1 00:00:00,280 --> 00:00:04,800 Our scripture reading today is Genesis 19 verses 12 to 17 and 2 00:00:04,800 --> 00:00:09,480 23 to 26. This is our last Sunday on the, 3 00:00:09,560 --> 00:00:12,280 the theme and the events surrounding the destruction of 4 00:00:12,280 --> 00:00:15,000 Sodom and Gomorrah. And we're going to take a look 5 00:00:15,000 --> 00:00:20,320 at this now from kind of Lot's perspective and follow Lot more 6 00:00:20,320 --> 00:00:24,200 specifically through this. And so the, the verses that I've 7 00:00:24,200 --> 00:00:27,360 chosen are really just a sampling of, of verses I'm going 8 00:00:27,360 --> 00:00:30,680 to reference here today. But I, I, it's kind of the heart 9 00:00:30,680 --> 00:00:33,800 of it and will get us moving in the right direction here this 10 00:00:33,800 --> 00:00:38,200 morning. So verses in Genesis 19, the two 11 00:00:38,200 --> 00:00:41,280 men said to Lot. Do you have anyone else here, 12 00:00:41,280 --> 00:00:54,560 sons in The outcry to the Lord against its people is so great 13 00:00:54,840 --> 00:00:56,840 that he has sent us to destroy it. 14 00:00:58,160 --> 00:01:02,600 So Lot went out and spoke to his sons in law who were pledged to 15 00:01:02,600 --> 00:01:06,040 marry his daughters. He said, hurry and get out of 16 00:01:06,040 --> 00:01:09,160 this place, because the Lord is about to destroy the city. 17 00:01:09,600 --> 00:01:11,560 But his sons in law thought he was joking. 18 00:01:12,280 --> 00:01:16,360 With the coming of dawn the angels urged Lot, saying, Hurry, 19 00:01:16,680 --> 00:01:20,040 take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you 20 00:01:20,040 --> 00:01:22,360 will be swept away when the city is punished. 21 00:01:22,720 --> 00:01:26,880 When he hesitated, the men grasped his hand in the hands of 22 00:01:26,880 --> 00:01:30,520 his wife and his two daughters and LED them safely out of the 23 00:01:30,520 --> 00:01:33,000 city, for the Lord was merciful to them. 24 00:01:33,680 --> 00:01:36,360 As soon as they had as He, they had brought them out. 25 00:01:36,360 --> 00:01:40,120 One of them said, Flee for your lives, Don't look back, and 26 00:01:40,120 --> 00:01:42,120 don't stop anywhere in the plain. 27 00:01:42,280 --> 00:01:45,200 Flee to the mountains or you will be swept away. 28 00:01:45,960 --> 00:01:50,120 By the time Lot reached Zohar, the sun had risen over the land. 29 00:01:50,520 --> 00:01:54,240 Then the Lord rained down, burning sulphur on Sodom and 30 00:01:54,240 --> 00:01:57,320 Gomorrah from the Lord out of the heavens. 31 00:01:57,800 --> 00:02:02,680 Thus He overthrew those cities and the entire plain, destroying 32 00:02:02,680 --> 00:02:07,040 all those living in the cities and also the vegetation in the 33 00:02:07,040 --> 00:02:10,600 land. But Lot's wife looked back and 34 00:02:10,600 --> 00:02:14,760 she became a pillar of salt. May the Lord add His blessing to 35 00:02:14,760 --> 00:02:17,600 the reading and hearing of His word. 36 00:02:18,400 --> 00:02:21,800 There is a whole new profession in the world that didn't exist 37 00:02:21,960 --> 00:02:25,640 when no one asked me when I was graduating from high school or 38 00:02:25,640 --> 00:02:29,000 when I was in college, Hey, what do you want to be when you what 39 00:02:29,000 --> 00:02:30,840 they did ask me, what do you want to be when you grow up? 40 00:02:31,320 --> 00:02:33,240 None of them ever said. Have you ever thought about 41 00:02:33,240 --> 00:02:35,840 being an influencer? It's a thing now. 42 00:02:36,040 --> 00:02:37,560 It's been a thing for a little while. 43 00:02:37,560 --> 00:02:39,920 I still have a hard time wrapping my brain around the 44 00:02:39,920 --> 00:02:44,440 fact that that some people's jobs, I'm an influencer and I do 45 00:02:44,440 --> 00:02:48,080 it on social media. People do it, they make lots of 46 00:02:48,080 --> 00:02:50,720 money and sometimes they have a lot of influence too. 47 00:02:51,120 --> 00:02:53,840 But I think this is a good question because this question 48 00:02:53,840 --> 00:02:57,080 of influence is an important question. 49 00:02:57,280 --> 00:03:00,560 And it's an important question for the church, for followers of 50 00:03:00,560 --> 00:03:03,520 Jesus, for us to always be asking ourselves, are you an 51 00:03:03,520 --> 00:03:07,320 influencer or are you just influenced? 52 00:03:08,040 --> 00:03:11,960 Are you having an impact and making a difference in the lives 53 00:03:11,960 --> 00:03:14,520 and the culture and the atmosphere around you? 54 00:03:14,720 --> 00:03:18,680 Or are you just taking on the characteristics of the culture 55 00:03:18,880 --> 00:03:22,120 in which you live? This is an incredibly important 56 00:03:22,120 --> 00:03:24,160 question. And I think it's a question 57 00:03:24,160 --> 00:03:29,000 that's at the heart of the destruction of Sodom and 58 00:03:29,000 --> 00:03:32,760 Gomorrah and that whole region. Let's take a look. 59 00:03:33,000 --> 00:03:37,080 And we again, we remember this from several chapters ago and 60 00:03:37,080 --> 00:03:39,880 several months ago, that Abraham lived in the land of Canaan 61 00:03:40,400 --> 00:03:44,440 while Lot lived among the cities of the plain and pitched his 62 00:03:44,440 --> 00:03:48,800 tents near Sodom. How they got there was again, 63 00:03:48,800 --> 00:03:51,880 Abraham gave Lot. Abraham gave Lot the choice. 64 00:03:51,880 --> 00:03:54,000 We got to divide up. There's too many of us. 65 00:03:54,000 --> 00:03:56,360 We got too many flocks. We got to divide up. 66 00:03:56,520 --> 00:03:59,080 Do you want the lowlands in the Jordan River Valley or do you 67 00:03:59,080 --> 00:04:03,160 want the Highlands, kind of rockier, Hillier area up here 68 00:04:03,280 --> 00:04:06,000 for you to settle? And Lot looked down and said, I 69 00:04:06,000 --> 00:04:07,720 want the low ones in the Jordan Valley. 70 00:04:07,720 --> 00:04:11,680 And he pitched his tent. He set up his household near the 71 00:04:11,680 --> 00:04:16,640 city of Sodom. And at that point, Lot could 72 00:04:16,640 --> 00:04:20,600 have said, I want to have an impact and Sodom and Gomorrah. 73 00:04:20,880 --> 00:04:22,760 I want to influence Sodom and Gomorrah. 74 00:04:22,960 --> 00:04:26,880 I've heard Abram tell me all about what God told him that God 75 00:04:26,880 --> 00:04:29,360 told him, You know, leave this land of your ancestors. 76 00:04:29,600 --> 00:04:31,920 Follow me to your place. Well, where are we going, God? 77 00:04:31,920 --> 00:04:33,280 I'll let you know when we get there. 78 00:04:33,400 --> 00:04:35,480 Will it be good? You'll see when we get there. 79 00:04:35,800 --> 00:04:38,600 And we got here and this is it. This is it. 80 00:04:38,600 --> 00:04:41,840 And God brought the Abraham, Abram, through all of these 81 00:04:41,840 --> 00:04:45,240 difficulties, he's blessed him, made him a wealthy man, and has 82 00:04:45,240 --> 00:04:48,360 promised him that through him all the nations of the world 83 00:04:48,360 --> 00:04:51,160 will be blessed. And I want to start that now. 84 00:04:51,960 --> 00:04:55,680 I want to be a blessing to the people of Sodom and Gomorrah. 85 00:04:56,720 --> 00:05:00,360 I want to be a blessing. And I want to help them see and 86 00:05:00,360 --> 00:05:04,800 know how good it is to follow the Lord and the Lord's ways. 87 00:05:05,680 --> 00:05:09,200 That could have been what Lot did, but it wasn't. 88 00:05:10,360 --> 00:05:13,880 It wasn't whether it was in his mind at any level. 89 00:05:13,880 --> 00:05:16,200 We do not. We do not really know it all, 90 00:05:16,440 --> 00:05:18,200 but it's certainly not what he did. 91 00:05:19,560 --> 00:05:23,640 It's certainly not Lot after having spent, we don't know 92 00:05:23,640 --> 00:05:28,760 exactly, probably 15-10, fifteen years or more in Sodom and 93 00:05:28,760 --> 00:05:30,800 Gomorrah. And he went from living near 94 00:05:30,800 --> 00:05:33,880 Sodom to living in the city. He went from being the total 95 00:05:33,880 --> 00:05:37,040 stranger and newcomer to being one of the judges, one of the 96 00:05:37,040 --> 00:05:39,240 leaders of the city. That's why he was at the city 97 00:05:39,240 --> 00:05:41,400 gate when the angelic visitors came. 98 00:05:41,400 --> 00:05:44,120 That's where the judges went. The leaders hung out and they 99 00:05:44,120 --> 00:05:46,760 listened to people and talked to people and greeted people and 100 00:05:46,760 --> 00:05:50,320 made decisions and those kinds of things became a leader in the 101 00:05:50,320 --> 00:05:55,440 city of Sodom. But in all of that time, he had 102 00:05:55,440 --> 00:05:59,080 zero impact. He had zero influence. 103 00:06:01,120 --> 00:06:04,840 Remember, Abraham said there's 10 righteous people there. 104 00:06:04,840 --> 00:06:07,480 God, will you save Sodom and Gomorrah? 105 00:06:07,480 --> 00:06:10,200 Will you spare them for the sake of 10 righteous people? 106 00:06:11,800 --> 00:06:17,280 And after all of those years of Lot being there, a lot who knew 107 00:06:17,280 --> 00:06:20,320 the promises God had made a Brahm, who knew the blessings 108 00:06:20,320 --> 00:06:23,160 that God had given a Brahm, who knew the blessing of following 109 00:06:23,160 --> 00:06:26,920 God's ways and living God's ways, who knew all of those 110 00:06:26,920 --> 00:06:30,000 things first hand. Eyewitness experience. 111 00:06:30,120 --> 00:06:34,240 Part of it. Part was saved by a Brahm 112 00:06:34,640 --> 00:06:37,040 through the power of God when Lot and his family had been 113 00:06:37,040 --> 00:06:40,720 taken as political captives. With all of that background, Lot 114 00:06:40,720 --> 00:06:46,160 had zero influence in that city. Zero influence for good anyway. 115 00:06:46,480 --> 00:06:50,960 Instead, Lot and his family simply became like the culture 116 00:06:50,960 --> 00:06:54,920 in which they left. They were influenced rather than 117 00:06:54,920 --> 00:06:58,920 being influencers. Lot failed to influence his 118 00:06:58,920 --> 00:07:02,720 community and his family failed to influence his community. 119 00:07:02,880 --> 00:07:04,960 So his family, Here's what family we know of. 120 00:07:04,960 --> 00:07:09,280 We had Lot added Lot's wife. Lot and his wife had two 121 00:07:09,280 --> 00:07:10,560 daughters. That's four. 122 00:07:10,880 --> 00:07:12,640 Each of their daughters was engaged. 123 00:07:12,640 --> 00:07:18,400 That's 6. They were 60% of the way to the 124 00:07:18,400 --> 00:07:22,880 10 people they needed for God to have mercy on an entire 125 00:07:22,880 --> 00:07:29,000 civilization. 10 people away. 4, Four people away. 126 00:07:29,000 --> 00:07:30,760 There were six of them. I've got trouble with my 127 00:07:30,760 --> 00:07:32,240 fingers. There were six of them. 128 00:07:32,400 --> 00:07:37,720 They were four people away and they didn't have it. 129 00:07:37,720 --> 00:07:42,040 In fact, I, I, I kind of think they were 10 people away to be 130 00:07:42,040 --> 00:07:46,400 honest. The the chapter 19 finishes 131 00:07:46,400 --> 00:07:50,640 saying God saying he spared Lot for Abraham's sake, not for 132 00:07:50,640 --> 00:07:57,080 Lot's own righteousness. Instead of influencing the 133 00:07:57,080 --> 00:07:59,560 community, they were just influenced by it. 134 00:07:59,560 --> 00:08:03,480 Instead of helping people around them put their faith in God, 135 00:08:03,640 --> 00:08:07,120 they were putting their faith in the culture of that community. 136 00:08:08,080 --> 00:08:10,720 Instead of helping those folks live the way of God, they were 137 00:08:10,720 --> 00:08:12,400 living the way of that community. 138 00:08:12,640 --> 00:08:15,160 He had zero influence. He had zero influence on his 139 00:08:15,160 --> 00:08:18,400 family, his sons and his future sons in law. 140 00:08:18,400 --> 00:08:20,920 They called him sons in law. It's kind of like when when 141 00:08:20,920 --> 00:08:23,960 you're engaged in those cultures, it was a much more 142 00:08:23,960 --> 00:08:27,840 serious commitment than being engaged in in our culture. 143 00:08:28,000 --> 00:08:30,200 So that's why even though they weren't married yet, they could 144 00:08:30,200 --> 00:08:33,200 still be called sons in law. There was that much of A 145 00:08:33,200 --> 00:08:36,559 commitment. These, these men, his daughters 146 00:08:36,559 --> 00:08:39,360 were going to marry. When Lot tells them we got to 147 00:08:39,360 --> 00:08:41,720 go, we got to go. They thought it was a joke. 148 00:08:43,760 --> 00:08:47,080 They thought it was just that Lot was someone to be laughed at 149 00:08:47,760 --> 00:08:50,760 and all of that. No influence, no impact on them. 150 00:08:51,880 --> 00:08:54,720 I mean, this was the God that had saved Lot and his family 151 00:08:54,720 --> 00:08:57,080 when they were taking his political prisoners and they had 152 00:08:57,080 --> 00:09:00,280 so little impact. His own family just thought he 153 00:09:00,280 --> 00:09:04,000 was nuts, thought he was a joke when he said that. 154 00:09:04,680 --> 00:09:10,640 His own wife, his own wife who had come to love the culture and 155 00:09:10,640 --> 00:09:14,640 the city of Sodom so much that as they were miles away on the 156 00:09:14,640 --> 00:09:18,560 edges of the mountain and and the city was being destroyed, 157 00:09:19,240 --> 00:09:21,880 Lot's wife was longing to return to that place. 158 00:09:24,360 --> 00:09:27,000 It wasn't just she glanced back over her shoulder. 159 00:09:27,560 --> 00:09:30,600 It's that she wanted to go back to that way of life. 160 00:09:31,400 --> 00:09:33,680 She wanted to return to that culture. 161 00:09:34,280 --> 00:09:37,040 She wanted to return to that way of doing things. 162 00:09:38,800 --> 00:09:42,080 And so she died, too. And then they get up in the 163 00:09:42,080 --> 00:09:44,720 mountains and now it's just Lot and his daughters. 164 00:09:46,880 --> 00:09:51,720 And they do unspeakable things to their father so that they can 165 00:09:51,720 --> 00:09:56,160 carry on their own families. No impact. 166 00:09:58,280 --> 00:10:01,880 No impact on his sons in law, no impact on his wife, no impact on 167 00:10:01,880 --> 00:10:06,120 his daughters. They had completely absorbed the 168 00:10:06,120 --> 00:10:07,840 corrupt culture in which they lived. 169 00:10:09,600 --> 00:10:13,960 Lot failed to influence. Lot failed to influence his 170 00:10:13,960 --> 00:10:16,160 community and his family. Why? 171 00:10:16,320 --> 00:10:19,640 Why was he such a failure? I think it's because he focused 172 00:10:19,640 --> 00:10:22,640 on the wrong thing. Lot lost his focus, or maybe he 173 00:10:22,640 --> 00:10:25,800 never had the right focus, but Lot focused on the wrong things. 174 00:10:26,040 --> 00:10:28,320 When Abraham was giving him the choice, Abraham could have made 175 00:10:28,320 --> 00:10:30,680 the choice himself. But Abraham said to Lot, you 176 00:10:30,680 --> 00:10:33,040 pick where you want to live, I'll take what's left. 177 00:10:33,240 --> 00:10:34,720 And Lot picked the Jordan Valley. 178 00:10:34,720 --> 00:10:36,240 Why? Let's go back and look at it 179 00:10:36,240 --> 00:10:38,240 again. Lot looked around and he saw 180 00:10:38,280 --> 00:10:41,760 that the whole plain of the Jordan towards Zohar was well 181 00:10:41,760 --> 00:10:46,320 watered, like the Garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt. 182 00:10:46,640 --> 00:10:50,880 So Lot chose for himself the whole plain of the Jordan and 183 00:10:50,880 --> 00:10:53,840 set out toward the east. Lot said. 184 00:10:54,760 --> 00:10:59,560 I can make money there. That that like the land of Eden 185 00:10:59,560 --> 00:11:03,440 and like like Egypt meant there's prosperity to be had 186 00:11:03,440 --> 00:11:06,160 there. That's good fertile land. 187 00:11:06,960 --> 00:11:09,560 I can raise lots of flocks. I can grow food. 188 00:11:09,560 --> 00:11:10,680 I can. I can make a lot. 189 00:11:10,880 --> 00:11:16,200 This was a financially motivated decision, a prosperity motivated 190 00:11:16,200 --> 00:11:19,560 decision. This was this was, I want to go 191 00:11:19,560 --> 00:11:22,520 there because I can get good stuff from there. 192 00:11:23,720 --> 00:11:27,920 Remember, though, why God had called Abram to leave his 193 00:11:27,920 --> 00:11:30,320 homeland and come to this promised land. 194 00:11:30,920 --> 00:11:34,960 Not so Abram could get in. His family could get good stuff 195 00:11:34,960 --> 00:11:37,200 from there. Although God did give them good 196 00:11:37,200 --> 00:11:41,240 stuff, but he brought them there so they could be a blessing and 197 00:11:43,120 --> 00:11:44,960 eventually a blessing to every nation. 198 00:11:44,960 --> 00:11:48,280 Alert. But Lot wasn't looking at the 199 00:11:48,280 --> 00:11:51,040 Jordan Valley, thinking, how can I go down there and be a 200 00:11:51,040 --> 00:11:53,520 blessing there? When Abraham gave him that 201 00:11:53,520 --> 00:11:55,880 decision, his thought wasn't, you know what, let me choose the 202 00:11:55,880 --> 00:11:58,400 place where I can have the greatest impact to help people 203 00:11:58,400 --> 00:12:02,680 live in God's way. It was, I can make a lot of 204 00:12:02,680 --> 00:12:06,520 money there. I can get good stuff there. 205 00:12:07,560 --> 00:12:10,240 I can get good things for me and for my family. 206 00:12:10,400 --> 00:12:13,160 Lot lost his focus, if he ever had it. 207 00:12:13,800 --> 00:12:16,400 His focus was not on how to be a blessing. 208 00:12:16,400 --> 00:12:18,600 His focus was not on how to serve God. 209 00:12:18,720 --> 00:12:22,120 His focus was not on how can I help other people live in God's 210 00:12:22,120 --> 00:12:25,960 ways. His focus was how can I maximize 211 00:12:26,200 --> 00:12:32,040 benefits for me and my family. And the way to maximize benefits 212 00:12:32,240 --> 00:12:35,640 for him and his family was to go along and get along. 213 00:12:36,200 --> 00:12:38,000 Man, their digs are doing great here. 214 00:12:38,320 --> 00:12:42,720 Lot of money, people living an ease and and they know how to do 215 00:12:42,720 --> 00:12:44,320 it. I'll do it like they do it. 216 00:12:45,480 --> 00:12:48,840 And he did it like they did it. And his family got what they 217 00:12:48,840 --> 00:12:53,200 got. No influence, no impact. 218 00:12:53,400 --> 00:12:57,040 I want to put someone out here by way of comparison. 219 00:12:57,040 --> 00:12:58,520 Anyone know the name Eric Little? 220 00:12:58,960 --> 00:13:00,240 Is that a name you're familiar with? 221 00:13:00,320 --> 00:13:02,040 I knew you would. I knew you'd know that. 222 00:13:02,920 --> 00:13:04,720 Anyone who you? You and I watch a lot of the 223 00:13:04,720 --> 00:13:07,600 same movies. I think Chariots of Fire is an 224 00:13:07,600 --> 00:13:11,400 old movie. My opinion, my humble opinion, 225 00:13:11,400 --> 00:13:14,520 this is not thus saith the Lord. I think it's best sports movie 226 00:13:14,520 --> 00:13:18,120 ever made. True story and it focus. 227 00:13:18,120 --> 00:13:20,040 One of the main characters is Eric Little. 228 00:13:20,400 --> 00:13:22,200 It's kind of a mirror image of Lot. 229 00:13:22,920 --> 00:13:27,840 Eric Little had his focus. He was in school and university 230 00:13:27,840 --> 00:13:30,880 in Edinburgh in Scotland, training to be a missionary. 231 00:13:31,000 --> 00:13:33,160 He was going to go to China and be a missionary. 232 00:13:33,920 --> 00:13:38,440 This was in the 1920s, but Eric Little was also very gifted in 233 00:13:38,440 --> 00:13:41,760 athletics. He played rugby for Scotland's 234 00:13:41,760 --> 00:13:47,480 national team and was very good at it and he was very fast. 235 00:13:47,480 --> 00:13:52,280 He was a very fast runner. And so as the 1924 Olympics that 236 00:13:52,280 --> 00:13:55,440 were to be held in Paris, as those approached Eric Little, 237 00:13:55,680 --> 00:13:58,760 much to the chagrin of his sister and some of his others, 238 00:13:59,000 --> 00:14:02,080 close friends and people that are around him, he he put a 239 00:14:02,080 --> 00:14:06,120 pause on his missionary training to go to the Olympics and 240 00:14:06,120 --> 00:14:09,720 compete in the Olympics. And he qualified, he qualified 241 00:14:09,960 --> 00:14:14,920 in the 100 meter dash to go to the Olympics in Paris in 1924. 242 00:14:14,920 --> 00:14:17,520 And his sister and friend came to him and said, we think you've 243 00:14:17,520 --> 00:14:20,480 lost your focus, Eric. You need to be focused on the 244 00:14:20,480 --> 00:14:26,040 mission field, not distracted by sports and glory and competition 245 00:14:26,200 --> 00:14:29,280 and cameras and fame. You're losing your focus. 246 00:14:29,280 --> 00:14:31,120 And Eric said, I'm not losing my focus. 247 00:14:32,760 --> 00:14:35,720 I'm not losing my focus. I love what you said in the 248 00:14:35,720 --> 00:14:36,720 movie. I don't know if it's a direct 249 00:14:36,720 --> 00:14:38,160 quote or not. I hope it is. 250 00:14:38,320 --> 00:14:40,720 He said God made me. I know God made me for a 251 00:14:40,720 --> 00:14:42,480 purpose. God made me for mission. 252 00:14:42,680 --> 00:14:45,960 God made me for China. But God also made me fast. 253 00:14:46,480 --> 00:14:50,440 And when I run I feel his glory. My favorite lines ever, 254 00:14:50,600 --> 00:14:52,000 anywhere. It's good. 255 00:14:52,840 --> 00:14:57,120 He was focused and he went to compete in the Olympics and on 256 00:14:57,120 --> 00:15:01,520 the way there he was tested right off the bat because part 257 00:15:01,520 --> 00:15:05,480 of his Christian tradition was a very, very, very high level 258 00:15:05,480 --> 00:15:08,200 honoring of the Sabbath. You did not work on the Sabbath. 259 00:15:08,400 --> 00:15:11,760 The Sabbath was God's day, and all you did on the Sabbath day 260 00:15:11,880 --> 00:15:14,080 was honor God. You went to worship, you went to 261 00:15:14,080 --> 00:15:15,960 church. You didn't do anything else 262 00:15:18,440 --> 00:15:21,080 except the qualifying heats for the 100 meter dash were on a 263 00:15:21,080 --> 00:15:26,880 Sunday. And so Eric announced to his 264 00:15:26,880 --> 00:15:32,800 team mates and to the leaders of the British Olympic team, I 265 00:15:32,800 --> 00:15:36,000 can't run on Sunday. I'm not going to run on Sunday. 266 00:15:37,320 --> 00:15:39,640 He was their only person, as far as I know, he was their only 267 00:15:39,640 --> 00:15:41,520 chance at meddling in the 100 meters. 268 00:15:42,560 --> 00:15:44,960 And he backed out. He said I'm not going to do it. 269 00:15:46,480 --> 00:15:50,080 And all of this pressure came on him to compete. 270 00:15:50,440 --> 00:15:55,720 And they sat him down in a room surrounded by very wealthy, very 271 00:15:55,720 --> 00:15:59,360 powerful, very influential people, including the Crown 272 00:15:59,360 --> 00:16:01,880 Prince of the Prince of Wales, the Crown Prince of England 273 00:16:01,880 --> 00:16:08,040 himself, his future king, to persuade him to compete on the 274 00:16:08,040 --> 00:16:10,280 Sabbath. I've got a video clip of that. 275 00:16:10,520 --> 00:16:12,840 I might need you to turn the volume up on this, Don. 276 00:16:12,840 --> 00:16:15,440 And we'll see that it's, it's all dialogue and it's fairly 277 00:16:15,440 --> 00:16:16,840 quiet. Let's see how it goes. 278 00:16:19,240 --> 00:16:22,360 Lord Birkenhead has advised us as to your attitude towards your 279 00:16:22,800 --> 00:16:26,760 participation in the 100 meters heats little Or would your non 280 00:16:26,760 --> 00:16:29,080 participation be more accurate? It would say yes. 281 00:16:30,600 --> 00:16:33,040 We were also consulted as to the correct manner in which to 282 00:16:33,040 --> 00:16:35,160 approach the French. Something we just can't allow to 283 00:16:35,160 --> 00:16:37,640 happen. Going cabin hand to the frogs of 284 00:16:37,640 --> 00:16:40,440 all people, simply out of the question. 285 00:16:41,000 --> 00:16:42,520 Simple matter of national dignity. 286 00:16:42,520 --> 00:16:45,320 Little being a patriot, I'm sure you understand. 287 00:16:45,640 --> 00:16:48,160 Well, I must say so I felt it was an impractical suggestion 288 00:16:48,160 --> 00:16:50,280 from the start. Why did you say so, ma'am? 289 00:16:50,880 --> 00:16:53,040 As an athlete, you value economy of effort. 290 00:16:53,480 --> 00:16:56,360 I wanted to run. I was desperate not to try 291 00:16:56,360 --> 00:16:58,760 anything. Well, all that being understood, 292 00:16:59,440 --> 00:17:02,440 we decided to invite you in for a little chat to see if there's 293 00:17:02,440 --> 00:17:05,079 any way that we can help resolve the situation. 294 00:17:05,200 --> 00:17:08,440 There's only one way to resolve the situation, that's for this 295 00:17:08,440 --> 00:17:11,720 man to change his mind and run. Don't state the obvious, 296 00:17:11,720 --> 00:17:13,800 Gadagan. We have to explore ways in which 297 00:17:13,800 --> 00:17:16,319 we can help this young man to reach that decision. 298 00:17:17,960 --> 00:17:19,440 I'm afraid there are no ways, Sir. 299 00:17:20,079 --> 00:17:22,920 I won't run on the Sabbath, and that's final. 300 00:17:25,079 --> 00:17:29,040 I intended to confirm this with Lord Birkenhead tonight, even 301 00:17:29,040 --> 00:17:31,360 before you called me up in front of this inquisition of yours. 302 00:17:31,360 --> 00:17:34,440 Don't be impertinent little. The impertinence lies so with 303 00:17:34,440 --> 00:17:36,960 those who seek to influence our mind to deny his beliefs. 304 00:17:37,560 --> 00:17:40,680 Our country, little. We're appealing to your beliefs 305 00:17:41,160 --> 00:17:42,320 in your country. No King. 306 00:17:43,320 --> 00:17:45,200 Your loyalty to them. Yeah, Here. 307 00:17:46,040 --> 00:17:49,040 In my day it was King first, God after. 308 00:17:49,080 --> 00:17:51,640 Yes, and the war to end was bitterly proved your point. 309 00:17:53,280 --> 00:17:57,440 God made countries, God makes kings, and the rules by which 310 00:17:57,440 --> 00:18:05,640 they govern, and those rules say that the Sabbath is his, and I 311 00:18:05,640 --> 00:18:13,320 for one intend to keep it. That way, Mr. Liddle, you're a 312 00:18:13,320 --> 00:18:17,560 child of your race, as I am. We share a common heritage, 313 00:18:17,560 --> 00:18:22,640 common bond, a common loyalty. There are times when we're asked 314 00:18:22,640 --> 00:18:26,120 to make sacrifices in the name of that loyalty. 315 00:18:27,240 --> 00:18:28,960 Without the my allegiance is worthless. 316 00:18:30,720 --> 00:18:34,400 As I see it. For you this is such a time. 317 00:18:35,680 --> 00:18:44,840 So God knows I love my country, but I can't make that sacrifice 318 00:18:47,120 --> 00:18:52,240 little. It's like a mirror image of a 319 00:18:52,240 --> 00:18:56,720 lot. He was focused, and his focus 320 00:18:56,720 --> 00:19:01,480 was not on what's good for me, what can I get, what can it add 321 00:19:01,480 --> 00:19:05,960 to my wealth, my privilege, my position, my status, None of 322 00:19:05,960 --> 00:19:08,120 that. His focus was on God. 323 00:19:09,160 --> 00:19:12,400 What does God want? What does God want from me? 324 00:19:13,920 --> 00:19:18,000 And I will do that no matter what the cost, no matter what 325 00:19:18,000 --> 00:19:19,960 the cost. And I will trust that God will 326 00:19:19,960 --> 00:19:23,320 bless me in whatever way God sees fit and God sees 327 00:19:23,320 --> 00:19:28,080 appropriate. Now, if you know the story, you 328 00:19:28,080 --> 00:19:31,240 know that Little eventually did run in the Olympics. 329 00:19:31,480 --> 00:19:35,400 Not because he was willing to violate his conscience and run 330 00:19:35,400 --> 00:19:38,960 on the Sabbath, but because one of his team mates decided to 331 00:19:38,960 --> 00:19:41,240 give up his spot in the 400 meter dash. 332 00:19:41,480 --> 00:19:44,880 And there was no heat on Sunday. And so instead of running in the 333 00:19:44,880 --> 00:19:47,080 100 meters, Eric ran in the 400 meters. 334 00:19:47,320 --> 00:19:50,720 And Eric won gold medal in the 400 meters. 335 00:19:51,520 --> 00:19:54,600 And God blessed him in the eyes of the whole world. 336 00:19:55,560 --> 00:19:58,920 And then the next year, in 1925, Eric went to China as a 337 00:19:58,920 --> 00:20:03,600 missionary. Eric had a long and significant 338 00:20:03,600 --> 00:20:07,440 career in ministry, not significant in the sense of 339 00:20:07,440 --> 00:20:11,920 drawing huge crowds. The significant in the sense of 340 00:20:11,920 --> 00:20:15,160 the impact on the lives of people who said he made a 341 00:20:15,160 --> 00:20:19,840 tremendous was a tremendous influence and their faith and 342 00:20:19,840 --> 00:20:22,720 their growth and their following of God. 343 00:20:23,600 --> 00:20:25,880 And he was in China when World War 2 started. 344 00:20:26,120 --> 00:20:29,800 He was in China when Japan invaded, and he was sent to a 345 00:20:29,800 --> 00:20:35,600 Japanese prison camp. Not a good place to be. 346 00:20:37,400 --> 00:20:43,360 And that's where he died, in a prison camp in China held by the 347 00:20:43,360 --> 00:20:45,680 Japanese. And you know what he did while 348 00:20:45,680 --> 00:20:49,760 he was there? He preached sermons and he led 349 00:20:49,760 --> 00:20:54,720 Bible studies, and when someone was hungry, he gave up his food. 350 00:20:56,000 --> 00:20:58,600 And when someone needed medicine, he gave them his 351 00:20:58,600 --> 00:21:05,200 medicine. All the way through, Eric Little 352 00:21:05,200 --> 00:21:10,160 kept his focus right where it needed to be, on God. 353 00:21:10,360 --> 00:21:13,760 On what does God want me to be doing to be a blessing to 354 00:21:13,760 --> 00:21:17,040 others? And he had an impact. 355 00:21:18,000 --> 00:21:19,960 He had an impact. I would love to know. 356 00:21:20,200 --> 00:21:21,920 I don't know if there's any way of finding out. 357 00:21:21,920 --> 00:21:26,080 Maybe it'll be in the Kingdom of heaven, meeting some sisters and 358 00:21:26,080 --> 00:21:31,240 brothers from China who were followers of Jesus Christ in my 359 00:21:31,240 --> 00:21:34,200 lifetime because of what Eric did in his lifetime. 360 00:21:38,960 --> 00:21:42,160 That's the kind of impact we can have, what it means to be an 361 00:21:42,160 --> 00:21:45,320 influencer rather than just being influenced. 362 00:21:45,560 --> 00:21:49,600 But Lot failed and his failure had massive implications. 363 00:21:49,760 --> 00:21:54,640 When we fail to focus on God, when we fail to be an influencer 364 00:21:54,760 --> 00:21:57,840 and instead are just influenced by the culture around us, those 365 00:21:58,280 --> 00:22:01,760 those that failure has implications that are both 366 00:22:01,760 --> 00:22:05,080 horizontal and vertical. Horizontal meaning in our own 367 00:22:05,080 --> 00:22:07,600 time period, in our lifetime. I've already talked about the 368 00:22:07,600 --> 00:22:12,040 horizontal implications. Lot's wife, Lot's sons in law, 369 00:22:12,200 --> 00:22:16,720 Lots daughters, and every single person the Lot ever had lunch 370 00:22:16,720 --> 00:22:20,080 with went to their house for dinner, shared in business 371 00:22:20,080 --> 00:22:23,880 associations with on the plains of Sodom and Gomorrah, lost 372 00:22:23,880 --> 00:22:29,440 their lives, or their lives were otherwise destroyed by Lot's 373 00:22:29,440 --> 00:22:34,040 failure of influence. But it also had vertical that 374 00:22:34,040 --> 00:22:38,720 impact goes over time. And we don't know exactly, or at 375 00:22:38,720 --> 00:22:41,760 least you know, hard to find out in the United States right now, 376 00:22:41,760 --> 00:22:45,120 the vertical, the, the influence over time that Eric Little had. 377 00:22:45,280 --> 00:22:49,800 But we know the influence over time that Lot's failure had the 378 00:22:49,800 --> 00:22:53,280 daughters, his lot, Lot's daughters who had children by 379 00:22:53,280 --> 00:22:56,400 him. Those children, their 380 00:22:56,960 --> 00:23:01,960 descendants became nations that stayed in the land of Canaan. 381 00:23:02,800 --> 00:23:06,880 And when Abraham's descendants left Egypt and we're on their 382 00:23:06,880 --> 00:23:10,960 way back to the Promised Land, lots descendants stood in their 383 00:23:10,960 --> 00:23:15,680 way and fought them to keep them from coming back. 384 00:23:18,880 --> 00:23:23,160 Our failure to have an impact doesn't just affect us and the 385 00:23:23,160 --> 00:23:26,200 people around us right now. It can affect people for 386 00:23:26,200 --> 00:23:29,200 generations and generations and generations to come. 387 00:23:30,760 --> 00:23:33,200 So what does this mean for us? What are the practical 388 00:23:33,200 --> 00:23:39,640 applications for us here? Just a couple of things that I 389 00:23:39,640 --> 00:23:43,360 wanted to take note of. 1 is we need to be aware of our own 390 00:23:43,360 --> 00:23:47,640 limits, including our capacity to influence. 391 00:23:48,720 --> 00:23:51,280 See, it's easy to throw stones at lot. 392 00:23:51,280 --> 00:23:55,320 I'm, I don't and I'm not doing this to throw stones at Lot, but 393 00:23:55,320 --> 00:24:01,560 to see the possibilities of, to see what happened a lot so we 394 00:24:01,560 --> 00:24:03,480 can avoid it in our own life if we can. 395 00:24:04,840 --> 00:24:09,000 Because Lot could have avoided this for his family and himself 396 00:24:09,000 --> 00:24:12,320 at least if perhaps he had set back and said, you know what, 397 00:24:12,440 --> 00:24:16,600 what's going to happen to me and my family if we go there? 398 00:24:18,800 --> 00:24:20,800 Can I really be an influence there? 399 00:24:21,840 --> 00:24:24,080 Oh well, I really become like them. 400 00:24:24,920 --> 00:24:30,520 And will my family just become like them and face the same, you 401 00:24:30,520 --> 00:24:33,160 know, adopting the same destructive mindsets, the same 402 00:24:33,160 --> 00:24:36,400 destructive lifestyles, and facing the same destructive 403 00:24:36,400 --> 00:24:40,600 future that they face? Beware of our own capacity to 404 00:24:40,600 --> 00:24:43,720 influence, particularly at times, our lack of capacity, 405 00:24:44,920 --> 00:24:47,480 because there's some places we can be an influence and some 406 00:24:47,480 --> 00:24:51,480 places we can't. And the decision on that is a 407 00:24:51,480 --> 00:24:55,320 decision that has to be made by prayer, not simply by rule. 408 00:24:56,160 --> 00:24:59,680 There's some churches and church groups that make it by rule and 409 00:24:59,680 --> 00:25:02,960 they isolate themselves and insulate themselves and, and 410 00:25:02,960 --> 00:25:05,840 they insist on having a separate kind of subculture. 411 00:25:06,000 --> 00:25:09,040 And we won't even interact with people outside of that culture 412 00:25:09,040 --> 00:25:11,440 if we can avoid it. And, and we'll never go to a 413 00:25:11,440 --> 00:25:14,640 restaurant that sells alcohol or never buy from a grocery store 414 00:25:14,760 --> 00:25:16,880 that sells alcohol. We'll never hang out with me. 415 00:25:17,000 --> 00:25:20,160 My mom was, you know, she tasted a little bit of that. 416 00:25:20,160 --> 00:25:23,120 Her family was, was very strict in some ways. 417 00:25:23,280 --> 00:25:26,360 She never, you know, there was never a deca playing guards in 418 00:25:26,360 --> 00:25:31,800 her house growing up and and individual, you know, personal 419 00:25:31,800 --> 00:25:34,400 policies like that are not the issue. 420 00:25:35,480 --> 00:25:40,000 But God does not call us to cut ourselves off from the culture 421 00:25:40,000 --> 00:25:43,400 that's around us. Otherwise we can't be an 422 00:25:43,400 --> 00:25:47,040 influence. We can't have an impact. 423 00:25:48,960 --> 00:25:54,000 So Jesus said, well, we're told of Jesus that he was a friend of 424 00:25:54,000 --> 00:25:58,000 sinners. Jesus went to the houses of 425 00:25:58,000 --> 00:26:01,320 people that were known to be sinful people. 426 00:26:01,440 --> 00:26:05,160 He ate with them, He became friends with them, He invited 427 00:26:05,200 --> 00:26:11,360 them to follow him. And he calls us to do the same. 428 00:26:12,400 --> 00:26:15,440 To cross cultural lines, to cross cultural barriers. 429 00:26:15,600 --> 00:26:18,360 Not to live in silos. Not to wrap ourselves, our 430 00:26:18,360 --> 00:26:21,200 families or our churches and bubble wrap and try to keep all 431 00:26:21,200 --> 00:26:23,480 the bad people out and away at arm's distance. 432 00:26:23,640 --> 00:26:27,160 But to embrace folks in the culture, folks that are 433 00:26:27,160 --> 00:26:30,480 righteous people and folks that are sinful people and love them 434 00:26:30,480 --> 00:26:33,280 and welcome them and be in relationship with them, to seek 435 00:26:33,280 --> 00:26:35,720 them out. But there's a tension between 436 00:26:35,720 --> 00:26:41,040 that and Lot pitching his tent near Sodom, in which we have to 437 00:26:41,040 --> 00:26:45,240 ask ourselves on an ongoing basis, is this a relationship in 438 00:26:45,240 --> 00:26:48,720 which I can be an influence or which I will simply be 439 00:26:48,720 --> 00:26:51,640 influenced? There's some easy examples. 440 00:26:51,640 --> 00:26:53,440 I don't want to spend too much time on this. 441 00:26:53,440 --> 00:26:56,440 We're going to give you 2 easy examples to kind of get a sense 442 00:26:56,440 --> 00:26:58,560 of it. If Europe, if there's a person 443 00:26:58,560 --> 00:27:02,760 who is 2 years sober recovering from, you know, decades of 444 00:27:02,760 --> 00:27:07,200 alcohol addiction, the local bar is probably not your mission 445 00:27:07,200 --> 00:27:13,200 field, right? That's don't go there if you're 446 00:27:13,200 --> 00:27:15,240 if you're just, you know, if you're too, you're some folks 447 00:27:15,240 --> 00:27:17,480 that are 10 or 15 years sober won't go there. 448 00:27:18,480 --> 00:27:22,720 They say I can go there, but I know that they will influence 449 00:27:22,720 --> 00:27:24,640 me. I won't influence them. 450 00:27:25,160 --> 00:27:30,160 I'll simply go back to being what I was being what folks 451 00:27:30,160 --> 00:27:32,720 there are. I won't influence them. 452 00:27:32,920 --> 00:27:35,920 They'll influence me. That's wisdom. 453 00:27:37,040 --> 00:27:39,040 That's wisdom is you find someplace else to be an 454 00:27:39,040 --> 00:27:41,400 influence there. The nice thing about the world 455 00:27:41,400 --> 00:27:44,800 is there sinners everywhere, all over the place. 456 00:27:44,800 --> 00:27:46,720 We can make friends of sinners anywhere. 457 00:27:48,360 --> 00:27:51,240 You know, by the other place where I saw this over and over 458 00:27:51,240 --> 00:27:53,200 again was when I was working with kids in the juvenile 459 00:27:53,200 --> 00:27:55,080 detention center up in Seneca County. 460 00:27:55,960 --> 00:27:57,760 And they would come, they'd be there for a while. 461 00:27:57,760 --> 00:27:58,920 They're sure never going to change. 462 00:27:58,920 --> 00:28:01,040 They're going to change, never going to come back here again. 463 00:28:01,320 --> 00:28:05,640 And six months, nine months, 12 months later, they're back. 9 464 00:28:05,640 --> 00:28:08,440 times out of 10, as they told me their stories, it went something 465 00:28:08,440 --> 00:28:09,880 like that and things were going great. 466 00:28:10,880 --> 00:28:13,440 I decided when I left, I wasn't going to go hang out with my old 467 00:28:13,440 --> 00:28:15,480 friends anymore. But you know, they're my friends 468 00:28:15,480 --> 00:28:17,440 and I, I want to hang out. So I was hanging out with them 469 00:28:17,440 --> 00:28:19,040 at school. I was like, well, I'll just hang 470 00:28:19,040 --> 00:28:20,800 out with them at school, but I won't go to their house. 471 00:28:20,800 --> 00:28:22,840 Well, I went to their house. I was like, well, I'll go there 472 00:28:22,840 --> 00:28:25,560 and I, but I'm just not when they, when they're passing the 473 00:28:25,560 --> 00:28:27,600 pot around, I'm not going to take any of the pot. 474 00:28:27,600 --> 00:28:30,880 They took the pot and then then they're smoking the pot and 475 00:28:30,880 --> 00:28:36,080 they're doing all the same stuff they were doing before because 476 00:28:36,280 --> 00:28:39,880 they put themselves back into an environment where they had no 477 00:28:39,880 --> 00:28:43,680 chance of having a meaningful influence on the people around 478 00:28:43,680 --> 00:28:46,040 them. Then every chance that those 479 00:28:46,040 --> 00:28:49,160 people around them would simply pull them right back to what 480 00:28:49,160 --> 00:28:55,280 they didn't want to be. We have to be discerning. 481 00:28:55,520 --> 00:28:57,760 And that's it's not a matter of rulemaking. 482 00:28:57,760 --> 00:29:00,640 It's a matter of prayer. It's a matter of talking with 483 00:29:00,640 --> 00:29:03,680 God about it and people around us that are wise enough to say, 484 00:29:03,680 --> 00:29:06,480 yeah, yeah, don't go there. You go hang out. 485 00:29:06,480 --> 00:29:09,760 And it could be whether it's, you know, it could be any, it 486 00:29:09,760 --> 00:29:12,560 could be relationships. It could be a group of it could 487 00:29:12,560 --> 00:29:14,440 be a, a single relationship. Yeah. 488 00:29:14,880 --> 00:29:18,880 Every time you get it with that person, you become this other 489 00:29:18,880 --> 00:29:21,920 person that is, just don't do it. 490 00:29:22,120 --> 00:29:24,320 You know, we've got to make those kind of decisions. 491 00:29:24,760 --> 00:29:28,280 We've got to be discerning enough to see how relationships 492 00:29:28,320 --> 00:29:31,760 affect us so that we can see this is a place where I can be 493 00:29:31,760 --> 00:29:36,400 of influence, but this is a place where I will simply be 494 00:29:36,400 --> 00:29:40,080 dragged down. I will be influenced. 495 00:29:40,880 --> 00:29:44,160 Those are hard decisions to make, and those are best made in 496 00:29:44,160 --> 00:29:48,200 prayer with wise people around us who know us and love us well, 497 00:29:50,080 --> 00:29:53,960 so we can ask them and ourselves, to what degree can I 498 00:29:53,960 --> 00:29:58,520 keep my focus on Jesus and his call in any given situation? 499 00:30:00,760 --> 00:30:04,120 That's the thing. Because Lot, maybe Lot, was 500 00:30:04,120 --> 00:30:08,600 never going to influence Sodom. Maybe Lot's best decision would 501 00:30:08,600 --> 00:30:11,760 have been, you know what, I can make a lot of money down in the 502 00:30:11,760 --> 00:30:15,840 Jordan Valley. But if I go hang out down there, 503 00:30:15,840 --> 00:30:18,760 yeah, I'm just going to want to join right in. 504 00:30:19,680 --> 00:30:21,360 I think I'll stay up here in the hills. 505 00:30:21,800 --> 00:30:23,640 I'll let Uncle Abram go down there. 506 00:30:23,640 --> 00:30:28,000 He's better at that than I am. But not getting caught up in 507 00:30:28,000 --> 00:30:31,320 that stuff. That could have been Lot's 508 00:30:31,320 --> 00:30:34,880 decision. He might never have had an 509 00:30:34,880 --> 00:30:36,840 influence. It might have been no chance 510 00:30:36,840 --> 00:30:39,240 that he was ever going to have any meaningful influence on 511 00:30:39,240 --> 00:30:41,720 Sodom and Gomorrah. But think how different his 512 00:30:41,720 --> 00:30:45,720 family would have been. Think how different his 513 00:30:45,720 --> 00:30:50,680 descendants would have been if Lot had made that kind of 514 00:30:50,680 --> 00:30:53,400 decision. One last person I want to talk 515 00:30:53,400 --> 00:30:58,800 about as a as another actual current example of someone who's 516 00:30:59,000 --> 00:31:03,280 not like Lot, and that is Maria Carina Machado. 517 00:31:03,440 --> 00:31:06,040 You've heard that name. I suspect if you follow the news 518 00:31:06,040 --> 00:31:10,120 at all or social media much you've heard of Maria Carina 519 00:31:10,120 --> 00:31:14,240 Machado. She is currently living and 520 00:31:14,240 --> 00:31:18,240 hiding in Venezuela. She is by birth. 521 00:31:18,920 --> 00:31:22,320 Her family was wealthy business folks in Venezuela. 522 00:31:23,040 --> 00:31:25,520 That's what she wanted to be. Well, she wanted to be an 523 00:31:25,520 --> 00:31:27,640 engineer and she became an engineer. 524 00:31:27,640 --> 00:31:29,960 She went to school to become an industrial engineer. 525 00:31:30,160 --> 00:31:33,000 I don't know exactly what industrial engineers do, but I, 526 00:31:33,000 --> 00:31:35,680 I just, the name tells me I could. 527 00:31:36,000 --> 00:31:37,320 I'm not smart enough for that job. 528 00:31:38,640 --> 00:31:41,200 And she was good at it. And that's what she wanted to 529 00:31:41,200 --> 00:31:42,520 do. That's what she wanted to be. 530 00:31:42,520 --> 00:31:45,960 Life was going on great, but politics in her country was 531 00:31:45,960 --> 00:31:48,960 going bad and had been bad and was getting worse. 532 00:31:50,040 --> 00:31:52,960 And people kept saying you should step in, you should step 533 00:31:52,960 --> 00:31:54,920 in, you should do something. And she did. 534 00:31:55,920 --> 00:31:59,440 She eventually became a politician pushing for 535 00:31:59,440 --> 00:32:04,640 democracy, pushing for freedom, pushing for free enterprise in 536 00:32:04,640 --> 00:32:08,480 her country and and the leaders of her government and the other, 537 00:32:08,640 --> 00:32:15,880 the main person, Maduro, tyrannical dictator who trumped 538 00:32:15,880 --> 00:32:17,320 up a bunch of charges against her. 539 00:32:17,360 --> 00:32:19,560 She's been accused of every crime you can think of. 540 00:32:19,760 --> 00:32:23,200 When the election time rolled around in 2024, she wanted to 541 00:32:23,200 --> 00:32:27,560 run for president of Venezuela, but that but Maduro and his his 542 00:32:27,560 --> 00:32:29,880 regime said that she could not run. 543 00:32:30,000 --> 00:32:31,960 She was not allowed to appear on the ballot. 544 00:32:32,080 --> 00:32:35,200 She could not run for election. She was a criminal. 545 00:32:35,880 --> 00:32:40,320 She could not be president. And so she convinced a friend, 546 00:32:40,320 --> 00:32:46,480 an old guy, to run in her name as a proxy. 547 00:32:47,120 --> 00:32:50,160 His name would be on the ballot, but everyone would know that a 548 00:32:50,160 --> 00:32:52,920 vote for him was really a vote for Maria Machado. 549 00:32:54,840 --> 00:32:57,320 Anyone know what percentage of the vote she got? 550 00:32:59,280 --> 00:33:04,520 90%, Ninety. I mean, I can't even imagine 551 00:33:04,520 --> 00:33:05,840 that. I've never even heard of a 552 00:33:05,840 --> 00:33:10,440 school board election getting 90% much less president of a 553 00:33:10,440 --> 00:33:15,000 country 90% of a vote when she wasn't even legally allowed to 554 00:33:15,000 --> 00:33:22,920 run and Maduro was done with her and declared her an outlaw and a 555 00:33:22,920 --> 00:33:24,480 traitor. And she lives in hiding, and 556 00:33:24,480 --> 00:33:26,640 most of her supporters don't even know where she is right 557 00:33:26,680 --> 00:33:29,480 now. But she continues to post on 558 00:33:29,480 --> 00:33:33,080 social media. She continues to assert that 559 00:33:33,080 --> 00:33:37,760 Maduro's government is failing and will fall, that democracy 560 00:33:37,760 --> 00:33:44,920 and freedom will prevail in Venezuela, and that good things 561 00:33:45,440 --> 00:33:48,280 will come to her people there. Now, here's the thing. 562 00:33:49,840 --> 00:33:55,120 Machado is she's not a pastor. She's not a missionary like Eric 563 00:33:55,120 --> 00:34:01,120 Little, and she's not a nomad like Abraham, following God from 564 00:34:01,120 --> 00:34:03,840 place to place. She's a engineer and a 565 00:34:03,840 --> 00:34:07,480 businesswoman and a politician. But she is a staunch Christian. 566 00:34:09,239 --> 00:34:12,960 Her version of her her the tradition she grew up in happens 567 00:34:12,960 --> 00:34:15,639 to be Catholic, because that's the the dominant Christian 568 00:34:15,639 --> 00:34:19,320 tradition in Venezuela. But she prays throughout her 569 00:34:19,320 --> 00:34:21,760 country. She prays for her people. 570 00:34:21,920 --> 00:34:24,600 One of the ways her people primarily show their support for 571 00:34:24,600 --> 00:34:26,679 her is whenever she goes someplace, they'll give her 572 00:34:26,679 --> 00:34:28,960 rosaries. And rosaries, A, it's a tool 573 00:34:28,960 --> 00:34:31,880 that Catholics use for prayer. You use that I'm not sure exact, 574 00:34:32,120 --> 00:34:34,719 but each bead reminds you to pray for a different thing. 575 00:34:36,080 --> 00:34:38,280 And she's collected these rosaries all over and she 576 00:34:38,280 --> 00:34:40,679 praised them, and she prays for her people. 577 00:34:40,880 --> 00:34:43,920 And she sees her struggle and has openly said it's not just 578 00:34:43,920 --> 00:34:46,040 political, it's not just business. 579 00:34:46,040 --> 00:34:52,159 This is a spiritual struggle that God has given her and she's 580 00:34:52,159 --> 00:34:55,199 put herself at risk. She's put her family at risk. 581 00:34:55,360 --> 00:34:57,120 Her children have had to flee the country. 582 00:34:57,120 --> 00:34:58,800 Well, I don't know whether they fled, but they're not in the 583 00:34:58,800 --> 00:35:00,640 country. I don't know whether it's, I 584 00:35:00,640 --> 00:35:03,240 suspect part of it is fleeing, but her, her children are at 585 00:35:03,240 --> 00:35:04,480 risk. She's at risk. 586 00:35:04,480 --> 00:35:10,280 She has to live in hiding. She's had such an influence and 587 00:35:10,280 --> 00:35:16,320 such an impact on so many people because she kept her focus. 588 00:35:17,360 --> 00:35:19,760 She kept her focus on the mission and the ministry and the 589 00:35:19,760 --> 00:35:23,200 calling. For her, it was freedom and 590 00:35:23,200 --> 00:35:28,520 democracy to lead her country back into that. 591 00:35:30,120 --> 00:35:37,520 And, and instead of going along to get along, instead of seeking 592 00:35:37,520 --> 00:35:41,040 the good that came from participating with the regime, 593 00:35:41,560 --> 00:35:46,560 she stood against it. And it's cost her a lot that 594 00:35:46,560 --> 00:35:50,160 she's being an influencer rather than being influenced. 595 00:35:50,440 --> 00:35:52,040 This is the question that we all have. 596 00:35:52,040 --> 00:35:54,400 Not all of us are going to have a chance to win a Nobel Prize. 597 00:35:55,560 --> 00:35:58,160 I can virtually guarantee you I'm not going to win a Nobel 598 00:35:58,160 --> 00:36:00,800 Prize. It would be startlingly 599 00:36:00,920 --> 00:36:03,440 surprising. That's all right. 600 00:36:04,240 --> 00:36:09,640 Leave that to other folks. I just want to have an influence 601 00:36:09,640 --> 00:36:13,160 on my family and my friends and my community. 602 00:36:14,120 --> 00:36:19,560 I want people to feel like they've been blessed rather than 603 00:36:19,560 --> 00:36:25,200 that I've just gotten something from them that, that, that, that 604 00:36:25,880 --> 00:36:30,400 somehow, in small ways or large, they know that God loves them 605 00:36:31,880 --> 00:36:35,280 because of what I do or what I say, that they're built up and 606 00:36:35,280 --> 00:36:37,480 encouraged. And we all have this 607 00:36:37,560 --> 00:36:39,600 opportunity. We all have this choice. 608 00:36:39,840 --> 00:36:42,320 We're not. I'm not, you know, maybe we 609 00:36:42,320 --> 00:36:46,280 might have some future social media influencers in here. 610 00:36:46,280 --> 00:36:49,320 I don't know. I, I suspect it would be the two 611 00:36:49,320 --> 00:36:52,440 youngest people here that are the most likely to become social 612 00:36:52,440 --> 00:36:53,760 media. And you want to be a social 613 00:36:53,760 --> 00:36:55,080 media influencer? No. 614 00:36:55,080 --> 00:36:57,040 OK, All right. You want to be a social. 615 00:36:57,040 --> 00:36:57,840 No. All right. 616 00:36:57,840 --> 00:37:00,240 No social media influencers. That's all right. 617 00:37:01,000 --> 00:37:03,360 That's it. But we're all, we all have the 618 00:37:03,360 --> 00:37:07,080 choice whether we're on social media or not, whether we'll be 619 00:37:07,080 --> 00:37:10,040 an influencer or whether we'll just be influenced. 620 00:37:11,080 --> 00:37:15,480 Let's follow Eric Little, let's follow Machado and influence 621 00:37:15,480 --> 00:37:17,960 those around us in Jesus name, Amen. 622 00:37:18,520 --> 00:37:18,920 Amen.