Latest / Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast / #10125 - An Unexpected Visit - Genesis 18

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#10125 - An Unexpected Visit - Genesis 18 · Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast

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Welcome to the study of God's word with pastor and author.
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Ed, Taylor recorded live at Calvary Church in Aurora,
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Colorado to learn more about the many resources available,
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through abounding Grace, Media, or to tune into our live stream
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Services. Visit us online at Calvary,
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co.'s Church or download our free
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Calvary Church app. Now, here's Pastor Ed to take us
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into our study. Amen.
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Amen. Take your Bibles.
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Open them to Genesis chapter 18 verse by verse through the Book
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of Genesis on our midweek, Bible study, and on the weekends were
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in the book of Acts. So God has us as a church going
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back to Beginnings. Not only the beginning of
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everything in the heart of God, for the world.
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But then on the weekends, the beginning of the church and what
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does God want from his church? And we're studying right now,
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the life of Abraham, this man of great faith.
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At the ripe old age of 99. He was circumcised and although
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that would be a very painful thing for a man that's 99 years
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old, it's really an act of obedience and it reminds us that
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obedience sometimes is very painful and it has a
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long-lasting pain at all attached to it.
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I mean it's far more painful to live a life of Disobedience.
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I like to think in my own life, if I can remember properly.
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Walking in the spirit that I would much rather have the
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consequences of obedience than the consequences of
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Disobedience, because I think in living in the dark world that
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we're in right now. It's going to be painful.
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Either way, you have a world that's antagonistic toward God.
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You have a world filled with Temptations the World, the Flesh
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and the devil always pressing in.
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So there is going to be paying Jesus said there will be
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tribulation to have good cheer, he's overcome the world, but
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here Abraham's in a good place. Is now within a chapter at a
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high point in his life, he's obedient he's compassionate,
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he's hospitable and these are wonderful byproducts of living
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by faith. I ask you to open a Genesis 18.
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Would you hold your place there? Let's go back to Galatians for a
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moment Galatians, chapter 6. Galatians chapter 6, and when
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you get there, I want to draw your attention to verse 7.
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As Paul is writing to the Believers in the region of
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galatia, he has some strong encouraging words and he says in
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Galatians, 6:7 do not be deceived, God is Not mocked for
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whatever amount so's that he will also reap for.
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He Who sows to his flesh, shall of the flesh, reap corruption.
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But he who sows to the spirit will of the spirit reap
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everlasting life and let us not grow weary while doing good for
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Due season, we shall reap. If we don't lose heart,
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therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to
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all especially to those who are of the household of faith.
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And of the many things we learn in this section of scripture and
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Galatians, we learned that we can expect.
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We can expect great things in our lives.
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When we live righteously sewing, spiritual things you can have an
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expectation from God to reap. What you sow?
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Hey. I know that on the negative side
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of this that's probably the way that we use this most often as a
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warning. Don't sow to the flesh it's not
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going to end good and that's true but I also want you to know
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the same truth applies to those that sow in the spirit you can
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expect God to honor his word that you'll reap everlasting
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life. When you sow to the spirit, your
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family will be blessed, your home will be blessed, your
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workplace will be blessed. And I think the the issue that
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Paul attaches, this Is weariness.
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Its weary, you can get weary sowing to the flesh, but you can
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also grow weary sewing to the spirit like consciously
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continually. I mean, imagine God comes to you
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at the age of 99 and says, look, here's the sign in the Seal of
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my Covenant, you need to get circumcised physically and all
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the males need to be circumcised in order to sow to the spirit,
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it's going to be painful. There will be pain attached to
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it. It's not the pain of sin, it's
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the pain of obedience and in a world that we try to avoid so
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much pain and suffering. It's it's best just to say, you
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know what Lord, I know it's coming.
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And I know it's going to come is with this fight and the battle
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for righteousness in my life, but I can sow to the spirit and
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when you and I sow to the spirit, we won't be
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disappointed. It may take a day.
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Or a week or a month or maybe even years but you can Bank on
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this promise. If you sow to the spirit, you'll
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reap everlasting life and I would be remiss if I didn't warn
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you. If you sow to the flesh, it
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might be a day. It might be a week.
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It might be a month or years, but you will reap the
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consequences of sowing to the flesh.
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So, here's a high point in Abraham's life verse 1 of
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chapter 18, then the Lord appeared to him by the terebinth
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trees at Memory. As he was sitting in the tent
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Door, In the Heat of the day. So he lifted his eyes, and
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looked, and behold three men were standing by him.
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And when he saw them, he ran from the tent door, to meet them
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and bowed himself to the ground and said my Lord.
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If I have now found favor in your sight, do not pass on by
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your servant, please let a little water be brought and wash
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your feet and rest yourselves under the tree.
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And I will bring a morsel of bread that you may refresh your
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hearts after that, you may pass by in as much as you have, come
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to your servant and they said, do as you have said.
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So here's Abraham resting, taking a nap In the Heat of the
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day. I think spiritually, you could
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say he's resting in the Lord because I when you're obedient
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you can rest you rest better when you live a life of
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obedience. There's a real peace and
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Associated with abiding in Christ and I think Abraham's
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experiencing this long before the New Covenant and then I
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don't know where these three visitors show up and you know,
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Abraham doesn't know it yet but these are actually two angels
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and the Lord himself, this is a christophany or a theophany.
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You see it later on. If you just want to see it, jump
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over to verse 22 of chapter 18, the men turned away from there
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and went towards Sodom, but Abraham still stood.
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Notice before the Lord and again in verse 33.
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So the Lord went his way as soon as he would finish speaking with
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Abraham and Abraham returned to his place.
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And then in verse 1 of chapter 19, the two angels came to Sodom
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in the evening and lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom and
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when lot saw them Heroes to meet them and bowed himself and his
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face toward the Lord, you got two angels and a pre-incarnate
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appearance of Jesus Christ. Pre-incarnate means before the
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Eternal son. Of God took on a human body in
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the womb of Mary. He appeared from time to time
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and this was one of those appearances.
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Now notice when Abraham sees them, he has such a broad deep
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heart of hospitality that he runs out to them and invites
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them to stay and you know put this into context Abraham's 100
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years old. That guy just got circumcised.
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He's resting on a hot day and he runs to them to care for them.
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I mean, it's stepping into the situation, taking advantage, and
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opportunity to meet the Lord. Or in this case, all he knows
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yet is to meet these visitors but knowing that, this is a
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pre-incarnate appearance of the Lord.
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Let me ask you a question. How do you meet the Lord today?
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And what is your attitude? What does that look like?
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I mean, we have a familiar routine.
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The alarm goes off in the morning.
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And then we have a choice, many hit a button that says, going
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back to sleep, and we hit it. And and I don't even have that
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on mine anymore. And I use my phone.
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How many of you use your phone for an alarm now.
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Yeah, so it takes a long time to find that little button, you
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just like, you know, if you have the wrong alarm on and they just
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really wakes you up and you can't go back to sleep.
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But then what do you do? I mean, is it just the drudgery
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of the day and the difficulties before you or is there a
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consciousness of the God, how do you meet the Lord in the
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morning? First thought.
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Because he is there, you know it's time at opportunity for
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times of devotion or prayer or have on that same phone that
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your alarm. You can download the Bible app
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and have it read to you in the morning as the word of God is
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being saturating. Your heart.
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I mean, do you get up in the morning and go?
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Oh, lord, it's so good to be with you.
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Or do you wake up in the morning and say good lord.
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It's morning. I better get off to work.
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another thing I noticed here is how normal this situation is.
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So I think we over spiritualize things in our relationship with
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God. But this is very normal.
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Got a guy resting. Healing up after a surgery, he's
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on the heat of the day. He sees visitors, it's
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customary, it's hospitable to go out to them.
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And it's interesting that God comes to him in the form of a
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human, being appearing, to Abraham in a very natural way.
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A very natural way. And though it was very much, a
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supernatural event, it happened, very normally, and how often I
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think that God is trying to speak to us and appear Among Us
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and interact with us, but we miss him.
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We want something more. Dramatic.
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We want the Audible Voice speak to me from heaven and I'll know
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it's you, God, we're expecting the ground a rumble like Elijah
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did. But so often the Lord speaks to
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us in very normal ways. As our pastor, Pastor Chuck
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Smith once said, God off, Fan operates, supernaturally in very
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natural ways and in most of the time God speaking to you through
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his word. So you know if you're not
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reading the Bible then you're not going to hear from the Lord.
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You're missing a very easy opportunity just taking it in
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and allowing the Holy Spirit to speak to you in a very real way
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in his word. And I know every time I opened
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the Bible. I know he is speaking.
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I know that he is and and Me as well as the discipleship here.
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We train them in to carry their Bibles around.
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I know you can use your phone, I know you can, but the Bible
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represents something even at times, I'll use it.
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Like, this isn't just a decoration on the pulpit.
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This is my Bible. This is my Bible the one that
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I've used since I was a new believer.
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Actually. It's the second one I was
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looking not too long. I was just looking through and
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this was a gift from my mom back in 1995.
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Because the first Bible that I had like this was Destroyed.
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I mean, it was all tore up, it's in my office as a reminder of my
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mom saw it. And so I think I'm going to get
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you a new Bible son and I'm like great because we got no money.
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So please get us a Bible and moms and dads.
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You guys are a blessing that way so many times and I use it and I
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show you and I open it. And even today, this morning, I
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officiated a memorial and it's to me, it's very important that
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everyone in that room. See the authority that I stand
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in. Pulpit with it.
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You walk in differently when you have the authority but until
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it's an authority in your life you'll never treat the Bible
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that way. Hey I'm not opposed to, I do my
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DeVos on my iPad in the morning. I have that I have a diva book
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and some scripts, you know, my bible program, I use technology.
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I'm not opposed to technology at all.
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I think we should use the latest and greatest technology to reach
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every generation. I'm not opposed to it.
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However, there's something powerful about this book,
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there's something powerful about opening it up and using it and
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remembering this is the authority in your life.
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You guys know on the weekends, when we read a Psalm together,
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my I share open up your Bibles and let's stand.
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Let's stand in respect for God's word reminder that we stand on
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the authority of God's word and it's also a reminder Under that
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we stand under the authority of God's word and that you have a
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Bible and that you use it and that it becomes the tool in your
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life. You want to hear from God, read
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your Bible. That's tweetable.
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You guys should be You want to read from God?
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And then, of course, when I say tweetable, some people say, do
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people still use Twitter? Yes.
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Oh People Like Us still use Twitter.
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You want to hear from God. Open up your Bible.
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Stop complaining. You don't hear from God.
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Read your Bible and then of course I'm going to hear
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somebody but I do read my Bible. Well then maybe you need to
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examine yourself and see in a very natural way.
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God has been speaking all along and just do what he tells you to
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do. Pray over, read your Bible every
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day. And pray everyday and you'll see
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that God's operating all around you.
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It doesn't have to be some Supernatural Goosebumps I got
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chills that God is speaking to me.
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Now it's not always that I remember made me.
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Think I remember a few times over the years we get all kinds
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of feedback for the church and and and this is a familiar, this
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is actually a familiar one but I had one guy in particular that I
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remember he come up after a service, he was visiting and and
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he says, you know Pastor it's real quiet in here.
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You guys are on the verge of doing great things but it's so
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quiet. And I'm like, well what do you
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mean? And he said he was used to
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yelling screaming, you know, jumping up and down and all
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sorts of, you know, charismatic response in the church that he
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came from and he wasn't used to a quiet room where we are giving
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place to the Holy Spirit to speak to us through the teaching
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of his word. That's the primary, if you see
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and examine the life of Jesus. The primary Ministry of Jesus
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was not healing. It was not the kind of
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humanitarian things that God in human flesh.
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Did his primary Ministry was preaching and teaching that's
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where life change comes. And so the brother got, you
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know, it's really twice, it really really quiet.
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Well, another Sunday, somebody comes after service, pretty
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close to that because I put them together and they said, you
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know, it's too loud here too much, moving in the sanctuary,
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and I'm like, Like man why don't you just come to church with an
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attitude of listening to the Lord?
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Why is everything bother you? Why wide?
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And maybe this is a word for someone here.
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That doesn't. Maybe you're like I am that guy.
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All right. Maybe you are.
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And so just in a very real way, let me ask you.
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What's your problem? Listen to the Lord wherever you
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might be tune your ears to the Lord if it's too quiet for you,
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so be it, if it's too loud for you.
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So be it. If you are here by the will of
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God, he is ready to speak. He is ready to give you in a
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very natural way. The information, the knowledge,
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the wisdom that you're seeking from him very natural.
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Verse 6. Now, come To Genesis 18.
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So Abraham hastened into the tent to Sarah and said, quickly
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Make Ready, three measures of fine meal, knead it and make
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cakes and Abraham, ran to the heard took a tender and good.
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Calf gave it to a young man and he hastened to prepare it.
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And so he took butter and milk and the calf which he had
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prepared and set it before them and he stood by them under the
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tree as they ate. It's interesting in the
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hospitality of the home both Sarah and Abraham were involved.
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It wasn't just delegated to Sarah, Abraham.
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Also was involved and he was also part of the service and the
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ministry to these visitors, it's important that you understand
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that it's togetherness in your marriage.
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It is not a man's job or a woman's job.
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It is the servant of the Lord's job to take care of those that
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are before you. So they both had a role.
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I like that verse 9, then they said to him where Sarah your
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wife and he said, here in the tent And he said, I will
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certainly return to you. According, to the time of life
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and behold, Sarah, your wife shall have a son and Sarah was
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listening in the tent door, which was behind him now,
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Abraham, and Sarah were old, well, advanced in age.
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Sarah had passed the age of childbearing.
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Therefore, Sarah laughed went in herself.
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Saying after I've grown old. Shall I have pleasure?
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My Lord being old also, And the Lord notice again, as you see in
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verse 13, you see the word Lord is in capital letters in a
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reference to Jehovah. So, this is where we learn here
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is one of these visitors is God in human flesh.
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And the Lord said Abraham, why did Sarah laugh saying, shall I
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surely bear a child? Since I'm old and Mark, this is
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anything too hard for the Lord, and at the appointed time, I
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will return to you according to the time of life and Sarah shall
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have a son, but Sarah denied. Saying I did not laugh for.
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She was afraid and he said no. But you did laughs.
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Can I just take a note? We won't develop it today, but
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it can. You just notice here?
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The fear of man can lead you to lie.
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I know that many of us. If we were asked, are you a
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liar? Most of us would say no.
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I'm a very honest person. And I'm certain that Sarah was a
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very honest person as well, but because of fear she lied.
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And that's one of the traps of the fear of men.
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You might be afraid to lose Integrity or, you know, loose
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face. So, you lie, you might be afraid
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to lose your job. So you lie, you might be afraid
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to lose the image that you've carefully crafted and so you
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lie, and I would just tell you, it's not good to lie.
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Tell the truth and be careful and watch out for fear to make
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you do things. You never wanted to do so, Sarah
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starts baking. He gets the main course.
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They put it all together, Abraham serving in the kitchen,
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Sarah serving in the kitchen, they're working together.
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Then the question comes, where is your wife and Sarah was
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listening in. It says, in verse 10, we learned
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that their far beyond the years of child bearing which caused
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Sarah to laugh here. She felt it was silly.
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And yet in verse 13, she's busted by the Lord.
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She's busted on it to which she denies of course.
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And to me that's incredible because I'm reminded that God
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knows my thoughts. That's one of the challenges
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that we have when were ministering to people as we
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don't know what's going on in your mind or your heart, nobody
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knows. Sometimes we don't even know our
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own hearts. However God knows, there's
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nothing hidden from him and there's no need to continue to
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live a life of pretense, he knows and I think to some
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degree, there's a lot about ourselves that we know, but then
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we believe lies about ourselves. And in believing lies.
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You may forget conveniently that you're a new creation in Christ.
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All things have been passed away, behold.
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All things have become new, that victory is yours by faith.
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And to me the Lord knows our thoughts and then can repeat
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them back to us in an instant and we need to be careful even
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as we're ministering to people. The way that hearts are
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revealed, the Bible says Jesus teaches us that out of the
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abundance of the mouth. The heart speaks or a bottom out
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of the abundance of the heart. The mouth speaks.
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Which one is it? It's a month.
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Which one or whatever one? It is.
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It open. Which one was it out of the
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abundance of the heart? The mouth speaks?
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Okay. So we won't edit that.
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We'll just see I miss quoted it. So I'll quote it correctly.
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Listen, if you can get someone talking eventually, they're
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going to show their heart. Which is why it's important to
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be a trustworthy person in Ministry.
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Which you could turn that word around and learn, it's important
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that you're worthy of someone's Trust. because the more someone
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trusts you the more their share with you, And we talked about
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this when somebody joins our team, we talk about
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confidentiality, we talk about the word confidence and then we
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talked about the person that we've all heard and I hear it on
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the news from time to time the con man, you know, a con man
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will seek to earn your confidence so that they could
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take advantage of you and take from you.
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And nobody in here needs to be, don't be if you are repent.
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If you're a con man this place the body of Christ, the family
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of God this church in particular.
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Any church for that matter is not a place for you to go and
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take advantage of people. And to earn their trust so that
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you can take from them, steal from them and hurt them
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financially, emotionally doesn't matter.
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We don't want to be a church filled with or allowing you know
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Jesus when you use the word con man he'd used the words.
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He'd used the phrase wolf in sheep's clothing.
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But on the flipside of that, while a con man will take your
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confidence and use it to hurt you.
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A servant of the Lord will take your confidence and use it to
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help you. That's a profound difference.
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And if you've ever been burned, or you've ever been hurt,
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because someone's taking advantage of you.
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Now, you understand why you feel so disconnected from people
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because you don't trust. And really the trust has to be
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unto the Lord I think of how many people come through this
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church and they you know we might be Hang on giving or
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something and and you know, we'll we'll talk about how
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pastors will take advantage of giving and, you know, Force
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things on you. There was a guy in town for a
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while that would make people stand and wave their tithe in
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the air so they could wave it. Like they were just wouldn't
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care and they make a big deal about it and they'd invite the
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big tithers up first and it was all just a sham to take
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advantage of people. He's just a big Thief is what he
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was. And anytime I share a story like
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that, that would be people listening to go, but I went to
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that church. And I gave that tithe and I did
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what I was told and now I was ripped off and you know what
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happens, is it you put a guard up you I will never be ripped
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off again. But I always careful to remind
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you. If that's you that when you gave
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yeah you may have done it wrong. You may have had wrong motives
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or anything, but you ultimately you gave to the Lord, he honors
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that and yeah he might have got burned because somebody missed
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used your trust and that's unfortunate.
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I wish it never happened but that is part of life.
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Jesus. He was crucified by very similar
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people 2,000 years ago. And so it doesn't mean now, you
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guard yourself and you protect yourself and you don't step into
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other people's lives anymore, or you don't give unto the Lord
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anymore, or whatever it may be. But God knows, and he wants us
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to build trust among one another.
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Now, notice this phrase, in verse 14, I have an underlying
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circled and highlighted in my Bible and just allow it to fill
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the room. Allow it to fill your cars are
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listening on the radio or, or where you are listening.
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On the app perhaps or watching online, just let it fill.
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Your heart is anything too hard for the Lord.
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This is an important question because there are many things in
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our lives even in my life right now.
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This is too hard for me. Too hard for me.
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Impossible for me. This is no way, I have no
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resources. I've nobility, I've no no power
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whatsoever and things, you know, even as I was reading, not even
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in my notes, flooding my mind right now I can think of a few
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things right away that are too hard for me.
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But is it too hard for the Lord? Is it too hard?
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Is is anything really too hard for God?
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And God is encouraging and now that there's nothing that comes
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into your life that he isn't big enough to handle.
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There isn't anything that comes into your life that even as it
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is too hard for you. And me to handle were told in
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the Bible that when we are weak. God becomes strong on our
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behalf. That the situation, you know,
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when everything's easy and there's no challenges, then, God
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doesn't show himself. Strong on your behalf.
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At least not demonstrative lie because there's really no need.
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It's when the need comes, when the impossibility knocks on the
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door, when the letter comes the phone, call the tax, the test
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results. That's when God has opportunity
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to show himself strong when we're out on a limb, when we've
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taken a step of faith and bladed.
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On the line for the Lord that's when.
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And so here, a beret, Sarah's laughing, it's impossible.
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This is silly. It doesn't.
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This stuff doesn't happen old man.
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And my old husband and me, we, this doesn't happen.
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And the answer was, is anything too hard for the Lord?
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There is an appointed time. and even Sarah denies it You know,
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Sarah is Mom. She was laughing like mockingly.
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It's like, oh, ho. That's never can happen.
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Who Do You Think You Are? And then she denies it.
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But I love the answer to again. This is so many things that we
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could stop and do Bible studies on alone, but I love the answer
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at the end of verse 15. No, but you did laughs, that
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happens to be a part of the ministry that God has called me
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to that. People don't like in my life,
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where I just like, no, this is what happened.
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This is what she said. This is what you did.
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And you need to come face to face with the reality of your
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current situation, or it will never change.
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I think I forget what, where I read this, somebody wrote it, I
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didn't make it up but I made it my own where he where he
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mentioned that a leader. One of the responsibilities of a
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leader is to Define reality for people.
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Oh my God. Sometimes people get so caught
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up in the situation. They don't understand the
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reality and until you understand the reality, you'll never be
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able to experience change. So Sarah look, nothing is
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impossible for God. I'm coming back at an appointed
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time. Don't you tell me?
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You didn't laugh? Did life.
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And I want you to remember this moment.
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Because it's going to play out when this kid does come in your
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life when I do fulfill, my promise notice in verse 16.
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Now then the men arose from there and look towards Sodom.
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Oh, topic is changing here. Abraham it with Anna.
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Send them on the way in the Lord said shall I hide from Abraham
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when I'm doing since Abraham, shall surely become a great and
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mighty nation and all the nations of the Earth shall be
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blessed in him for, I have known him in order that he may command
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his children. And his household after him that
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they keep the way of the Lord, to do, righteousness, and
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Justice. And that the Lord may bring
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Abraham, what he has spoken to him.
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And the Lord said, because the outcry against Sodom, and
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Gomorrah is great. And because their sin is very
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Grievous, I will go down now and see whether they have done
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altogether. According to the outcry against
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it, that has come to me. And if not, I will know.
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And then the men turned away from there and went towards
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Sodom but Abraham still stood before.
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For the Lord. So two angels walk away leaving
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Abraham alone with the Lord Abraham is growing in his fate.
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Don't forget he has a process of spiritual growth just like you
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do. He wasn't born as the man of
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Faith. He wasn't born, it needed to be
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developed in his life. And this is another moment of
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that development Abraham's growing and we find him about to
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grow and Leaps and Bounds in his prayer life.
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But notice the command was to teach his family righteousness.
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And that's your job moms and dads grandmas.
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And grandpas not only teaching righteousness, but by example,
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not merely Inward and a couple of things that I noticed here.
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First of all, that question in verse 17.
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Shall I hide from Abraham? What I'm doing?
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Number one, that tells me that we all have in our relationship
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with God. We all have partial knowledge.
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Don't forget that, we all have partial knowledge.
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Now I know the knowledge that we have seems to be everything that
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we need to know but we all have partial knowledge even though so
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much is revealed to us, we still don't know everything many
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times. We wonder what God is doing or
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not doing we think if I was God I would do this but God Alone
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knows all things. The doctrine of omniscience
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omnipotence, God knows all things.
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You and I, we know partial, we don't know all things.
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And then, the next thing we notice, It says in verse 22, the
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men turn away from there. Verse 23, Abraham came near.
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And said would you also destroy the righteous with the wicked
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Suppose? There were 50 righteous within
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the city. Would you also destroy the place
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and not spare for 50 righteous far be it from you to do such a
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thing as this to slay, the righteous with the wicked so
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that the righteous should not be as the wicked far.
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Be it from you or should shall be as the wicked shall not.
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The judge of all the Earth Do, Right?
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Another phrase to underline in your in your Bibles.
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Shall not the judge. Of all the Earth do, right?
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And the Lord said, if I find in Sodom 50 righteous within the
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city, then I'll spare the place for their sakes then, Abraham
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answered indeed. I am who but Dustin ashes and
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have taken upon myself to speak to the Lord.
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Suppose there were five less than 50.
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Would you destroy all the city for lack of five?
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And he said, if I find 45, I won't destroy it.
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Then he spoke to him yet again and said, Suppose there would be
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40 and he said I won't do it for the sake of 40 and then he said
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let the Lord not be angry. He and I will speak supposed 30
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should be found there and he said, I will not do it if there
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are 30 there and then he said, indeed, I've taken it upon
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myself to speak to the Lord supposed 20 should be found
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there and he said I won't destroy for the sake of 20 and
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he said Lord let not the Lord, be angry and I'll just speak one
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more time. Suppose 10 should be found there
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and he said I will not destroy it for the sake of ten.
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So the Lord, when his way as soon as he had finished speaking
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to Abraham and Abraham. And returned to his place.
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What we have here is a interesting perspective of
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Prayer by definition prayer, is someone talking to God, that's
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what prayer is. So we have an example of Abraham
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talking directly to with God and that is a good posture of
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prayer. You can come right into the
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throne room of Grace to find help.
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In time of need, you can talk to God in a very personal matter.
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We see this with Abraham and he's pleading and begging.
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Gagging and it reminds me. Secondly that they're Wicked
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really owe a lot to The Godly. I want you to let that sit in
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for a second the wicked truly owe a lot to those of you living
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a life in Christ. It is because of the presence of
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God's people that the world is not destroyed.
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There is a sense of Grace that comes through the pleadings of
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God's people in the life of unrighteous Laban.
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Remember later on, it was Jacob tending.
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The flocks that Laban was blessed and multiplied in the
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life of potiphar. It was because of Joseph that he
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was blessed and Acts chapter 27. We have an episode of Paul being
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on a ship and literally people were saved on that ship wreck
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because of Hall. In our country owes, so much to
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you, men and women who follow after God intercede greatly, I
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want you to notice here as well. That God is able to make a
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distinction between the righteous and the unrighteous.
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I know that's not a popular topic today, but there is a
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distinction between the righteous and the unrighteous.
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We may say with Christian language, the believer and the
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unbeliever God does marks in make no mistake about it.
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They're be our culture tries to erase it tries to sidestep it.
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Tries to change the whole language around it but not God.
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God is unchangeable It's not a politically correct thing to say
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of course, but the sin of Sodom is very serious.
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Homosexuality. Undermines The credibility of
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God's creation. It's actually a sin where you
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sin against yourself. Yes, it's true.
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Fornication is in the same category, adultery in the same
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category, but so is homosexuality.
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To God, the sin of homosexuality is gray, very grave.
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And it can lead to the loss of a soul, if unrepented and on a
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broader scale, according to verse 20.
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God says, because of the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is
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great. And because their sin is very
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Grievous, we also learn in this text that nothing is missed by
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God. Sin has an outcry to it, it has
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consequences it, crushes, and destroys men and women.
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I think of what's being perpetrated on the children
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today. I think of the surgeries that
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are being that are being allowed and encouraged that are
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Reversible, that's our culture and it's one thing to be angry
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and it's one thing to have an outcry, but have you been
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pleading with God? Like Abraham was.
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And I don't know for sure, we don't know.
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But as you see Abraham go from number two number, I wonder if
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in his mind he was thinking of 10 people and lots family.
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Because we know later on and we'll study a little bit more
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about lot, but we know later on that, the Bible says that lot
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was a righteous man and he was vexed in his soul daily.
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Here's a man struggling and battling and yet at the same
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time, God declares him righteous vexed in his soul.
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The Old King James says As Abraham intercedes.
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He asked the question he says, would you also destroy the
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righteous with the wicked again for you Bible students?
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This is a principle of the character of God that helps to
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me in one thing and there's many reasons why.
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But this alone this principle of the character of God really to
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me affirms, the New Testament, New Testament, doctrine of the
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pre-tribulation Rapture of the church.
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God is able to make a distinction and those that are
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righteous will not suffer the same judgment.
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Wrath than those that are unrighteous, just from this
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principle alone, he says in verse 25, now won't the judge of
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all the Earth do, right? Of course you'll do, right?
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And clearly in the back of Abraham's, mine is poor law at
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the backslider. The compromiser, his blessed,
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nephew, his family. We kind of look, we put people
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in categories, you know, lot made a lot of bad decisions, but
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he was someone's son. Someone's brother.
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Someone's husband. Someone's dad, someone's nephew
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Even as you have loved for your family. and as we close just
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real quickly again, I don't have time to develop it, but some
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notable things in the prayer life of Abraham that may be
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helpful for you and your own prayer life, as you're praying
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for your country, as you praying, for your politicians,
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gree or disagree with them, as you're praying for your family,
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as your pleading, for God's mercy, that's what Abraham was
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pleading for God's mercy, I mean if there's just 10 people there
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we you not destroy the city. Is there just 10 people there?
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So, three things real quick. Number one, his prayer was very
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specific and it's good in your prayers to be specific often
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when praying when my kids were younger.
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They would pray to save our family and save the world and we
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really wanted to walk into their lives and teach them that those
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are wonderful prayers to save our family and save the world.
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But As they grew older, they started naming names.
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And as they named names, they started paying attention to
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those names and I'm certain to this day and names are still
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mentioned in our prayers of family and friends like your
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boss. You know, it's impersonal to say
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I pray for the Salvation of my boss and he's like But you know,
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when you say, you know, would you, would you please touch the
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life of Chuck? God, you know, you put him in a
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position of authority over me. But I know he's just a man, it
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changes the whole perspective praying for your boss or praying
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for her or him by name. Specific number to his prayer
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was also respectful Respectful based on his relationship with
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God, up to this point, Abraham respected, the power, and the
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sovereignty of God, you see that in verse 25 shall not.
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The judge of the earth do, right?
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You see that in verse 30? Let the Lord.
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Not be angry. He's respectful.
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Don't be angry with me. But I keep working these numbers
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with you God because I love my nephew.
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I loved his family. He was respectful.
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And finally his prayer was hopeful or you could also say it
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had and the right expectation, he prayed with expectation.
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You could say that Abraham prayed in faith and by faith, he
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was leaning on the character and the nature of God and was
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hopeful in his request. So it says in verse 33 that the
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Lord went his way. He finished speaking and Doom.
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Now, in our next study of visit to Sodom would take place and
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we'll learn a little bit about Sodom and Gomorrah next time.
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Father, we pray for your spirit to take the lessons that we
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learn. And I think you know I know
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reviewing my notes and thinking this through I will sometimes
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impose my own limitations on you and what's impossible for me I
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just think is impossible for you.
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I also got find a failure and ask you to forgive me of that,
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failure of not being satisfied with the answer that you've
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given me. That you have answered.
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And it wasn't the way I requested.
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And so Lord, I pray that you would teach me and teach us
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contentment and Trust. Trusting you, with our lives and
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the situations in our lives. And forgive us, Lord for being
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so impersonal. So upset with the current
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conditions of unrighteous men and women.
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And let us be reminded that the wicked have a lot.
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They owe a lot to the righteous. And may we continue to ramp up
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what is owed by our prayers and our intercessions for them.
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We pray that in Jesus name. Amen.
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We pray that you've been encouraged by this Bible.
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blessed as you worship Jesus this week.