1 00:00:01,080 --> 00:00:05,120 Hallelujah, Hallelujah, not just at your conversion, but day by 2 00:00:05,120 --> 00:00:09,520 day the changes, Hallelujah, that you made in my life. 3 00:00:10,080 --> 00:00:19,920 Jesus, I love you Lord, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, someone 4 00:00:19,920 --> 00:00:25,160 say thank God. Hallelujah, Amen. 5 00:00:25,760 --> 00:00:32,040 Means by announcements here tonight, my family and I will be 6 00:00:32,040 --> 00:00:37,080 leaving tomorrow and we will not be coming back home till the 9th 7 00:00:37,080 --> 00:00:40,640 of August sometime. And so during that time, if you 8 00:00:40,640 --> 00:00:43,320 have any emergencies or things of that matter particularly that 9 00:00:43,320 --> 00:00:47,600 happened during the day, you can contact Bishop, a man during the 10 00:00:47,600 --> 00:00:50,960 night you might be able to get Brother Mason, but Bishop would 11 00:00:50,960 --> 00:00:54,560 probably be your primary spot, a man to search out first. 12 00:00:55,240 --> 00:00:58,280 Amen. Again, you can call us and we'll 13 00:00:58,280 --> 00:01:00,840 pray and things like that, but as far as being able to be, 14 00:01:00,840 --> 00:01:03,080 there might not be able to be. Amen. 15 00:01:03,680 --> 00:01:07,400 So just keep that in mind. That means it's coming Sunday. 16 00:01:07,880 --> 00:01:09,400 Amen. They're having some other 17 00:01:09,400 --> 00:01:13,200 speakers right around here. So the AM will have brother 18 00:01:13,200 --> 00:01:17,320 Jerry Mason, the PM, they'll be Bishop, and then on Wednesday, 19 00:01:17,320 --> 00:01:20,720 next Wednesday you'll have Brother Zach McGee. 20 00:01:21,120 --> 00:01:23,880 And then on the 7th of August, don't forget Power Hour here at 21 00:01:23,880 --> 00:01:26,640 the church. Still yet, I got my little print 22 00:01:26,640 --> 00:01:28,920 out for everybody to sign. I won't be here again. 23 00:01:28,920 --> 00:01:31,720 It's bumming me out and I'm going to miss my perfect 24 00:01:31,720 --> 00:01:35,960 attendance and such so, but be here for that. 25 00:01:36,280 --> 00:01:40,320 Also, there'll be Ladies Retreat or Women's Esprit Conference 26 00:01:40,320 --> 00:01:45,320 coming up here in this district the 22nd, the 23rd of August. 27 00:01:45,320 --> 00:01:49,440 And so that's exciting as well. The 5th Sunday of August will be 28 00:01:49,440 --> 00:01:51,400 Pastor Anthony Wilkes here with us. 29 00:01:51,800 --> 00:01:53,640 Amen. And that will be tremendous as 30 00:01:53,640 --> 00:01:57,640 well too. However, just an an adjustment 31 00:01:57,640 --> 00:02:01,440 from just last Wednesday and my wife showed me this and didn't 32 00:02:01,440 --> 00:02:03,320 want to do any competition that we had scheduled. 33 00:02:03,320 --> 00:02:05,800 Our Night of Worth. It happens to be on the same 34 00:02:05,800 --> 00:02:09,720 night as a home football game, which football is big in Mount 35 00:02:09,720 --> 00:02:14,240 Carmel just the way it is. And so I told us talk to our 36 00:02:14,240 --> 00:02:17,440 leaders that we can either compete with it or we can just 37 00:02:17,440 --> 00:02:20,160 not do that. And so we're the last time that 38 00:02:20,160 --> 00:02:22,720 we did night of Worth, we actually did it in the spring. 39 00:02:23,160 --> 00:02:27,520 And so things at that time is usually like other sports that 40 00:02:27,520 --> 00:02:29,440 don't take place on Friday nights. 41 00:02:29,960 --> 00:02:32,520 And so we're probably going to not probably we're going to be 42 00:02:32,520 --> 00:02:33,880 shifting that. I've already talked to the 43 00:02:33,880 --> 00:02:36,520 people involved and told them there's going to be a shift 44 00:02:36,520 --> 00:02:38,360 there. And so that won't be happening 45 00:02:38,360 --> 00:02:40,120 in September. That'll happen in the spring. 46 00:02:40,560 --> 00:02:43,360 The date of that will be forthcoming and such. 47 00:02:43,360 --> 00:02:46,840 So just try to make an adjustment, try to be mindful 48 00:02:46,840 --> 00:02:50,200 because we like the community involved involvement, Amen. 49 00:02:50,200 --> 00:02:54,200 But we might be hanging ourselves, so to speak. 50 00:02:54,200 --> 00:02:57,320 It's just a figure of speech trying to attempt that 51 00:02:57,320 --> 00:03:00,080 otherwise. So anyway, that's just a point 52 00:03:00,080 --> 00:03:02,000 of information. Amen. 53 00:03:02,440 --> 00:03:04,400 Let's turn to the book of Genesis. 54 00:03:05,560 --> 00:03:11,440 Amen. Tonight, book of Genesis, I'm 55 00:03:11,440 --> 00:03:14,680 wearing like the this suit and only one other suit I have in my 56 00:03:14,680 --> 00:03:16,480 closet. All the rest are going with me. 57 00:03:17,680 --> 00:03:23,000 That tells you how much church I'm going to be in, Amen. 58 00:03:24,160 --> 00:03:26,800 They're outside of a few stray sports coach or something like 59 00:03:26,800 --> 00:03:29,600 that. All complete suits are packed. 60 00:03:30,720 --> 00:03:37,160 Amen. So Genesis chapter 19 and we're 61 00:03:37,160 --> 00:03:41,040 going to do our best or my best. Maybe I should make you say, 62 00:03:41,040 --> 00:03:43,000 well, I've tried to help you get through it soon and you have 63 00:03:43,000 --> 00:03:45,320 it's all on you. So I'm going to try to do my 64 00:03:45,320 --> 00:03:48,080 best to get through chapter 19 tonight. 65 00:03:48,080 --> 00:03:50,640 We'll, we'll end here on a good spot. 66 00:03:50,960 --> 00:03:56,640 Before I leave, I'm going to start reading verse #24 and I'm 67 00:03:56,640 --> 00:03:59,560 going to read a few verses here this evening if I can get my 68 00:03:59,560 --> 00:04:02,280 glasses out. And then I like to be seated. 69 00:04:02,280 --> 00:04:04,400 And we'll catch the rest here in just a moment. 70 00:04:04,440 --> 00:04:07,760 OK. The Bible states these words in 71 00:04:07,760 --> 00:04:13,680 verse #24 It says, Then the Lord reigned upon Sodom, and upon 72 00:04:13,680 --> 00:04:17,079 Gomorrah, brimstone and fire for the Lord out of heaven. 73 00:04:17,560 --> 00:04:20,959 And he overthrew those cities, and all the plane, and all the 74 00:04:20,959 --> 00:04:25,360 inhabitants of the cities, that which grew up on the ground. 75 00:04:25,640 --> 00:04:28,040 But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a 76 00:04:28,040 --> 00:04:32,680 pillar of salt. And Abraham got up early in the 77 00:04:32,680 --> 00:04:35,720 morning to the place where he stood before the Lord and looked 78 00:04:35,720 --> 00:04:38,720 towards Sodom, Gomorrah and toward all the land of the plane 79 00:04:39,320 --> 00:04:41,680 and be held and load the smoke of the country went up as the 80 00:04:41,680 --> 00:04:44,760 smoke of the furnace. And it came to pass when God 81 00:04:44,760 --> 00:04:47,240 destroyed the cities of the plain that God remembered 82 00:04:47,240 --> 00:04:51,520 Abraham and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow when he 83 00:04:51,520 --> 00:04:57,280 overthrew the cities in the which Lot dwell for a little 84 00:04:57,280 --> 00:04:58,720 while tonight. And I know it seems like it's 85 00:04:58,720 --> 00:05:01,880 been a vein, you know, somewhat throughout chapter 19, but I 86 00:05:01,880 --> 00:05:06,600 want to speak on this fighting the Sodom mindset, fighting the 87 00:05:06,600 --> 00:05:08,840 Saddam mindset. Before I go in the Lord and 88 00:05:08,840 --> 00:05:10,360 prayer tonight, I just want to give an update. 89 00:05:10,480 --> 00:05:13,560 I went and seen Sister Brenda before church tonight as well. 90 00:05:13,760 --> 00:05:17,400 And she is doing so good. Matter of fact, whenever she's 91 00:05:17,440 --> 00:05:21,160 actually in Princeton at Deaconess Gibson General that it 92 00:05:21,200 --> 00:05:23,440 now it's called Deaconess Gibson General. 93 00:05:23,640 --> 00:05:26,440 So if anybody wants to go over there and see her, I know it her 94 00:05:26,440 --> 00:05:30,480 spirits would just be thrilled. But I went over there tonight 95 00:05:30,480 --> 00:05:33,000 and as I went in the room, she had just got back from walking 96 00:05:33,000 --> 00:05:36,960 and riding a bicycle. And so there's color back in her 97 00:05:36,960 --> 00:05:40,480 face, life in her eyes and her sugars. 98 00:05:40,480 --> 00:05:43,680 Everything's doing good. And so about another week and 99 00:05:43,680 --> 00:05:46,640 1/2 or so there and she'll be going to her daughter's Mindy's 100 00:05:46,920 --> 00:05:49,720 in Oakland City. So a good time to then she'll be 101 00:05:49,720 --> 00:05:52,960 there until she can they feel that she can come home by 102 00:05:52,960 --> 00:05:55,240 herself. So if you want to see her, your 103 00:05:55,240 --> 00:05:58,560 window is the next week and a half really in order to do that, 104 00:05:59,240 --> 00:06:01,960 because I don't know how accepting Mindy will be of 105 00:06:01,960 --> 00:06:04,040 intrusion of all the you, you know. 106 00:06:04,040 --> 00:06:05,720 So if you want to see her, she's there. 107 00:06:06,040 --> 00:06:08,320 If you'd like to know the room number, I can even let you know 108 00:06:08,320 --> 00:06:10,920 that after service. I won't say that here publicly 109 00:06:10,920 --> 00:06:14,160 online, but if you want to go see her, I know she would just 110 00:06:14,160 --> 00:06:15,880 be thrilled. She'd probably talk to you 111 00:06:15,880 --> 00:06:17,640 later. She's she's doing good. 112 00:06:17,880 --> 00:06:19,680 She's doing good, She's feeling good. 113 00:06:20,120 --> 00:06:22,800 Amen. All right, so this evening let 114 00:06:22,800 --> 00:06:26,240 me pray and we'll get get going because I got some, we got some 115 00:06:26,240 --> 00:06:28,440 path to go. Lord, I love you tonight. 116 00:06:28,440 --> 00:06:30,440 Thank you Jesus for your many blessings. 117 00:06:30,680 --> 00:06:33,760 Thank you Lord for your word. Thank you Lord Jesus for meeting 118 00:06:33,760 --> 00:06:36,000 us here. God, each time we come, you 119 00:06:36,000 --> 00:06:38,800 don't disappoint Lord. You show up Lord, and we have 120 00:06:39,080 --> 00:06:41,720 witnesses, the Lord of your presence and spirit here. 121 00:06:41,960 --> 00:06:43,960 I pray God help us in the next little while. 122 00:06:44,200 --> 00:06:47,320 Lord, as we look at your word, y'all let us speak life into us 123 00:06:47,320 --> 00:06:50,480 in the name of Jesus Christ and I pray Amen. 124 00:06:50,480 --> 00:06:52,640 You may be seated tonight in Jesus name. 125 00:06:59,440 --> 00:07:02,680 Just a cursory reading of of this chapter. 126 00:07:02,680 --> 00:07:07,040 We might really miss something that takes place in verses 23 127 00:07:07,040 --> 00:07:10,800 and 24. And what we might miss is really 128 00:07:11,040 --> 00:07:15,640 what is one of the facets of God or essential aspect of God, and 129 00:07:15,640 --> 00:07:17,080 that is what the book of Numbers. 130 00:07:17,080 --> 00:07:19,200 And even we find the New Testament the same thing. 131 00:07:19,400 --> 00:07:21,800 And that is this. The Bible tells us that God is a 132 00:07:21,800 --> 00:07:27,280 man, that he cannot lie. And that is a great trait of 133 00:07:27,280 --> 00:07:30,400 God, right? That's a great trait outside of 134 00:07:30,400 --> 00:07:35,240 mankind that God has as his own. And the thing with that is this, 135 00:07:35,240 --> 00:07:38,000 that means whenever God says something, God means what he 136 00:07:38,000 --> 00:07:41,760 says, that God does not play games with His word. 137 00:07:42,440 --> 00:07:45,320 Even whenever he spoke to Lot, you know about them needing to 138 00:07:45,320 --> 00:07:48,840 get out and about them escaping. He wasn't using a bait and 139 00:07:48,840 --> 00:07:53,080 switch on law to get Lot out or baiting Lot with his mercy and 140 00:07:53,080 --> 00:07:55,280 then switch it up by punishing him with judgment. 141 00:07:55,280 --> 00:08:00,200 That's just not God. But in verse #21 the Bible says 142 00:08:00,360 --> 00:08:05,880 that whenever God accepts law in his plea to go to Zoar, remember 143 00:08:05,880 --> 00:08:11,280 the little city, that in the very next verse he says, haste 144 00:08:11,280 --> 00:08:18,160 thee, escape thither, for I cannot do anything till thou 145 00:08:18,160 --> 00:08:21,040 become thither. In other words, get to Zohar 146 00:08:21,040 --> 00:08:23,720 because I can't do anything as far as fire and brimstone and 147 00:08:23,720 --> 00:08:26,880 destruction on all the other planes, the cities and the 148 00:08:26,880 --> 00:08:29,320 planes and such, until you get there. 149 00:08:29,320 --> 00:08:31,800 He says, I cannot, You need a pause. 150 00:08:31,800 --> 00:08:36,799 Anytime God says that He cannot do something, I mean that's a 151 00:08:36,799 --> 00:08:39,919 big thing for God to say I cannot do. 152 00:08:39,919 --> 00:08:42,159 And matter of fact it almost seems a little weird to us and 153 00:08:42,159 --> 00:08:46,080 maybe a little impossible that God would say such a thing as I 154 00:08:46,080 --> 00:08:48,560 cannot. Others would probably try to 155 00:08:48,560 --> 00:08:52,720 interpret that I will not do, but our English translation says 156 00:08:52,720 --> 00:08:56,640 it as I cannot do. And the reason being is because 157 00:08:56,640 --> 00:09:01,600 God had bound and limited himself by His own word. 158 00:09:02,920 --> 00:09:07,600 He told lot. I will not, I cannot do that 159 00:09:07,920 --> 00:09:13,160 until you get to Zoar Psalms 89 and verse 34. 160 00:09:13,160 --> 00:09:16,840 The Bible says my covenant, the Psalm is speaking to the Lord, 161 00:09:16,840 --> 00:09:20,840 the Lord saying My covenant. I will not break nor alter the 162 00:09:20,840 --> 00:09:24,480 thing that has gone out of my lips. 163 00:09:24,840 --> 00:09:30,200 And so when you pair verse 23 in Genesis 19 with verse 24 in 164 00:09:30,200 --> 00:09:32,880 Genesis 19, this is what we come at. 165 00:09:33,040 --> 00:09:36,760 This is what the verses of Scripture say, that when Lot was 166 00:09:36,800 --> 00:09:41,760 entered into Zoar, that's the last part of verse 23 when Lot 167 00:09:41,760 --> 00:09:47,560 was entered into Zoar, then the Lord reigned upon Sodom and upon 168 00:09:47,560 --> 00:09:49,240 Gomorrah. That I know. 169 00:09:49,240 --> 00:09:51,680 It don't seem like much, but you read right through it. 170 00:09:51,920 --> 00:09:55,720 God kept His word. He said I cannot do it till you 171 00:09:55,720 --> 00:09:58,760 get there, and God didn't do it till they got there. 172 00:09:59,000 --> 00:10:05,080 God bound himself by his word and that's a trait, an aspect of 173 00:10:05,080 --> 00:10:11,600 God that we should love, adore, cradle in our arms that God 174 00:10:11,600 --> 00:10:18,960 keeps his word even as long as sometimes it seems like it for 175 00:10:18,960 --> 00:10:21,960 to come to fruition. We should be happy that God 176 00:10:21,960 --> 00:10:25,320 keeps his word. The Bible says in Matthew 26 177 00:10:25,640 --> 00:10:29,640 verses 53 and 54 and the setting of the Scripture. 178 00:10:29,640 --> 00:10:32,960 This is Jesus speaking and the setting of the Scripture is 179 00:10:32,960 --> 00:10:36,760 after Peter drew his sword in the Garden of Gethsemane cut off 180 00:10:36,760 --> 00:10:39,040 Malchus ear. This is after all that. 181 00:10:39,320 --> 00:10:41,680 This is what the Lord says. This is what Jesus says. 182 00:10:41,920 --> 00:10:47,280 He says, Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, 183 00:10:47,560 --> 00:10:51,640 and He shall presently give me more than 12 legions of angels? 184 00:10:51,640 --> 00:10:54,280 Of course, the rhetorical question and the answer is, of 185 00:10:54,280 --> 00:10:58,600 course he could, He says, but how then shall the Scriptures be 186 00:10:58,600 --> 00:11:01,960 fulfilled? That thus it must be. 187 00:11:01,960 --> 00:11:06,080 You know what he's saying. I could, but I can't. 188 00:11:07,840 --> 00:11:09,160 It's really what Jesus was saying. 189 00:11:09,320 --> 00:11:14,160 He was saying I could, but I can't because I'm bound to 190 00:11:14,160 --> 00:11:18,640 fulfill the written word that says that I'm going to have to 191 00:11:18,640 --> 00:11:21,920 go through everything I'm going through and I'm bound by my word 192 00:11:21,920 --> 00:11:24,280 for it. He said in another place in John 193 00:11:24,280 --> 00:11:27,880 1035, there's a phrase there that I love, and it's this. 194 00:11:27,880 --> 00:11:32,720 The Bible says this, that the Scripture cannot be broken. 195 00:11:33,880 --> 00:11:35,960 I love that. I love that phrase in the Bible. 196 00:11:36,120 --> 00:11:40,680 The Scripture cannot be broken. That tells me from Genesis to 197 00:11:40,680 --> 00:11:43,880 Revelation and all the prophecies that are contained in 198 00:11:43,880 --> 00:11:47,320 there, the promises that are written in there, the Scripture 199 00:11:47,480 --> 00:11:49,240 cannot be broken. What does that mean? 200 00:11:49,360 --> 00:11:53,200 They cannot fail. You're not going to find a 201 00:11:53,200 --> 00:11:55,960 promise that will not come to pass, and you're not going to 202 00:11:55,960 --> 00:11:59,120 find a prophecy that's never fulfilled because Scripture, 203 00:11:59,120 --> 00:12:05,000 God's word, cannot be broken. And that's because God limits 204 00:12:05,000 --> 00:12:07,040 and binds himself by his own word. 205 00:12:07,200 --> 00:12:12,280 It will come to pass just as He said it would. 206 00:12:12,560 --> 00:12:17,360 And that is a spoken fact even in Lot's life. 207 00:12:17,400 --> 00:12:23,720 God had bound him by his own spoken word to Lot and in his 208 00:12:23,720 --> 00:12:25,720 life. And so that gives me great hope 209 00:12:26,120 --> 00:12:30,040 because I don't have to wonder as I walk in this earth below 210 00:12:30,360 --> 00:12:32,800 that if God really meant what God meant. 211 00:12:32,800 --> 00:12:38,680 He said you can doubt people, you can doubt institutions, but 212 00:12:38,680 --> 00:12:40,600 you don't have to worry about doubting God. 213 00:12:40,760 --> 00:12:43,080 He'll keep what he said he'll keep. 214 00:12:43,080 --> 00:12:51,280 He'll do what he said he'll do. Now we look, I mean, the Sogmar, 215 00:12:51,280 --> 00:12:54,400 you know, fire and brimstone and the destruction of these cities, 216 00:12:55,160 --> 00:12:59,480 sometimes people got very creative in how these cities 217 00:12:59,480 --> 00:13:02,240 were destroyed. But I'm just going to tell you, 218 00:13:02,240 --> 00:13:04,360 I'm going to take the Bible exactly for what it says. 219 00:13:05,920 --> 00:13:08,640 Brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven. 220 00:13:09,240 --> 00:13:11,440 I don't, I don't need another explanation. 221 00:13:12,200 --> 00:13:16,320 That phrase alone is sufficient for Pastor McGee. 222 00:13:16,840 --> 00:13:19,920 And so we have this destruction, this total decimation of the 223 00:13:19,920 --> 00:13:23,160 plains. Note now it's the plains, it's 224 00:13:23,160 --> 00:13:25,240 the cities. You look in the verse of 225 00:13:25,240 --> 00:13:27,920 Scripture, there it tells us it's the inhabitants in verse 226 00:13:27,920 --> 00:13:34,880 25, even the ground of those areas, all of them except Zohar. 227 00:13:35,600 --> 00:13:42,560 Now remember that whenever Lot separated from Abram due to the 228 00:13:42,560 --> 00:13:45,840 greatness of each of them having substance and livestock, 229 00:13:46,080 --> 00:13:50,600 remember the quarreling between the the the shepherds of 1, the 230 00:13:50,600 --> 00:13:53,080 herdsmen of the other, the quarreling that took place. 231 00:13:53,440 --> 00:13:56,880 It was at that point that the separation happened and Lot had 232 00:13:56,880 --> 00:13:59,920 an opportunity to choose what he wanted to choose. 233 00:14:00,400 --> 00:14:03,280 And I kind of head this section. This might help someone to know 234 00:14:03,280 --> 00:14:05,200 where I'm going. I kind of head this section and 235 00:14:05,200 --> 00:14:09,120 my notes tonight looked like Eden but ended like hell. 236 00:14:14,360 --> 00:14:18,640 So whenever he goes here, he chooses the influence, if you 237 00:14:18,640 --> 00:14:22,920 will, of the Jordan Valley, that well watered Jordan Valley, the 238 00:14:22,920 --> 00:14:27,520 plains that look like Eden, that had that Egyptian feel or touch 239 00:14:27,520 --> 00:14:29,840 to it. Regarding materialism and 240 00:14:29,840 --> 00:14:33,760 commercialism, there are many experts that believe that the 241 00:14:33,760 --> 00:14:39,160 ruins found beneath the waters of the Dead Sea are the 242 00:14:39,160 --> 00:14:43,840 submerged remains of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, as well 243 00:14:43,840 --> 00:14:47,600 as the villages that's located in that southern portion of the 244 00:14:47,600 --> 00:14:50,920 Dead Sea plains. And it is quite the picture 245 00:14:51,520 --> 00:14:55,800 because you look at the shore of the Dead Sea and it's quite 246 00:14:55,800 --> 00:14:58,520 lifeless. All right, I've not been there, 247 00:14:58,520 --> 00:15:02,360 but I've read brackish wasteland, so to speak. 248 00:15:03,000 --> 00:15:06,520 It's the lowest or the most desolate spot on earth. 249 00:15:06,520 --> 00:15:14,080 It's 1300 feet below sea level. You listen to the lapping of the 250 00:15:14,080 --> 00:15:17,440 waves there on the beach. Maybe, I don't know, but it's 251 00:15:17,440 --> 00:15:23,280 just speaking death. Nothing grows there, nothing 252 00:15:23,280 --> 00:15:27,200 lives, nothing moves in that vicinity. 253 00:15:27,640 --> 00:15:32,360 And so Lot is separated from Abraham, of course, due to this 254 00:15:32,360 --> 00:15:37,600 wealth that they both have. And the last time though, that 255 00:15:37,600 --> 00:15:48,680 we see Lot, he's lost his home, his possessions, his wife, and 256 00:15:48,680 --> 00:15:51,800 he can fit all that he has, according to verse 30, in a 257 00:15:51,800 --> 00:15:57,080 cave. And even at that, he's then at 258 00:15:57,080 --> 00:15:59,280 the mercy. He's being manipulated by his 259 00:15:59,280 --> 00:16:04,240 own daughters. So Lot's journey and Pat really 260 00:16:04,240 --> 00:16:09,080 is a very sobering reminder that no matter how rich the land 261 00:16:09,080 --> 00:16:18,600 appeared, if God's not in it, if God's not in it, it's not going 262 00:16:18,600 --> 00:16:23,840 to last. That smoke that rose from Sodom, 263 00:16:23,960 --> 00:16:27,520 it just wasn't judgement on the city, but it was really a 264 00:16:27,520 --> 00:16:32,120 warning for every generation that would ever choose to decide 265 00:16:32,320 --> 00:16:35,320 to pursue something apart from God. 266 00:16:36,400 --> 00:16:39,800 It'll eventually be consumed. It's the fact of the matter. 267 00:16:40,360 --> 00:16:42,800 And so when we look at this and then we start to turn a little 268 00:16:42,800 --> 00:16:45,600 bit, we looked at this just a little bit last week and 269 00:16:45,640 --> 00:16:49,480 concerning Lot's wife and verse 26, how she looked back from 270 00:16:49,480 --> 00:16:55,200 behind a lot. You know, Lot's wife is one of 271 00:16:55,200 --> 00:17:01,600 those those rare characters in Scripture because we don't know 272 00:17:01,600 --> 00:17:04,760 a whole lot about her, but we know enough about her. 273 00:17:06,160 --> 00:17:08,760 As a matter of fact, whenever I went back through and looked 274 00:17:09,079 --> 00:17:13,079 outside of a mentioning of her New Testament Scripture, she 275 00:17:13,079 --> 00:17:19,640 only has three verses that even include her in the story. 276 00:17:21,000 --> 00:17:23,640 The one where she looked back from behind her husband. 277 00:17:24,000 --> 00:17:27,200 All right, And we get the image we looked at that last week from 278 00:17:27,200 --> 00:17:30,240 behind him, maybe trailing behind, left behind. 279 00:17:30,240 --> 00:17:32,920 We don't know. She had that look, that longing, 280 00:17:32,920 --> 00:17:37,600 that gazing, all those things we spoke of last week and we have a 281 00:17:37,640 --> 00:17:42,640 New Testament mentioned of her in Luke 1732 where Jesus said 282 00:17:43,680 --> 00:17:48,960 remember Lot's wife, which outside of Jesus wept, which we 283 00:17:48,960 --> 00:17:51,680 say is the shortest verse. Remember Lot's wife is the 284 00:17:51,680 --> 00:17:56,680 second shortest. This is the only person that's 285 00:17:56,680 --> 00:18:01,320 recorded in Scripture that Jesus ever told anyone to remember. 286 00:18:05,760 --> 00:18:08,080 Not that we take upon our I know there's several that we take 287 00:18:08,080 --> 00:18:10,480 upon ourselves to remember, but it's the only one that came a 288 00:18:10,480 --> 00:18:14,560 mandate from Christ that we should remember. 289 00:18:15,280 --> 00:18:18,440 Hardly anything is shared. I mean, you want to remember 290 00:18:18,440 --> 00:18:22,880 somebody whose life is summed up in about 3 verses in the Old 291 00:18:22,880 --> 00:18:27,400 Testament Scripture. We we know, for instance, in the 292 00:18:27,400 --> 00:18:31,360 Old Testament, in the same story context, we know who Abraham's 293 00:18:31,360 --> 00:18:33,880 wife is. We know her by name. 294 00:18:34,640 --> 00:18:37,440 We know who Nahor, which was Abraham's brother. 295 00:18:37,560 --> 00:18:40,840 We know who his wife is. We know her by name. 296 00:18:41,240 --> 00:18:47,440 But Lot's wife never identified, never even given a name. 297 00:18:48,080 --> 00:18:53,640 All we know, according to Genesis 19, is that Lot, her 298 00:18:53,640 --> 00:18:58,000 husband, was urged by angels to verse 15. 299 00:18:58,280 --> 00:19:02,200 Take thy wife. We know according to verse 16, 300 00:19:02,200 --> 00:19:07,520 then, that the men, the angels themselves, laid hold upon of 301 00:19:07,520 --> 00:19:12,680 his wife, being merciful, and got her outside of the city. 302 00:19:13,000 --> 00:19:16,640 And finally we know his wife looked back from behind him, and 303 00:19:16,640 --> 00:19:19,880 she became a pillar of salt. That's what we know about Lot's 304 00:19:19,880 --> 00:19:22,360 wife. We don't know anything about her 305 00:19:22,360 --> 00:19:24,880 parents. We don't know anything about her 306 00:19:24,880 --> 00:19:27,040 habits. We don't know anything about her 307 00:19:27,040 --> 00:19:31,480 friends per SE, or her background, but were admonished 308 00:19:31,840 --> 00:19:34,920 to remember her for what we do know. 309 00:19:37,280 --> 00:19:40,000 Which I would just boil down to this. 310 00:19:40,400 --> 00:19:46,040 What we do know is that Mercy saved her, but a second look 311 00:19:46,040 --> 00:19:56,960 killed her. Before, before we just take this 312 00:19:56,960 --> 00:19:59,800 at face value, let's just dig in a little bit deeper in the New 313 00:19:59,800 --> 00:20:03,000 Testament where Christ gave us this, this admonition of 314 00:20:03,000 --> 00:20:06,440 remember Lot's wife. And let's read what was going on 315 00:20:06,440 --> 00:20:10,440 because I think it's important to understand what caused Jesus 316 00:20:10,440 --> 00:20:14,240 to say remember Lot's wife. In the book of Luke, where the 317 00:20:14,240 --> 00:20:18,240 setting takes place, Jesus is in a discourse, Amen. 318 00:20:18,240 --> 00:20:21,080 He's speaking to his disciples and those that would hear, and 319 00:20:21,080 --> 00:20:23,120 he's saying such things as as it. 320 00:20:23,200 --> 00:20:27,680 Was in the days of no or Noah and as it was likewise in the 321 00:20:27,680 --> 00:20:31,640 days of Lot, and he's making this comparison, so shall it be 322 00:20:31,640 --> 00:20:34,960 in the days of the Son or the revealing of the Son of man. 323 00:20:34,960 --> 00:20:37,840 Look, if you will, Luke 17 and verse 26. 324 00:20:37,840 --> 00:20:38,880 I'm going to read from scripture. 325 00:20:38,880 --> 00:20:40,160 I got a lot of scripture tonight. 326 00:20:40,160 --> 00:20:44,320 Bless God, Amen. The Bible says and as it was in 327 00:20:44,320 --> 00:20:48,360 this is Jesus, as it was in the days of Noah or no, which is 328 00:20:48,360 --> 00:20:53,760 Noah, so shall it all be also in the days of the Son of man they 329 00:20:53,760 --> 00:20:55,640 did he's describing now the days of Noah. 330 00:20:55,800 --> 00:21:00,520 They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given 331 00:21:00,520 --> 00:21:05,520 in marriage until the day that no or Noah entered into the ark 332 00:21:05,520 --> 00:21:08,800 and the flood came and destroyed them all. 333 00:21:08,800 --> 00:21:15,360 Likewise, Verse 28 also, as it was in the days of lot, they did 334 00:21:15,360 --> 00:21:21,200 eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they 335 00:21:21,200 --> 00:21:24,080 build it. But the same the day that Lot 336 00:21:24,080 --> 00:21:28,640 went out of Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, 337 00:21:28,880 --> 00:21:33,400 and destroyed them all. Verse 30 Even thus shall it be 338 00:21:33,400 --> 00:21:37,080 in the day when the Son of Man is revealed. 339 00:21:37,440 --> 00:21:42,360 In that day he which shall be up on the housetop and his stuff in 340 00:21:42,360 --> 00:21:47,200 the house, let him not come down to take it away. 341 00:21:47,520 --> 00:21:53,000 And he that is in the field, let him likewise not return back. 342 00:21:53,200 --> 00:22:02,200 And then the phrase, remember Lot's wife Jesus is saying this 343 00:22:02,200 --> 00:22:07,040 in the context of two times in history of Noah's day and Lot's 344 00:22:07,040 --> 00:22:12,080 day when people were just living their lives, eating, drinking, 345 00:22:12,080 --> 00:22:15,240 marrying, building, buying, selling. 346 00:22:15,480 --> 00:22:19,440 They were just doing their life their way without any 347 00:22:19,440 --> 00:22:23,480 consciousness about what was taking place, without any 348 00:22:23,480 --> 00:22:26,920 consciousness that the flood waters were about ready to break 349 00:22:26,920 --> 00:22:30,880 forth from the sky without any consciousness, Amen, That there 350 00:22:30,880 --> 00:22:34,440 was fire and brimstone that was on the brink of being released 351 00:22:34,440 --> 00:22:36,920 from the heavens. They were going about with their 352 00:22:36,920 --> 00:22:41,160 things, their ways. And so Jesus says the way that 353 00:22:41,160 --> 00:22:44,400 they operate then is the way that they'll operate at the 354 00:22:44,400 --> 00:22:47,520 revelation of the Son of Man. They're just going to be going 355 00:22:47,520 --> 00:22:50,520 on with life as usual. They're not going to be given 356 00:22:50,520 --> 00:22:53,720 ear that maybe something is about ready to happen or 357 00:22:53,720 --> 00:22:55,720 something's about ready to change. 358 00:22:56,040 --> 00:23:00,960 And he says, I don't want you to fall prey like they did and fall 359 00:23:00,960 --> 00:23:06,040 into a similar sense of false security with all of your things 360 00:23:06,040 --> 00:23:09,760 and your life and self indulgence of everything that's 361 00:23:09,760 --> 00:23:12,640 going around you. Like the people on Noah's day, 362 00:23:12,880 --> 00:23:17,400 like the people in Lot's day. He says he was trying to remind 363 00:23:17,400 --> 00:23:19,080 them. He said there's going to be a 364 00:23:19,080 --> 00:23:22,240 season, Amen. Just like there was a season for 365 00:23:22,240 --> 00:23:26,040 the flood and a season for the foreign brimstone, there's going 366 00:23:26,040 --> 00:23:29,640 to be a season for the return of the Son of Man. 367 00:23:29,840 --> 00:23:36,000 And you can't be indulging in frivolous things, living just as 368 00:23:37,440 --> 00:23:40,040 living as usual, business as usual. 369 00:23:40,280 --> 00:23:46,400 And you for sure cannot afford in that hour to look back with 370 00:23:46,400 --> 00:23:54,720 the longingly let me help me Holy Ghost, 10 years from the 371 00:23:54,720 --> 00:23:56,720 coming of Christ before it happens. 372 00:23:57,080 --> 00:24:01,240 You might get by with looking back, but in the season of his 373 00:24:01,240 --> 00:24:04,160 coming, you don't have time for looking back. 374 00:24:05,600 --> 00:24:06,840 No, no, no, no. What do you say? 375 00:24:07,080 --> 00:24:09,880 I'm saying 20 years removed from whenever God's going to come. 376 00:24:10,120 --> 00:24:14,240 You might be able to play games, but there is no time available 377 00:24:14,400 --> 00:24:17,880 for playing games when you're living in the hour of the Son of 378 00:24:17,880 --> 00:24:20,280 Man being revealed. What does that mean? 379 00:24:20,480 --> 00:24:23,560 We don't need to be playing games now. 380 00:24:23,840 --> 00:24:27,880 We got to supposed to be teaching. 381 00:24:27,880 --> 00:24:28,720 Supposed to be teaching. Calm down. 382 00:24:28,720 --> 00:24:29,200 Come on. Come on. 383 00:24:34,800 --> 00:24:42,360 Said you got to remember you must escape Hebrews 1037 says 384 00:24:42,360 --> 00:24:51,880 for yet a little while, and he that shall come, will come, will 385 00:24:51,880 --> 00:24:57,880 not tarry now the just shall live by faith. 386 00:24:59,080 --> 00:25:07,280 But if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in 387 00:25:07,280 --> 00:25:13,560 him. But we are not of them who draw 388 00:25:13,560 --> 00:25:21,680 back unto perdition, but of them that believe to the saving of 389 00:25:21,680 --> 00:25:23,600 the soul. What's he saying? 390 00:25:23,840 --> 00:25:29,000 There's an hour when he that shall come will come, and that's 391 00:25:29,000 --> 00:25:36,240 not the hour to look back, draw back, let up, cool down. 392 00:25:45,480 --> 00:25:48,920 Someone say Amen. So with Lot's wife. 393 00:25:48,920 --> 00:25:51,000 It's a short story, but it's an eternal lesson. 394 00:25:58,080 --> 00:26:03,680 Bible tells us in verse 27, it's interesting, someone that hasn't 395 00:26:03,680 --> 00:26:06,080 been in the picture for a while now comes into the picture. 396 00:26:06,600 --> 00:26:10,960 Abraham, we haven't been, we haven't even been talking about 397 00:26:10,960 --> 00:26:12,360 her. You know, the father of the 398 00:26:12,360 --> 00:26:14,800 faithful. He's just kind of been over here 399 00:26:14,800 --> 00:26:16,400 on the back burner, you know, for a while. 400 00:26:16,800 --> 00:26:21,080 Oh, Abraham. But Abraham comes back into the 401 00:26:21,080 --> 00:26:24,920 picture in verse 27, and it's interesting because it contrasts 402 00:26:24,920 --> 00:26:26,760 a lot just a little bit. Lot's wife, that is, in 403 00:26:26,760 --> 00:26:31,640 particular, she's looking back. And in verse 27 we have Abraham 404 00:26:32,000 --> 00:26:37,480 going back, though, to the place where he stood before the Lord. 405 00:26:39,120 --> 00:26:41,840 He's going back to the place that he stood before. 406 00:26:41,840 --> 00:26:46,920 The Lord had interceded before the Lord had conversation about 407 00:26:46,920 --> 00:26:49,040 Sodom. Amen to the Lord. 408 00:26:49,400 --> 00:26:52,040 And so that's where Abraham returns back to. 409 00:26:52,480 --> 00:26:56,160 If I could say it like this, whenever all this came down and 410 00:26:56,160 --> 00:26:59,400 out and the smoke's in the air, Abraham didn't go and take a 411 00:26:59,400 --> 00:27:02,360 trip to Sodom. He went back to where he stood 412 00:27:02,360 --> 00:27:05,000 in the presence of God before. Let me just put in layman's 413 00:27:05,000 --> 00:27:07,240 terms. He went back to his prayer room, 414 00:27:10,480 --> 00:27:12,400 whether he had a guarantee of God being there or not. 415 00:27:13,240 --> 00:27:15,760 He went back to that place where he had stood before the Lord. 416 00:27:16,120 --> 00:27:18,280 And it's from there. The Bible says he saw the smoke 417 00:27:18,280 --> 00:27:20,080 of destruction that was lingering in the air. 418 00:27:21,200 --> 00:27:23,480 But what again, is all times interesting to me. 419 00:27:23,480 --> 00:27:27,440 We got to remember as a reader, brother, as a reader, brother 420 00:27:27,440 --> 00:27:30,600 Trout, we know things that the characters don't know. 421 00:27:33,800 --> 00:27:40,680 Abraham doesn't know if Lot and his family were destroyed or 422 00:27:40,680 --> 00:27:49,240 not. Evidently from what he sees, he 423 00:27:49,240 --> 00:27:51,440 knows there must not have been 10 righteous. 424 00:27:56,600 --> 00:27:59,440 You must know that there not been 10 righteous found. 425 00:27:59,920 --> 00:28:05,760 But here's something else that Abraham doesn't know that God 426 00:28:06,080 --> 00:28:12,880 went beyond Abraham's request because though he did not spare 427 00:28:12,880 --> 00:28:19,880 the planes, he, God, the angelics themselves, pulled Lot 428 00:28:19,880 --> 00:28:23,640 and his family out before it was destroyed. 429 00:28:24,640 --> 00:28:30,680 The Bible tells us this in those few verses of 27 and 28 and 29. 430 00:28:31,000 --> 00:28:35,240 As a matter of fact, verse 28 tells us clearly, I think it's 431 00:28:35,240 --> 00:28:38,960 28. No, Maybe It's 29 tells us that 432 00:28:38,960 --> 00:28:45,440 God remembered Abraham. The amplified classic version 433 00:28:45,440 --> 00:28:50,600 says he earnestly remembered Abraham, imprinted and fixed him 434 00:28:50,600 --> 00:28:55,280 indelibly on his mind. New English translation says God 435 00:28:55,520 --> 00:28:59,440 honored him, but again noting that this means more than just a 436 00:28:59,480 --> 00:29:06,320 mental recollection of Abraham. God brought Lot out because 437 00:29:06,320 --> 00:29:12,040 Abraham had interceded. Abraham didn't know it this 438 00:29:12,040 --> 00:29:18,080 moment, but the time he had spent talking to God before all 439 00:29:18,080 --> 00:29:21,320 of this. Guess what, Abraham, that wasn't 440 00:29:21,320 --> 00:29:27,400 in vain. He didn't know it yet, but that 441 00:29:27,400 --> 00:29:31,120 wasn't in vain. He had, in essence, move the 442 00:29:31,120 --> 00:29:34,960 heart of God. Did not James say it concerning 443 00:29:35,200 --> 00:29:42,800 Elisha or Elijah that the effectual fervent prayer of a 444 00:29:42,800 --> 00:29:51,120 righteous man availeth much? Keep praying the prayers because 445 00:29:51,120 --> 00:29:54,040 here's the fact of the matter, you may not even know this day 446 00:29:54,040 --> 00:29:57,240 what the outcome of a past prayer you've already prayed 447 00:29:57,480 --> 00:30:01,280 where God didn't answer but even went beyond what you asked. 448 00:30:05,640 --> 00:30:08,280 So you know what we need to do? Be Abraham and go back to the 449 00:30:08,280 --> 00:30:10,240 place where we last stood before God. 450 00:30:10,640 --> 00:30:13,600 Say here I am again, God, I don't know if I'll meet you here 451 00:30:13,600 --> 00:30:16,280 today or not, but I'm going to be faithful to this place. 452 00:30:17,720 --> 00:30:22,280 Hey man, Hallelujah. Now look at verse #30 we 453 00:30:22,280 --> 00:30:24,040 tracking. All right, Brother Mason gave me 454 00:30:24,040 --> 00:30:26,000 extra time tonight. He's about 10. 455 00:30:26,000 --> 00:30:29,400 He he felt in his spirit, he's moving in the Holy Ghost. 456 00:30:33,080 --> 00:30:37,400 Look at verse 30. What went up out of Zohar? 457 00:30:37,480 --> 00:30:40,880 Hey, wait a minute. And dwelt in the mountain. 458 00:30:40,880 --> 00:30:44,480 Hey, he negotiated for Zohar. Now he's leaving Zohar, going to 459 00:30:44,480 --> 00:30:48,640 where God told him where to go and to begin with, and his two 460 00:30:48,800 --> 00:30:52,920 daughters with him, for he feared to dwell in Zohar. 461 00:30:55,120 --> 00:30:58,600 That's not necessarily a negative thing, kind of a 462 00:30:58,600 --> 00:31:02,440 positive thing. It was something about when the 463 00:31:02,440 --> 00:31:07,440 fire and stuff all fell that he realized, you know what, Being 464 00:31:07,440 --> 00:31:09,680 close to the place of destruction isn't all that in a 465 00:31:09,680 --> 00:31:15,440 cup of tea. I lost my wife. 466 00:31:17,360 --> 00:31:19,320 I'm not trying to be funny with that. 467 00:31:19,320 --> 00:31:21,000 But maybe that's going through his mind. 468 00:31:22,000 --> 00:31:25,600 Maybe, maybe he's starting to think after being at Zohar. 469 00:31:25,800 --> 00:31:28,720 You know what, This place is a lot like Sodom. 470 00:31:30,200 --> 00:31:33,320 These people have a lot of the same characterization and antics 471 00:31:33,320 --> 00:31:37,520 going on like them. What if God decides to change 472 00:31:37,520 --> 00:31:41,520 his mind somewhere soon? Not for me. 473 00:31:43,680 --> 00:31:49,400 So he he, he leaves Zoar, who no doubt has a same spiritual 474 00:31:49,400 --> 00:31:51,840 condition because they were going to be met with the same 475 00:31:51,840 --> 00:31:57,240 judgement and he goes to the mountain. 476 00:31:58,760 --> 00:32:01,600 That's OK, it's all right. And I think I think it's 477 00:32:01,600 --> 00:32:07,160 important that the Bible says for he feared to dwell in Zoa. 478 00:32:08,080 --> 00:32:14,280 It's proper to have a fear or a reverence or an awareness of the 479 00:32:14,280 --> 00:32:20,360 potential threats of places that we may be or environments that 480 00:32:20,920 --> 00:32:24,960 be be be fearful in, in a respectful, reverent way of the 481 00:32:24,960 --> 00:32:27,600 environments that we find ourselves in that could have 482 00:32:27,600 --> 00:32:34,280 impact upon us as a person. We need to have that type of 483 00:32:34,280 --> 00:32:38,920 healthy fear about the Zohars. The little ones Remember Me 484 00:32:38,920 --> 00:32:45,560 talking about just a little. The little ones in our life too 485 00:32:45,560 --> 00:32:48,200 close, too much like Sodom. Don't want to subject myself to 486 00:32:48,200 --> 00:32:49,920 that. Don't want to subject my family 487 00:32:49,920 --> 00:32:51,800 to that. I'm going to go further. 488 00:32:51,800 --> 00:32:54,280 I'm going to go to the mountain where God told me to go when he 489 00:32:54,280 --> 00:32:59,880 first wanted me to go. And he does, which is, I mean, 490 00:32:59,960 --> 00:33:03,000 if I was God, I would probably smirk at this moment. 491 00:33:06,680 --> 00:33:08,040 I mean, think over your own life. 492 00:33:08,040 --> 00:33:11,320 Have you ever found you yourself in your own life, found yourself 493 00:33:11,320 --> 00:33:15,520 right where God wanted you from the beginning, but you had to 494 00:33:15,520 --> 00:33:19,360 take the wrong the long way, maybe the wrong way around to 495 00:33:19,360 --> 00:33:24,440 get there and the trip. You had to learn some things 496 00:33:24,440 --> 00:33:29,920 along the way and we think the back of mine how much heartache 497 00:33:29,920 --> 00:33:33,640 we could have been spared if we just obeyed the first time when 498 00:33:33,640 --> 00:33:36,120 he said mountain and we were trying to negotiate Zohar. 499 00:33:39,120 --> 00:33:47,080 So a healthy fear drove lot to the mountains, but it was an 500 00:33:47,120 --> 00:33:52,280 unhealthy fear then that resorted had him resort to 501 00:33:52,280 --> 00:34:01,760 living in a cave in verse 30 because from the point of go of 502 00:34:01,760 --> 00:34:07,320 conversation with God, God had called him to the mountain, not 503 00:34:07,320 --> 00:34:15,239 to living in a cave. Old Testament scripture is 504 00:34:15,239 --> 00:34:20,080 littered with God calling men and families to mountains, 505 00:34:21,800 --> 00:34:28,560 spectacular things happening on mountains, good positive 506 00:34:28,560 --> 00:34:33,400 connotations with the idea of meeting God on a mountain. 507 00:34:34,159 --> 00:34:37,280 But whenever you read in scripture concerning caves, 508 00:34:37,960 --> 00:34:41,159 that's different. There's typically negative 509 00:34:41,159 --> 00:34:46,199 connotations that go along with the dwelling in caves. 510 00:34:46,880 --> 00:34:51,040 Caves were all times the places that people would resort to and 511 00:34:51,040 --> 00:34:55,280 hide in during times of national crisis or fear or some type of 512 00:34:55,280 --> 00:34:58,720 military defeat. The Bible tells us in Judges 6. 513 00:34:58,720 --> 00:35:02,600 These words because of the Midianites, the children of 514 00:35:02,600 --> 00:35:07,680 Israel made them the dens which are in the mountains and caves 515 00:35:07,720 --> 00:35:11,160 and the strongholds. In other words, Israel didn't 516 00:35:11,200 --> 00:35:15,600 seek God's protection, but they would hide from their enemies 517 00:35:15,600 --> 00:35:18,600 due to their disobedience, oppression, finding themselves 518 00:35:18,600 --> 00:35:22,720 in niches and in caves. The Bible says in First Samuel, 519 00:35:22,720 --> 00:35:26,040 throw that up brother Alex. First Samuel 13 and verse #6 520 00:35:26,320 --> 00:35:31,560 When the men of Israel saw that they were in a straight for the 521 00:35:31,560 --> 00:35:35,320 people were distressed. Then the people did hide 522 00:35:35,360 --> 00:35:40,120 themselves in caves and in thickets and in rocks and in 523 00:35:40,120 --> 00:35:44,880 high places and in pits. Fear had drove them to 524 00:35:44,920 --> 00:35:50,360 isolation, much like it drove Elijah in his ministry of being 525 00:35:50,360 --> 00:35:53,240 a prophet whenever he had that deep depression. 526 00:35:53,240 --> 00:35:54,800 And that fear there overcome him. 527 00:35:54,800 --> 00:35:58,440 After a conversation with Jezebel, If you look at his 528 00:35:58,440 --> 00:36:03,320 story, he fled by degrees. First he went to the wilderness, 529 00:36:03,600 --> 00:36:06,080 then he went to the mount of God, Horeb. 530 00:36:06,080 --> 00:36:10,000 But he didn't stop there. He resorted then finally and 531 00:36:10,000 --> 00:36:15,800 ultimately to a cave, the Bible says in first Kings 1919. 532 00:36:16,120 --> 00:36:20,600 And he came thither unto The Cave, Speaking of Elijah, and 533 00:36:20,600 --> 00:36:23,600 lodge there. And behold, the word of the Lord 534 00:36:23,600 --> 00:36:30,200 came to him, and he said to him, What doest thou here, Elijah? 535 00:36:31,360 --> 00:36:33,680 God asked him, what, what? What are you doing here in The 536 00:36:33,680 --> 00:36:39,640 Cave? And yet there's another side of 537 00:36:39,640 --> 00:36:43,520 that that's encouraging to me, that the word of the Lord found 538 00:36:43,520 --> 00:36:49,520 him there because there's nowhere you can go to absolutely 539 00:36:49,520 --> 00:36:53,640 escape God. As a matter of fact, in 540 00:36:53,640 --> 00:36:57,600 Scripture, caves were often used as tombs. 541 00:36:57,800 --> 00:37:00,880 They were associated with endings, not beginnings. 542 00:37:01,200 --> 00:37:04,800 They were places for refugees. Some people's caves. 543 00:37:04,800 --> 00:37:07,640 You can read of it in Scripture that there were 5 kings that 544 00:37:07,640 --> 00:37:12,000 went to a cave as refuge and that cave ended up becoming 545 00:37:12,000 --> 00:37:13,880 their grave. It was their tomb. 546 00:37:14,080 --> 00:37:18,160 And Joshua 10 says, cast them into The Cave wherein they had 547 00:37:18,160 --> 00:37:22,080 be hid, had been hid, and that was now their grave. 548 00:37:22,600 --> 00:37:27,000 In the Revelation, caves were the instinctive places that the 549 00:37:27,000 --> 00:37:30,840 Bible says that people fled from the presence of God during a 550 00:37:30,840 --> 00:37:34,040 time of judgement. And it was there in a cave that 551 00:37:34,040 --> 00:37:36,880 they would go. It's where the unrepentant tried 552 00:37:36,880 --> 00:37:46,240 to escape the unavoidable. So for our dear lot, his cave 553 00:37:46,880 --> 00:37:52,160 now place home dwelling. It's really matching the 554 00:37:52,160 --> 00:37:56,920 brokenness of the man. Fear brought him to the 555 00:37:56,920 --> 00:37:59,720 mountain. Unhealthy fear caused him to go 556 00:37:59,720 --> 00:38:07,400 into a cave to isolate. And it was in that arena that 557 00:38:07,400 --> 00:38:12,280 shameful things in a tragic episode unfolded with his two 558 00:38:12,280 --> 00:38:17,560 daughters. In the end, that cave was more 559 00:38:17,560 --> 00:38:22,200 than a hiding place. It really became Lot's finish 560 00:38:22,200 --> 00:38:23,480 line. What do you mean, Brother McGee? 561 00:38:23,960 --> 00:38:26,920 Because it's after this matter in The Cave. 562 00:38:27,840 --> 00:38:29,720 You don't read anything else about Lot. 563 00:38:31,120 --> 00:38:33,560 You don't read about his death. You don't read about any 564 00:38:33,560 --> 00:38:35,560 success. You don't read anything else in 565 00:38:35,560 --> 00:38:39,400 his. It is silent about Lot. 566 00:38:39,440 --> 00:38:43,120 There's nothing beyond the dark episode that happened in The 567 00:38:43,120 --> 00:38:45,320 Cave. He fades from the narrative of 568 00:38:45,320 --> 00:38:49,240 scripture, isolation, fear, moral failure. 569 00:38:51,200 --> 00:38:58,160 So what started with angels ends with a man and a deranged 570 00:38:58,160 --> 00:39:04,120 scenario within his own family in a cave for the Masons. 571 00:39:04,120 --> 00:39:13,000 Sometimes there is a short trip from the angelic to cave, like 572 00:39:13,360 --> 00:39:20,560 episodes of our lives predicated upon choices and decisions. 573 00:39:25,360 --> 00:39:33,720 Jesus 19 verse 31. Let's do this, the Bible says in 574 00:39:33,720 --> 00:39:36,680 verse 31. So they're in The Cave. 575 00:39:36,960 --> 00:39:41,680 He and his two daughters. Verse 31 and the first born said 576 00:39:42,480 --> 00:39:44,400 unto the younger. Almost feel like one of those 577 00:39:44,400 --> 00:39:47,240 podcasts that parents there could be some explicit material 578 00:39:47,240 --> 00:39:48,760 if you need to cover the ears of your children. 579 00:39:49,760 --> 00:39:56,640 OK, our father is old and there is not a man in the earth to 580 00:39:56,640 --> 00:40:00,360 come in unto us after the manner of all the earth. 581 00:40:01,080 --> 00:40:04,200 Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with 582 00:40:04,200 --> 00:40:07,640 him, that we may preserve the seat of our father. 583 00:40:09,080 --> 00:40:10,800 And they made their father drink wine. 584 00:40:11,040 --> 00:40:14,200 That night the first born went in and laid with her father. 585 00:40:14,200 --> 00:40:18,800 And he perceived not when she laid down, nor when she arose. 586 00:40:19,480 --> 00:40:22,360 And it came to pass on the Morrow that the first born said, 587 00:40:22,360 --> 00:40:25,480 And to the younger, Behold, I lay yesterday night with my 588 00:40:25,480 --> 00:40:29,320 father, let us make him drink wine this night also, and go 589 00:40:29,320 --> 00:40:32,560 thou in and lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our 590 00:40:32,560 --> 00:40:34,920 father. And they made their father drink 591 00:40:34,920 --> 00:40:37,240 wine that night also. And the younger rose and lay 592 00:40:37,240 --> 00:40:39,000 with him. And he perceived not when she 593 00:40:39,000 --> 00:40:43,080 lay down or when she arose. Thus were both the daughters of 594 00:40:43,080 --> 00:40:47,360 lot with child by their father, and the first born bearer son, 595 00:40:47,360 --> 00:40:49,760 and called his name Moab, and the same as the father of the 596 00:40:49,760 --> 00:40:52,960 Moabites into this day. And the younger she also bear a 597 00:40:52,960 --> 00:40:54,920 son and called his name Ben Emmy. 598 00:40:55,400 --> 00:41:01,440 The same is the father of the children of Ammon unto this day. 599 00:41:03,360 --> 00:41:05,680 I simply had this little last portion of scripture. 600 00:41:05,680 --> 00:41:09,360 This when Sodom falls you into The Cave. 601 00:41:14,200 --> 00:41:19,480 This whole scenario, I'll get myself in big trouble here. 602 00:41:19,480 --> 00:41:23,000 Like not being politically correct for a normal person is 603 00:41:23,000 --> 00:41:30,760 going to seem a little odd. Not so much that Lot's daughters 604 00:41:30,760 --> 00:41:36,560 wanted to preserve the seed of their family, but how they went 605 00:41:36,680 --> 00:41:44,480 about doing it. I mean, as a natural person, I'm 606 00:41:44,480 --> 00:41:46,680 screaming in my head, what are you thinking? 607 00:41:52,880 --> 00:42:01,920 That influences of Sodom, surely they are living out and living 608 00:42:01,920 --> 00:42:04,600 according to the moral standards they grew up with. 609 00:42:07,400 --> 00:42:09,520 They were planning to marry men from Sodom. 610 00:42:11,480 --> 00:42:19,320 So number one, you can't have very high scruples when that's 611 00:42:19,320 --> 00:42:21,320 your marriageable material for life. 612 00:42:24,240 --> 00:42:27,560 Plus, let's think back, I don't want to get too heavy, but I 613 00:42:27,560 --> 00:42:30,400 don't think of course, Dad's not fault at without fault in all 614 00:42:30,400 --> 00:42:32,600 this. Because if you'll remember when 615 00:42:32,600 --> 00:42:35,520 the when the men of Sodom circled around his house and he 616 00:42:35,520 --> 00:42:39,040 had the angelic beans inside his house, you remember his solution 617 00:42:39,040 --> 00:42:41,400 to the whole dilemma of that time. 618 00:42:41,640 --> 00:42:45,160 He says, well, I have two daughters that are virgins. 619 00:42:45,680 --> 00:42:50,600 Well, why don't I just send them out to you and do with them as 620 00:42:50,600 --> 00:42:56,920 you will? What type of standard of worth 621 00:42:56,960 --> 00:43:00,880 do you have? After your father's been willing 622 00:43:00,880 --> 00:43:07,520 to give you up to the pleasure of whosoever will, then what 623 00:43:07,520 --> 00:43:09,320 keeps them? Just the pleasure of their 624 00:43:09,320 --> 00:43:23,470 father off limits? But Lot lost his wife, and so 625 00:43:23,470 --> 00:43:28,000 his daughters now have lost their potential husbands, the 626 00:43:28,000 --> 00:43:32,880 ones they were betrothed to. You don't have a wife. 627 00:43:33,520 --> 00:43:37,560 We don't have no husbands. What's a girl to do? 628 00:43:40,560 --> 00:43:42,480 And I'll tell you this, here's something else we need to look 629 00:43:42,480 --> 00:43:44,280 at concerning this whole scenario. 630 00:43:45,080 --> 00:43:49,280 Sister Grace, I don't know if the 2 girls would attempted this 631 00:43:49,400 --> 00:43:53,640 if mom was still alive, but let's remember why Mom's not 632 00:43:53,640 --> 00:44:05,570 there. And for that matter, and I I 633 00:44:05,570 --> 00:44:08,130 preached the host sermon and you go back and listen to it someday 634 00:44:08,130 --> 00:44:10,850 between now and when I started preaching, I preached A sermon 635 00:44:10,850 --> 00:44:13,650 called intoxication all on this passage right here. 636 00:44:15,410 --> 00:44:18,570 Another aspect is this. They said we we're going to get 637 00:44:18,570 --> 00:44:24,010 dad drunk. He may not as as low as the 638 00:44:24,010 --> 00:44:26,250 standard that he kept. He may have not even have done 639 00:44:26,250 --> 00:44:29,360 this had he not been intoxicated first. 640 00:44:31,760 --> 00:44:36,240 With that being said, let's pause for a moment. 2019 641 00:44:36,240 --> 00:44:40,640 chapters into Genesis and we have two major stories of 642 00:44:40,640 --> 00:44:46,800 drunkenness, one being Noah and the other one being Lot, and 643 00:44:46,800 --> 00:44:56,210 they both spelled disaster. Noah's drunk in his tent off a 644 00:44:56,210 --> 00:44:58,810 vineyard that he planted after he came off the ark. 645 00:44:59,640 --> 00:45:04,720 His son Ham comes in, sees it, does it covered up. 646 00:45:05,200 --> 00:45:07,520 There's even a lot of speculation of what happened. 647 00:45:08,240 --> 00:45:10,880 I don't have the answer. Scripture doesn't say, but I 648 00:45:10,880 --> 00:45:13,840 know that his son Canaan then was cursed as a result of it. 649 00:45:15,680 --> 00:45:20,720 Lords drunk, his two daughters come in, they lay with their 650 00:45:20,720 --> 00:45:22,880 father, gives birth to two nations. 651 00:45:22,880 --> 00:45:24,560 We'll look at here just a little later. 652 00:45:24,720 --> 00:45:28,720 That caused all kinds of havoc and disaster for Israel and 653 00:45:28,760 --> 00:45:30,520 both. Both of these scenarios stem 654 00:45:30,520 --> 00:45:33,000 from two men who didn't keep sober. 655 00:45:39,260 --> 00:45:42,220 I've said before, I say that the danger of intoxication or not 656 00:45:42,220 --> 00:45:45,700 keeping sober is that you will do things that you wouldn't 657 00:45:45,700 --> 00:45:52,980 normally do when you are sober. When you're intoxicated, the 658 00:45:52,980 --> 00:45:55,700 Bible says a lot. Didn't know when they laid down 659 00:45:55,700 --> 00:45:58,800 or when they got up. He didn't perceive it. 660 00:45:59,000 --> 00:46:02,560 He didn't perceive verse 33 and 35 when they lay down or when 661 00:46:02,560 --> 00:46:06,200 they can. I echo the application for us. 662 00:46:06,200 --> 00:46:10,160 Reese is then what first Peter tells us verse five and eight 663 00:46:10,320 --> 00:46:13,440 that strong verse a lot of people remember it says and it 664 00:46:13,440 --> 00:46:16,120 leads with this. Be sober. 665 00:46:18,640 --> 00:46:24,400 Someone say be sober, don't be intoxicated, be sober, be 666 00:46:24,600 --> 00:46:31,160 diligent, vigilant because your adversary the devil as a roaring 667 00:46:31,160 --> 00:46:35,520 lion walk of about seeking whom he may devour. 668 00:46:35,720 --> 00:46:41,400 Notice though the primary thing first is soberness because the 669 00:46:41,400 --> 00:46:47,560 word vigilant yes means to be alert and it is not possible for 670 00:46:47,560 --> 00:46:51,200 you to be completely alert and intoxicated. 671 00:46:57,160 --> 00:47:00,200 And so this affair, this whole affair that takes place here in 672 00:47:00,200 --> 00:47:04,480 The Cave, it also proves to me that Sodom is more than a place. 673 00:47:04,480 --> 00:47:06,720 And we've already talked about this in recent weeks. 674 00:47:07,160 --> 00:47:14,520 It's a mindset. The place was destroyed, but the 675 00:47:14,520 --> 00:47:19,520 Sodom mentality remained. And it showed its head. 676 00:47:19,520 --> 00:47:22,880 It it, it showed its hand in The Cave. 677 00:47:24,200 --> 00:47:27,960 Bible teaches us the Bible teaches us in like Titus chapter 678 00:47:27,960 --> 00:47:29,720 2 and and we're tracking pretty good. 679 00:47:29,800 --> 00:47:31,600 Thank God. I was kind of worried about this 680 00:47:31,600 --> 00:47:35,080 really what so was in Titus chapter 2 and verse 11. 681 00:47:35,280 --> 00:47:39,240 The Bible says this, everybody say for but for the grace, for 682 00:47:39,240 --> 00:47:44,400 the grace of God that bring us salvation hath appeared to all 683 00:47:44,480 --> 00:47:48,400 men teaching us which is that's excellent. 684 00:47:49,080 --> 00:47:54,440 Grace teaches us some things teaching us that denying 685 00:47:54,440 --> 00:48:02,080 ungodliness and worldly lust, or if you will, worldliness, we 686 00:48:02,080 --> 00:48:04,200 should live. What's the first word you see 687 00:48:04,200 --> 00:48:09,000 there soberly? That we should live soberly, 688 00:48:09,880 --> 00:48:15,880 righteously, and godly in this present world. 689 00:48:17,960 --> 00:48:20,080 I know we could speak in literal terms, but I'm speaking in 690 00:48:20,080 --> 00:48:23,800 spiritual terms today. For us, sobriety is your weapon. 691 00:48:28,960 --> 00:48:34,440 Caution what you allow yourself to be intoxicated to or with 692 00:48:34,960 --> 00:48:45,080 outside of His Spirit, His presence, His precepts, His and 693 00:48:45,080 --> 00:48:52,240 if you will live soberly, the righteously godly follows it 694 00:48:52,240 --> 00:48:56,240 will be. I don't know if I'd say it's 695 00:48:56,240 --> 00:48:58,400 not. It's not possible to live 696 00:48:58,400 --> 00:49:05,880 righteously and not be sober. It's not. 697 00:49:06,160 --> 00:49:10,240 It's not possible to be godly and not be sober. 698 00:49:10,960 --> 00:49:14,680 There's reason why Titus is telling us here. 699 00:49:14,680 --> 00:49:20,560 You got to live merely mostly soberly. 700 00:49:21,720 --> 00:49:23,200 Now here's the legacy of The Cave. 701 00:49:23,760 --> 00:49:25,120 I'm getting there. We're getting there. 702 00:49:25,760 --> 00:49:32,640 Chapter 19 folks, clothes I know tears go down faces the first 703 00:49:32,640 --> 00:49:36,400 born daughter son, the Bible says was Moab. 704 00:49:38,240 --> 00:49:44,400 That name literally means of father or from father tells the 705 00:49:44,400 --> 00:49:48,400 story, don't it? The youngest daughter's son, bin 706 00:49:48,640 --> 00:49:54,880 AMI or Ammon, son of my people. The CEV says it like this, son 707 00:49:54,880 --> 00:50:01,680 of my relative. These two nations, Moabites, 708 00:50:02,400 --> 00:50:06,280 Ammonites became thorns in the side of Israel. 709 00:50:06,400 --> 00:50:09,760 Let me just go through this quickly in Numbers 25. 710 00:50:09,760 --> 00:50:13,040 The Moabites are the ones that tried to spiritually and 711 00:50:13,040 --> 00:50:19,040 sexually seduce Israel and Numbers 25 Moab's king Balak is 712 00:50:19,040 --> 00:50:23,880 the one that hired the prophet Balaam to curse Israel. 713 00:50:24,480 --> 00:50:26,960 It's during the time of the Judges and the Kings that we 714 00:50:26,960 --> 00:50:31,600 read that Moab was a steady opposition against Israel 715 00:50:32,200 --> 00:50:35,280 concerning the Ammonites. The Ammonites and Judges 11 716 00:50:35,280 --> 00:50:39,840 disputed land claims with Israel that rightly belonged to them. 717 00:50:39,840 --> 00:50:42,520 They were disputing it. They oppressed Israel during the 718 00:50:42,520 --> 00:50:45,920 time of the Judges. Also, they worship the God of 719 00:50:45,920 --> 00:50:48,480 Molech. That involved sacrificing their 720 00:50:48,480 --> 00:50:52,040 children, which happened to be a practice that eventually 721 00:50:52,040 --> 00:50:56,520 infected Israel. And during David's reign, they 722 00:50:56,520 --> 00:50:59,880 hired Syrian mercenaries against King David. 723 00:51:00,800 --> 00:51:06,120 This both stems from Moab and Avon, born from a very 724 00:51:06,120 --> 00:51:08,960 desperate, tragic event in a cave. 725 00:51:09,320 --> 00:51:15,360 But their legacy is a cross didn't just stay contained to a 726 00:51:15,360 --> 00:51:18,000 cave. It went across generations. 727 00:51:19,680 --> 00:51:22,880 Adultery, hostility, all these things. 728 00:51:24,320 --> 00:51:29,200 It was done in the secret moment, Mom, but it left public 729 00:51:29,200 --> 00:51:34,280 conflict for years. What are you saying, Pastor? 730 00:51:34,280 --> 00:51:39,200 I'm saying this sometimes all the time. 731 00:51:39,600 --> 00:51:45,800 In one way or another, our present day actions, especially 732 00:51:45,800 --> 00:51:49,120 negative ones, can foster future trouble. 733 00:51:53,600 --> 00:51:55,280 Staying with me tonight. I know we need clothes. 734 00:51:55,840 --> 00:52:08,640 You guys got places to go? Oh Jesus, folks, there's a lot 735 00:52:08,640 --> 00:52:11,680 in chapter 19. Four lessons on it. 736 00:52:11,680 --> 00:52:14,240 There's a lot right there. There's a lot to consider. 737 00:52:14,440 --> 00:52:18,360 There's a lot to apply. There's a lot to do different. 738 00:52:18,960 --> 00:52:20,840 Don't be like lot, remember lot's why. 739 00:52:20,840 --> 00:52:27,560 I mean, there's all these things that we could come up with, but 740 00:52:27,560 --> 00:52:31,240 in essence, the legacies we leave is by the choices we make. 741 00:52:32,560 --> 00:52:36,360 So my urging to us is then then let's live soberly. 742 00:52:37,520 --> 00:52:40,680 Let's live faithfully. Let's hope fast to God's word 743 00:52:40,680 --> 00:52:43,000 because it's going to be kept. He's bound by it. 744 00:52:44,400 --> 00:52:47,960 And help me, Lord, to escape the Sodom mindset. 745 00:52:48,640 --> 00:52:53,240 Help me to go to the mountain, but not to kind of step over 746 00:52:53,240 --> 00:52:57,560 into some type of unhealthy fear that will drive me into a cave 747 00:52:57,560 --> 00:53:00,960 of my undoing. I want to escape the mindset, 748 00:53:01,920 --> 00:53:04,680 Amen of Sodom. Can we raise our hands one last 749 00:53:04,680 --> 00:53:07,400 time tonight as we talk to the Lord in this place? 750 00:53:07,880 --> 00:53:11,000 Father, I'm asking tonight, Lord, you able to help us. 751 00:53:11,760 --> 00:53:15,680 God, we walk, Lord Jesus here below, But God, we walk not 752 00:53:15,680 --> 00:53:19,440 alone or by ourselves. God, give us the fortitude. 753 00:53:19,440 --> 00:53:24,240 Give us, O Lord Jesus, God, the wherewithal, God to stand in 754 00:53:24,240 --> 00:53:26,280 this day. God, there's so many things, 755 00:53:26,280 --> 00:53:29,520 God, that could influence God, there's turmoil. 756 00:53:29,520 --> 00:53:31,520 God, there's different things. God, help us to know the 757 00:53:31,520 --> 00:53:34,600 difference between a healthy reverence, Lord, and fear and an 758 00:53:34,600 --> 00:53:37,680 unhealthy one. Help us, God, to know your Word 759 00:53:37,680 --> 00:53:40,680 and stand upon Your word and the promises of Your Word that it's 760 00:53:40,680 --> 00:53:44,280 applicable to us. I pray, O God, help us, Jesus 761 00:53:44,320 --> 00:53:48,240 God, every day, God, to live, Lord, not intoxicated with the 762 00:53:48,240 --> 00:53:51,240 things of this world, not intoxicated with, Lord, our 763 00:53:51,240 --> 00:53:54,240 environment and our surroundings, but Lord, as this 764 00:53:54,280 --> 00:53:57,240 but the apostle Paul said in the Ephesians, help us to be filled 765 00:53:57,240 --> 00:54:00,440 or controlled by the Spirit. Let us be intoxicated in that 766 00:54:00,440 --> 00:54:03,040 way. I pray, O Lord Jesus God, that 767 00:54:03,040 --> 00:54:06,160 you're able to help us, Lord, in this life, God, and we give you 768 00:54:06,160 --> 00:54:09,440 the honor and the glory and the praise for everything in the 769 00:54:09,440 --> 00:54:14,560 name of Jesus Christ that I pray Hallelujah in the church, say 770 00:54:14,560 --> 00:54:20,480 Amen, Amen. God bless you all in Jesus name. 771 00:54:20,480 --> 00:54:24,200 Come back Sunday, Amen, for services Wednesday the following 772 00:54:24,200 --> 00:54:28,440 week, Power hour on Thursday of next week, Amen. 773 00:54:29,080 --> 00:54:31,400 God bless you Have a great, great, great, great, great.