speaker 2: In madness, the three of them dwelt, and fear began
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  Speaker 2: to be the driving force of all their decisions. One day,
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  Speaker 2: while Lot was away from the cave, the older daughter
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  Speaker 2: said to the younger daughter, We have lost everything, and
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  Speaker 2: our father is old. There is no man here to
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  Speaker 2: give us children, and we are missing out on the
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  Speaker 2: customs of the whole earth. Her voice slithered with delirium
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  Speaker 2: as she spoke. Let's get our father drunk and sleep
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  Speaker 2: with him, so that we can preserve our family line.
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  Speaker 2: So that night they filled their father. The three of
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  Speaker 2: them laughed as the night drug on, and Lot drank
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  Speaker 2: more and more, drowning his sorrows and losses with more wine.
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  Speaker 2: The daughters tactfully drew Lot into a crapulous state, and
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  Speaker 2: he was unable to discern reality from his drunken nightmares.
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  Speaker 2: The older daughter drew him in close, and in their
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  Speaker 2: cave of deception, the two slept together. Lot laughed. completely
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  Speaker 2: unaware of what he was doing, yet responsible for where
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  Speaker 2: he was, had sex with his daughter. Lot awoke the
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  Speaker 2: next morning ignorant of what had taken place. His daughter
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  Speaker 2: had left in the night. The following evening, as the
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  Speaker 2: sun set and Lot's inhibitions waned, he drank again with
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  Speaker 2: his daughters and slept with the younger daughter. Though he
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  Speaker 2: may not have been totally aware of what had happened,
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  Speaker 2: It was him who had allowed the heart of Sodom
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  Speaker 2: to creep into his daughters. It was him who showed
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  Speaker 2: cowardice in the face of adversity. In the pit of
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  Speaker 2: darkness and paranoia, two sons were conceived by Lot and
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  Speaker 2: his daughters. The first was named Moab, and the second
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  Speaker 2: was named Benami. These two men would build nations of
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  Speaker 2: their own, the Moabites and the Ammonites. From the debased
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  Speaker 2: and crooked nature from which they were conceived, the two
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  Speaker 2: men would build cultures that would wage war against the
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  Speaker 2: people of God for dozens of generations to come. Lot
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  Speaker 2: would be remembered as righteous, not because he exemplified any
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  Speaker 2: sort of faithfulness at all, but because God chose to
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  Speaker 2: save him.
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  Speaker 3: Lot and his daughters have escaped by the skin of
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  Speaker 3: their teeth. from the horrors that befell Sodom and Gomorrah,
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  Speaker 3: their home. For his daughters, this had been the only
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  Speaker 3: home they had known. Think for just a moment about
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  Speaker 3: the implications of that statement. They grew up in sin
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  Speaker 3: and debauchery and evil all around them. It had been
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  Speaker 3: the status quo of this culture in which these two
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  Speaker 3: young women had grown up. This is important context for
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  Speaker 3: what happens in today's passage. But before we get to that,
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  Speaker 3: let's look at what Lot does to set the stage
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  Speaker 3: for things. If you recall from our previous passage, Lot
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  Speaker 3: had pleaded with the angels who told him to flee
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  Speaker 3: to the mountains, to spare the city of Zohar so
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  Speaker 3: he could settle there. The Lord granted his request and
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  Speaker 3: did not destroy that city. How odd then that this
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  Speaker 3: place Lot envisioned as a safe haven for him and
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  Speaker 3: his family so quickly became a source of fear and danger.
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  Speaker 3: Listen to what it says in Genesis 19.30. Lot went
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  Speaker 3: up from Zoar and stayed in the mountains and his
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  Speaker 3: two daughters with him, for he was afraid to stay
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  Speaker 3: in Zoar, and he stayed in a cave, he and
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  Speaker 3: his two daughters. At first he told God he was
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  Speaker 3: afraid to go to the mountains, and now, just a
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  Speaker 3: few verses later, Lot is afraid to stay at Zoar,
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  Speaker 3: so he flees to the mountains. It's worth noting what
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  Speaker 3: is also absent from this story. Think back on the
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  Speaker 3: examples of Noah and Abraham. When God spared their family
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  Speaker 3: or gave them a victory, what was their response? Worship.
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  Speaker 3: They worshiped God. Remembrance. Noah built an altar to the Lord.
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  Speaker 3: Abraham built an altar to the Lord as well. What
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  Speaker 3: does Lot do? Does he fall on his face with thanksgiving?
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  Speaker 3: Does he build an altar of worship to remember how
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  Speaker 3: God had worshiped him? Sadly, no. He and his daughters
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  Speaker 3: take up residence in a cave isolated from the world. Now,
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  Speaker 3: I do not believe this was God's intention when he
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  Speaker 3: instructed Lot to flee to the mountains. Isolation and fear
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  Speaker 3: are not a part of God's plan for us, and
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  Speaker 3: we immediately see the effect that it has on Lot's daughters.
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  Speaker 3: They begin to talk to each other about all they
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  Speaker 3: are missing out on, namely sexual pleasure and the opportunity
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  Speaker 3: to bear children. These desires are God-given and natural, But
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  Speaker 3: the influence of sin in their hearts, twisted by the
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  Speaker 3: cities of Sodom and Gomorrah in which they grew up,
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  Speaker 3: these desires have taken over in a way that is
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  Speaker 3: ruining their lives. They would get their father drunk and
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  Speaker 3: have intimate relations with him. This is a perversion right
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  Speaker 3: from the culture from which they were spared. We know
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  Speaker 3: that they were virgins, never having been with a man.
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  Speaker 3: from the account of the angels in Sodom and how
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  Speaker 3: Lot offered his daughters to the wicked men. But just
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  Speaker 3: because they were physically pure it did not mean their
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  Speaker 3: hearts were pure. And we see these wicked intentions now
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  Speaker 3: turn to full-blown terrible sin. Lot is tricked into sleeping
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  Speaker 3: with his daughters and getting each of them pregnant. However,
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  Speaker 3: he is not innocent here. Once again, rather than being
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  Speaker 3: the watchful leader of his family, He allows himself to
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  Speaker 3: become drunk to the point of not knowing what he
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  Speaker 3: was doing. There's a lesson in here for all of us,
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  Speaker 3: a strident, stringent lesson. Earlier in Genesis, we heard as
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  Speaker 3: God warned Cain that sin was crouching at the door.
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  Speaker 3: And here we see what happens when we fail to
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  Speaker 3: remain vigilant. Sin, like a lion, Satan, like a lion,
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  Speaker 3: will pounce on us and overtake us if we do
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  Speaker 3: not guard ourselves. Lot failed to remain watchful, and rather
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  Speaker 3: than taking on the responsibility of fatherly leadership and helping
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  Speaker 3: his daughters find husbands who could fulfill their God-given desires
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  Speaker 3: for intimacy and motherhood, he became drunk and fathered a
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  Speaker 3: son with each of them. These two boys would grow
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  Speaker 3: up to be fathers of two nations that would be
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  Speaker 3: at war with God's chosen people, the Israelite, for years
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  Speaker 3: and years to come. What a story. What a terrible story.
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  Speaker 3: And it all started with fear and failure to keep
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  Speaker 3: an eye out for sin. Our Holy Father, we are
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  Speaker 3: appreciative of this story today and what it teaches us
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  Speaker 3: about our need to be vigilant for sin, sin of
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  Speaker 3: all kinds, crouches at the door and will try to
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  Speaker 3: enter by any means necessary. Lord, help us to trust
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  Speaker 3: you and to believe in you and not listen to
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  Speaker 3: our fears and to turn to Our fears to faith
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  Speaker 3: and thanksgiving and adoration to you for your mercies and
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  Speaker 3: your hand of protection in our lives is just what
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  Speaker 3: we need. In Jesus' name, amen. Thank you for listening
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  Speaker 3: to today's Bible in a Year podcast. I'm Pastor Jack
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  Speaker 3: Graham from Dallas, Texas. Download the Pray.com app and make
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  Speaker 3: God bless you.