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Abraham and Abimelech - The Book of Genesis · Bible in a Year with Jack Graham

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  Speaker 1: Let us pray. And Abraham journeyed from thence toward the
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  Speaker 1: south country, and dwelled between Kadesh and Shur, and sojourned
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  Speaker 1: in Gerar. Genesis 20.1 Dear God, in the midst of
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  Speaker 1: my new season, when I am afraid that I might
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  Speaker 1: not survive it, I will not sacrifice the things close
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  Speaker 1: to me by giving them up to try to preserve
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  Speaker 1: my position and life. I declare that the same faith
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  Speaker 1: that brought me to believe in you will be the
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  Speaker 1: same faith I use to believe that you will protect
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  Speaker 1: me and deliver me from any future threats. Thank you, Jesus,
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  Speaker 1: that because of your sacrifice, I can be forgiven of
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  Speaker 1: my mistakes and still have my future restored when I
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  Speaker 1: come to you with a pure and clean heart. Holy Spirit,
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  Speaker 1: Like Abraham, if there is any half-truth in my life,
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  Speaker 1: reveal it to me, then I will correct it. Give
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  Speaker 1: me the strength to stand in integrity when it's easier
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  Speaker 1: to do the opposite. I am blessed and secured in
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  Speaker 1: your presence. Therefore, I am free to be me and
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  Speaker 1: dwell in the place you've given me with peace and prosperity.
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  Speaker 1: In Jesus' name, amen. Thank you for praying with me today.
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  Speaker 1: Continue listening for an incredible Bible story brought to you
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  Speaker 1: by BibleInAYear.com.
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  Speaker 2: Abraham and Abimelech Before this story, we learned about how
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  Speaker 2: God brought justice to Sodom and Gomorrah and delivered Lot
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  Speaker 2: and his family out of that city. But Lot's wife
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  Speaker 2: turned back and became a pillar of salt. Now we
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  Speaker 2: will learn about Abraham again saying, Sarah is my sister,
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  Speaker 2: to protect his own life from King Abimelech. Inspired by
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  Speaker 2: 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. In our previous passage, we
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  Speaker 3: focused on Lot and his daughters and the results of
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  Speaker 3: fear in their lives. Today, we turn again to Abraham
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  Speaker 3: and Sarah. Lest we imagine that Abraham has now fully
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  Speaker 3: matured in his faith and has become immune to fear
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  Speaker 3: and faithlessness, today's story reminds us that often our journey
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  Speaker 3: is one of highs and lows, of zigs and zags.
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  Speaker 3: At times, we trust and obey. At other times, we
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  Speaker 3: turn back to our sin and disobedience. That's where we
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  Speaker 3: find Abraham today. Once again, encountering a powerful king whom
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  Speaker 3: he appears to fear more than he fears God, the
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  Speaker 3: God who has promised to be with him and bless him.
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  Speaker 3: Not only that, but again, Abraham will show a lack
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  Speaker 3: of regard for his wife. He is meant to lead
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  Speaker 3: and protect his wife, but now he uses her as
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  Speaker 3: a way to secure his own safety, to save his
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  Speaker 3: own neck. As you listen, notice how Abimelech is spared
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  Speaker 3: from committing a sin that would have cost him dearly.
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  Speaker 3: And notice how Abraham responds when confronted with his deceitfulness.
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  Speaker 3: Does he repent of his wrongdoing and fully own up
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  Speaker 3: to his mistake? Or does he try to twist his
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  Speaker 3: way out of it, justifying his actions? Finally, watch how
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  Speaker 3: God works through this situation to restore Abraham and Sarai
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  Speaker 3: as well as King Abimelech and his household. Consider how
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  Speaker 3: God has guarded you from sins you may have committed
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  Speaker 3: in times of temptation had he not intervened. It is
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  Speaker 3: a reminder of God's faithfulness to us always, even when
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  Speaker 3: we fail to be faithful to him. Now let's listen
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  Speaker 3: to today's passage.
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  Speaker 2: Abraham and his wife Sarah ventured to a new land,
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  Speaker 2: where Abimelech was the king and ruled over the people.
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  Speaker 2: When they had entered the land, Abraham had once again
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  Speaker 2: claimed that Sarah was his sister, so nobody would harm
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  Speaker 2: him to take her. Abimelech, being curious about Sarah, had
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  Speaker 2: her brought to his home since he believed that she
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  Speaker 2: was Abraham's sister, yet he did not touch or harm her.
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  Speaker 2: One night while Abimelech was asleep, God came to him
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  Speaker 2: in a dream, saying, You are a dead man because
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  Speaker 2: of the woman you have taken, for she is a
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  Speaker 2: man's wife. Abimelech cried out in anguish, knowing he had
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  Speaker 2: not touched Sarah. He cried, Lord, do not kill an
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  Speaker 2: innocent man. Did he not himself say to me that
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  Speaker 2: she is his sister? And she herself said, He is
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  Speaker 2: my brother. In the integrity of my heart and the
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  Speaker 2: innocence of my hands I have done this. The Lord
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  Speaker 2: knew this and was the one who had kept Abimelech
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  Speaker 2: from touching her. He knew the integrity of his heart
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  Speaker 2: and commanded him to approach Abraham for prayer and return
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  Speaker 2: Sarah to him. Yet God warned, If you do not
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  Speaker 2: return her, you shall surely die, you and all those
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  Speaker 2: who are yours. Abimelech and all those under him became afraid.
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  Speaker 2: The wombs of the women in his household were shut
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  Speaker 2: and became barren. Terror filled Abimelech's kingdom. Therefore, he wasted
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  Speaker 2: no time trying to find Abraham. He sought out Abraham,
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  Speaker 2: and when he had arrived, demanded answers. What have you
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  Speaker 2: done to us? You made me sin against you, and
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  Speaker 2: now my kingdom is to be punished for it? You
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  Speaker 2: should have never done this. Abraham, embarrassed and ashamed, spoke
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  Speaker 2: a half-truth, saying, Sarah and I share the same father,
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  Speaker 2: but not the same mother. So she is my sister.
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  Speaker 2: He continued explaining, I did not take you for God-fearing people.
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  Speaker 2: I was afraid that you would kill me to take her.
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  Speaker 2: Then Abimelech, both enraged and afraid, took sheep, oxen, and servants,
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  Speaker 2: and gave them to Abraham, then returned Sarah to him.
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  Speaker 2: This is my land, he said. Dwell wherever you please.
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  Speaker 2: Then he turned to Sarah and said, Take a thousand
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  Speaker 2: pieces of silver for your brother. This is proof that
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  Speaker 2: my hands are clean and you are free. After another
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  Speaker 2: failure of character, Abraham was faced with his faithlessness. Not
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  Speaker 2: only did he betray his wife to protect himself, but
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  Speaker 2: he put an entire kingdom in a place of sin.
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  Speaker 2: Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech, and also
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  Speaker 2: healed his wife and servants so they could bear children
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  Speaker 2: once again. Even after another failure, God's promise to Abraham
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  Speaker 2: would not be made void. He would still be faithful
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  Speaker 2: and continue to bless him.
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  Speaker 3: Abraham and Lot, whose stories we've heard in the previous chapters,
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  Speaker 3: are in many ways contrasting characters. Abraham is often an
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  Speaker 3: example of wisdom and faith and obedience to God's direction. Lot,
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  Speaker 3: on the other hand, is rarely any of those things.
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  Speaker 3: As we have seen, he acts with worldly wisdom and
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  Speaker 3: compromise and reacts based on fear, not faith. They are
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  Speaker 3: indeed very different men. This does not mean, however, that
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  Speaker 3: Abraham always moves in the right direction, trusting God and
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  Speaker 3: acting wisely. Today, we've heard one such example. Fear has
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  Speaker 3: taken over Abraham once again. Just as he had done
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  Speaker 3: when they entered Egypt many years before, Abraham is in
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  Speaker 3: a new land, the land of a king whom he
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  Speaker 3: does not know and who he fears greatly, King Abimelech.
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  Speaker 3: We're not told what the basis of the fear is,
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  Speaker 3: only that Abraham hatches another crazy scheme of deceit to
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  Speaker 3: protect himself. He tells everyone that Sarah is his sister,
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  Speaker 3: not his wife. In other words, she's available. So King
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  Speaker 3: Abimelech sins for her and she's brought to him. Before
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  Speaker 3: we get to what happens next, I want you to
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  Speaker 3: think for a moment about what this is saying about
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  Speaker 3: Abraham that he would put forward his wife to save
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  Speaker 3: his own skin. Year after year, Abraham has seen God's
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  Speaker 3: strength and faithfulness to keep Abraham and Sarah together and
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  Speaker 3: strong and safe. Not only that, but God has repeatedly
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  Speaker 3: reaffirmed his promises to grant Abraham a descendant through Sarah.
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  Speaker 3: If Abraham were to be killed, as he fears, that
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  Speaker 3: would mean God did not or could not keep his promise.
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  Speaker 3: So think about it. What Abraham is saying here with
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  Speaker 3: his action is that he really doesn't trust God to
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  Speaker 3: deliver on his word. Now, unless we judge him too quickly,
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  Speaker 3: how often do we, by our own actions, say the
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  Speaker 3: same kind of things? God has given us so much,
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  Speaker 3: and we have such a wonderful promise of life, abundant
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  Speaker 3: life in him. And yet so often with our actions,
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  Speaker 3: we're willing to say, to show that we really don't
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  Speaker 3: trust God to give us what we need, that God
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  Speaker 3: is not enough, that his promises may not be true.
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  Speaker 3: So that's what Abraham does here. But fortunately, Abraham, Abimelech
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  Speaker 3: is spared from sin by God himself and because he
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  Speaker 3: appears to be a man of some integrity. Before he
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  Speaker 3: touched Sarah, God appears to Abimelech in a dream and
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  Speaker 3: tells him the true story. This terrifies Abimelech. and he
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  Speaker 3: asks if God is going to destroy him for something
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  Speaker 3: he has not done. God assures him that he knows
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  Speaker 3: the king's heart and reveals that it was him who
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  Speaker 3: kept the king from sinning. Look what he says to
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  Speaker 3: the king in Genesis 20, verse 6. Then God said
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  Speaker 3: to him in the dream, Yes, I know that in
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  Speaker 3: the integrity of your heart you have done this, and
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  Speaker 3: I also kept you from sinning against me. Therefore, I
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  Speaker 3: did not let you touch her. You see, God is
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  Speaker 3: not only active in the lives of those who have
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  Speaker 3: received a special calling and blessing like Abraham. Here we
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  Speaker 3: see that God is watching over this king, Abimelech, searching
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  Speaker 3: his heart and keeping him from sin. God says he
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  Speaker 3: will spare him. if he will return Sarah immediately. Abimelech
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  Speaker 3: promptly does so, confronting Abraham for having lied to him.
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  Speaker 3: And rather than owning up to his dishonesty and deceit
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  Speaker 3: and fully admitting that he was wrong, Abraham tries to
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  Speaker 3: soften it by telling another lie. Sarah is in no
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  Speaker 3: way his sister, but he is still trying to save
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  Speaker 3: face with the king. We'll see many times in scripture
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  Speaker 3: how someone is confronted with their sin and rather than
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  Speaker 3: openly admitting their fault and repenting, they try to justify
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  Speaker 3: or explain their actions. This isn't true repentance, and it's
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  Speaker 3: not what God wants. But once more, as we've seen
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  Speaker 3: so many times already, and as we can see vividly
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  Speaker 3: in our lives today, God is faithful to Abraham in
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  Speaker 3: spite of his lack of faith. God restores Sarah to
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  Speaker 3: Abraham and heals King Abimelech and his household. Dear God,
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  Speaker 3: Thank you for this story and what it teaches us
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  Speaker 3: about your faithfulness even when we take backward steps in
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  Speaker 3: our walk with you. Thank you also for what Abimelech's
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  Speaker 3: example shows us about your hand of protection in times
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  Speaker 3: that we're not even aware of our danger. Thank you
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  Speaker 3: for always watching over us and always, always delivering on
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  Speaker 3: your promises. In Christ's 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: prayer a priority in your life. If you enjoyed this podcast,
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  Speaker 3: share it with someone you love. By sharing this podcast,
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  Speaker 3: you can make a difference in someone's life. And if
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  Speaker 3: you want more resources as to how you can know
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  Speaker 3: God and experience Him in your life, be sure to
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  Speaker 3: visit jackgram.org. God bless you.