Hope Alive: Applying God's Word to Your Daily Life

Genesis 19:20-26 | Episode #276

October 31, 2022 Chad Harrison Episode 276
Hope Alive: Applying God's Word to Your Daily Life
Genesis 19:20-26 | Episode #276
Show Notes Transcript

October 31, 2022

Hope Alive: Applying God’s Word to Your Daily Life
Genesis 19:20-26 Bible Study | Episode #276

I am Chad Harrison, and I am the teaching pastor of Lake Community Church and had been serving as a pastor for 25 years. I'm also a practicing attorney. This podcast is designed to help you study God's word and find God's will for your life. The purpose of studying scripture is that you might know the character of Jesus Christ, and that you might see the world from the Father's perspective. That you gain wisdom that changes your life. I pray in the name of Jesus right now that God would open His word to you and allow you to see Him and to know Him. To know His will, that you might glorify Him and that you might walk in faith and power each day, especially today. In Jesus name.

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This is Chad Harrison, and you're listening to Hope Alive Applying God's Word to Your Daily Life.

Hi, this is Chad Harrison, and I am the teaching pastor of Lake Community Church, and have been serving as a pastor for 25 years. I'm also a practicing attorney. This podcast is designed to help you study God's word and find God's will for your life. I pray in the name of Jesus right now that God would open up his word to you and allow you to see him and to know him.

And to know his will, that you might glorify him and that you might walk in faith and power each and every day, especially today in Jesus' name. Good morning. Welcome to late community churches. Morning Bible studies. Good to be with you this morning. We are continued through the book of Genesis we're in Genesis chapter 19.

We're in a very important passage. I think it's a foreshadowing passage of some of the teachings of Christ. It's probably the most stark example of this in scripture. Maybe there's some others but I, I can't think of one, that's more stark example of the principle that's at work here in this passage.

Actually several principles that are work in this passage. And as we're studying through it, I think it's important that we spend some time on it because a lot of believers in the, in, in our modern era, especially in the United States and in where we live. We have so many options and so many opportunities to invest ourselves into so many things that as life goes on it seems like our lives become, come fragmented.

And and we begin to invest ourselves in so many things that were really. Invested in anything we're not invested enough in anything that we make a difference or that it makes a difference in our life. And I say that about everyone. If you think about it, we have one of the reasons I moved to the place I moved in the Dayville area is because where my house is within about seven or eight minutes, there's 10 restaurants.

There's 10 places to eat. And me being a person who loves to eat back when we moved here now I'm just eating fruit and vegetables. But back when we moved here, me being a person who loved to eat seemed like the most, the best place to move to because, obviously I liked to eat and I wanted to be close to the places that I.

But we, we got to, even though there were 10 places to eat, we, you can't eat all out all the time and you can't go to all those places. And you never really get invested in one. And I say that joking in as an example but if you think about it, how many things in your life are you really invested in heavily?

And in fact, some of the things that you spend the most time on. You're not invested in at all. Say for instance, your work many people just go to work and they're not invested in their work at all. But they are invested in social media. They are invested in. In sports they're invested in things.

And as you begin to count the things that are really important to you and then measure that up to the time you spend in Allity on those things. You realize that there's a dichotomy, there's a difference between the two. If you really sat down and said, what are the most important things to me in my life?

And you put God as number one, and then you begin to add add up those things like family like friends obviously what you do so that you can sustain life your job. And then you begin to put those things in perspective and say, how much of my life do I actually spend investing in these things?

Investing in my marriage, investing in my children, investing in my grandchildren, investing in in my church, investing in God. It, as you begin to to think about all those things in your life, and then you realize how much time you spend watching TV or, and, that's going away how much time you spend actually on your phone or on social media or for me invested in some kind of sports activity or listened to some kind of podcast on political things or a podcast on.

On some kind of football or that's what I do or looking over the internet, browsing the internet, as you begin to realize the amount of time that you're actually investing in one thing, but you're not actually investing in the most important things you realize that, that your life is not headed.

Maybe not even headed in the right direction. And. The quality and the quantity of who you are as an individual is not being placed in the things that matter and are of the most importance. And Jesus understood that. Jesus understood that and And in this passage that principal's starkly at work and what the angels have done is they've taken a lot.

And his wife and his two daughters noticed the son-in-laws loved where they were from so much that they were not willing to even entertain that God might be getting ready to destroy the city, even though there were angels there. And that those angels had. The men of the town blind so that they couldn't see, even though all these are wild and amazing things are going on around them.

They couldn't even bring themselves to the place to realize that, something of great importance is happening and likely is because they were so mentally and physically and emotionally invested in the world that they lived in, that they couldn't. That God was not invested in it and God, in fact, abor it and wanted it destroyed.

And obviously if those men were that way their daughters and perhaps light and definitely lot's. Were invested in where they were. They loved that place. They their life was built in that place and and God was about to destroy it.

And and so when they loved that place so much, The angel said you need to escape. When he took them out, when they grabbed them by the hands and took 'em outta the city, they said, get out of the city and escape to the mountains. Notice they're telling them to run a long way, get a long way away from the city.

Because Sodom and Gamora were not too twin cities that sat beside each other. They were cities that were miles and. Part on this great plane that in essence is where the dead sea is even right now. And that's at the Southern end of the Southern end of the dead sea. You come on down from Jerusalem.

If you come over to the east from Jerusalem, you hit the Jordan river pours into the dead sea. And the reason it's the dead sea is the dead sea doesn't have any outlet to anywhere else. And so all the Sot and everything that comes down from the Jordan river into the dead sea doesn't go anywhere.

And it is, it has got way too many way too much salt and all kinds of other minerals in it to the point where there's no, no life in it. And and it is a giant depressed place. It is one of the lowest places below sea level in the world. Jericho, the the town of Jericho, the city of Jericho is one of the lowest cities, sea level wise in comparison to any other city in the world is one of the lowest places in the world that depression.

I believe was created by this destruction of Sodom and Gamora at the Southern end of that of that valley and and the actual locations of Sodom and Gamora. We just we've just recently in the last 30, 40 years unearth UN. Places that are along the dead sea that could have been Sodom Andora even today.

And so we, we have archeological evidence of destruction that did happen some kind of volcanic or fire and brimstone destruction that did happen in that area. Thousands and thousands of years ago. Just like the Bible says it did. The Bible is validated by It's validated by science and it's validated many times by archeology all the time and has been continually as, for the last a hundred to 150 years when we've been going all over the middle east in search of oil and have found things that quite clearly point to what the Bible has talked about for thousands of years.

They were told to get out of that valley to run to the mountains. And in the mountains, you won't look back to the valley and then and the Bible says that God the angels told them not to look back. It says, but notice how lot responded to that lot said to them, please. My Lord's please know my Lord.

Indeed. Now you're serving his found favor in your psych. Meaning what he took is God's favor. He took as a license. To continue to love the world. That's what's going on here. He says, I found favor in your eyes and you have increased your mercy, which you have shown me by saving my life.

Notice. He's taking the license of salvation, the salv work of God in changing who we are. He's taking that as license to continue to love the world. That's what that is. What lot is doing in this passage? He. You've shown me by saving my life that I cannot escape to the mountain unless some evil overtake me and I die.

What he's saying is I can't do what you told me to do now. What's so crazy about that is so common to who we are and how we see the world. When God tells us to do something, we say we can't look, if God says something to you, then he's already determined whether it's possible for.

And if it's possible for you, he, if it was impossible for you or impossible for him through you, then he wouldn't have told you to do it. God's not gonna come to me and say, Chad jump over the moon. Unless. In some way, it's possible for me to jump over the moon. He's not gonna do it, or unless there's some way he's going to make it possible for me to jump over the moon.

He's not gonna tell me to do something that is not possible or is not going to happen. Oftentimes that's what we do. We. We say to God, we want you to be a part of our lives. We want you to be a part of what's going on in this situation. We want you to be involved in our lives this way. And God says, okay, this is my will.

This is what I want you to do. And you say I can't do that. That's not possible. Look, if God says it, it is possible. If God told you to do it, it's possible. It's not impossible. It's possible. And it's ridiculous for you to say to. That, what he's told you to do is not possible, and that you're going to be destroyed by it, or somehow that's not gonna be your very best to say to God that what he's desires for you is not going to be.

The best for you is a total aggregation of an understanding of who he is. You're just totally. You're just totally missing the point. If God's told me to do something with man, it may be impossible, but for with God, it's, nothing's impossible. And the angels told lot to escape to the mountain with your wife and your two daughters escaped to the mountain, get out of the.

And lot says, Lord, I know you F I found favor in your eyes because you saved me and see that's using God's work in your life as a license to not do his will. And that is a dangerous place to be, and it turns out. It was not only dangerous for a lot, but it was dangerous for his family. When God tells you to do something, you need to do it.

I the teachings of Jesus, one of the most stark teachings of Jesus that we find in scripture is the teaching that is in Luke chapter nine. Verse 57. It says and through verse 62, it says now it happened as they journeyed on the road that someone said to him, notice, Lord, I'll follow you wherever you go.

That's there's the proclamation that, that they've turned and they are, that's a moment of of life change. It's a decision to go and walk with him. It's a picture of repentance. It's a picture of of conversion. A conversion experience. And this guy says, I will follow you wherever you go.

Notice what Jesus said. Jesus said, Foxs have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the son, man has nowhere to lay his head. What is Jesus saying to this guy? Jesus saying, this guy, if you're gonna follow me, you need to understand that that it's going to be following me and my will. And not your will.

You're used to the luxuries of life and I'm telling you where I'm going. There are no Lux. There are no things out there for you now, is that always true of all believers? No, it's not always true of all believers. That's not the case, but for this guy in this situation, that was the case.

And Jesus wanted to make sure that he understood that if he was gonna follow him, there was some requirements involved in that. Following him. There was some requirements involved in walking with him and Jesus underst a lot of times we as believe. We wanna sell to the church.

We, we wanna sell to unbelievers that if you come follow Jesus, it's all gonna be candy canes and cotton and candy and it's not we always wanna make it out to be Ferris wheels. And candy apples. And we just gonna have a good old time in the sweet buy and buy with Jesus.

And I'm gonna tell you when God tells you to do something or when you feel the call of God in your life on a certain, in a certain situation, the first thing that's got to happen is you have got to be matured and grown and changed into something that is able to. Or to fully complete the task that God has set for you.

That's what salvation is. Salvation is a changing, it's the word Soso. It's a changing of who you are. And if you are chasing after Jesus and God tells you to do something it's going to by definition, the first thing it's gonna do is it's going to change you. It's gonna mature. You.

It's gonna grow you. It's gonna harden you toward the purposes of God. It's gonna make you into who you ought to be in his kingdom. And if you. Look, you can't expect that God moves and you remain the same. It's not gonna happen when God moves your changed. When God acts, there's something different going on in your life.

And and let me tell you. When you show up to a church where it's spirit filled, where God's moving, where people are seeking after him, the first thing that's gonna happen is difficulty and struggle are going to happen. Change is going to happen. Maturity is going to happen, which is gonna cause you to be put in positions that make you uhoh.

This is not that secret sensitive idea. It makes you uncomfortable by the way, the whole idea of being secret, sensitive, meaning seeking after. We're seeking after people who are seeking after God, no one seeks after God. God seeks after them. No one seeks after God, God seeks after them. There is no such thing as a lost person who seeks God.

The Bible clearly says that each one is turned to his own wicked ways. No one is righteous, no one, not one, no one sits after him. No one longs after him. God is the one who brings about change in our life. And when God brings about change in your life, When he's at work, changing your life. It's hard.

It's hard. I wanna say that as your pastor, it's hard, but it's good. It's hope giving it makes you into who you ought to be. And Jesus said, listen, if you're gonna follow me, we ain't got no place to stay. So you're gonna have to get used to roughing it a little bit because following me is not easy.

Then the next said then he said to another follow me, but he said, Lord, let me first go and bury my father. And you would think that's something, obviously we need to tell him to do that. Cause you know, you need to go bury your dad. He told some guy, some, this person, we don't even know who he is, told him to follow me.

And he said, I need to go bury my father. And Jesus said, notice this Jesus said, let the dead buried there on dead, but you go and preach the kingdom of God. What are you saying is, look, I've got a purpose and then the world's got a purpose. And you can't use my salvation. You can't use my calling. You can't use my gifting as a license to love the world.

He says, let them handle this. You do what I've called you to do you quit trying to remain married to the world. And that is using the most stark example possible in scripture, Jesus is using bearing the father as the most stark example of look, when I call you for my purposes, then you have.

Give into my purposes. You have to as place them in the first priority. Then he says to another guy and another also said, Lord, I will follow you. But first let me go bid farewell to who are at my house. Let me go tell my family and my friends I'm gonna follow you. And Jesus said, no one having put his hand to the plow and looking back is fit for the kingdom of.

What he's saying is you can't go back and love the world. You can. Remain attached to the world and come follow me. You've got to get to a place where you chase after me first and lot was doing that. That's what lot was doing lot was saying, look, let me, he says, but I can I escape to the mountain unless some evil come see now there's a city near enough to flee to that's where verse 20.

And it is a little one. Please let me escape there. Is it not a little one? And my and my soul, shall I live? What he said is don't take me too far away from what I love. Don't take me too far away from the world. I wanna still be here. I just don't wanna be where you're destroying the city.

Let me remain in the world. Let me ask you something. Do you, is that what you're doing sometimes? Are you just asking God to let you remain in the world? I know I do it a. I know that's a reality for me to love the world and not chase after God. I, it's a deep reality to me.

When you realize you're a mature believer, there's not a whole lot of choosing. Sometimes you choose God first. And then you choose your family and your loved ones. And you begin to place priorities on the things that are important and the kingdom of God's important and your families walk in the kingdom of God's important.

So you need to model that walk for them. And then you realize that your work is important, cuz your work is what finances, your ministry and you begin to focus in on. Who you ought to be at your workplace so that you can finance the work of God in your life. And then you begin to actually become a mature believer and you actually focus your life on the things God's doing.

And when you're not working, you begin to realize that my, the focal point of my life needs to be on the kingdom, people that are in my life and needs to be on the kingdom work that is going on around me. He. He said that him, see, I favored you concerning these things also in that I will not overthrow the city for which you have spoken, hurry, escape there for ki I cannot do anything until you arrive there.

Notice, notice the angel says, okay, go to Zor, go to that town. And therefore the name the city's called Z because it's nearby. And and and the angel let him, okay. I'm gonna let him, cause he is a ministering. And and notice when the sun had rid risen up on the earth when light entered soar and the Lord reigned, brimstone and fire on Sodom, and Goor from the Lord out of the heavens.

And so we overthrow those city over through those cities, all on the plane and the inhabitants of the cities and that grew up and everything that grew on the ground, but notice what happened, but his wife looked back behind him and she became a pillar of salt. See if he'd escaped to the mountains, she wouldn't have to look anything to look back on.

If he'd had done what God initially done and not compromised made a compromise with God and tried to compromise who he was. His wife would not have been lost because in the mountains they wouldn't have seen the destruction of CI Gamar. They would've been, they would've been behind a mountain and they would've been totally separated from it, but they weren.

And again we see lot's wife as a, as an example of loving the world and not loving God and looking back at the world and not looking toward God. And and the truth is that she looked back cuz she loved the world, but it was a lot who li head of the family. It was a lot who allowed his family to live in a city of wickedness like that.

It was lot who. Who loved being there and and made excuses for it. It was. Who didn't tell his son-in-laws to get outta the city. And now his daughters don't have husbands. It was a lot who who compromised with the Lord and escaped to a town south of where Sodo and Gamar was where they could see the destruction of Sodom.

And Gamar from the heavens and noticed it didn't happen at night, happened during the middle of the day. And and it was. Who allowed his wife to be in a position where she looked back and she did because she loved the world. And and ultimately it destroyed us, destroyed it. There's a guy in.

There's a guy in the Bible named DMAs. He's in the new Testament. He's mentioned three times. And he's an example of this, and I'm gonna end with this. DMAs has mentioned first time he is mentioned in scripture chronologically. He is mentioned as being a faithful servant of Paul and Paul encourages him and and gives him a thumbs up, gives him a, gives him an attaboy.

The first time he's mentioned second time, he is mentioned. He's just mentioned, he's not mentioned as doing anything. He's not mentioned as being any important. He just BA basically Paul says, oh yeah, EMAs is here too. And then the third time he is mentioned is the last time he's mentioned to Scott and the Bible, and Paul mentions him just briefly and says Demus is no longer with me for, he loved this present world.

And he left the faith. He left the ministry, he left the call of God and he went back to the world. He lived in and there just didn't any looking back in, in the kingdom of God. When you put your hand to the plow if you look back, you're not fit for the kingdom. And it's important that you understand that principle it's hard to get it's difficult.

It sometimes takes a lot of growth and maturity to get there, but when you choose to file a Christ, you can't look back and long after the things that. You left behind you. You have to chase after the things that God says are important. What does God say is important? God says his kingdom's important.

God says loving him with all your heart, soul, mind, and strengths important. That's the first and greatest commandment. Second one's like him, like unto it. Love your neighbors loving. People's important to. Loving people in the world, but not being of the world is important to God loving your neighbor as yourself's important and loving each other believers members of your family, the people who are you're discipling, the people you are growing with loving them is important to God and has great importance for your.

Loving loving other believers, self sacrificially, and Jesus said, love them. Love each other's. I've loved you. That's self sacrificial love. And what that requires is you not loving the things of this world, but loving his purposes and his kingdom. So you can have his very best. And that's what it's all about.

That's what the kingdom of God's about. There's no turning back as the, he, as the old hymn says I follow Jesus, no turning back. No turning back. And we can't turn back once, once you've been redeemed, once you've been bought at a price, once you're a part of the kingdom of God, turning back only leads to death and difficulty and struggle in your life.

Lot was a righteous man, but lot loved the world and lot lost a lot, cuz he loved the. And I don't want that to happen for you. I don't want it to happen for the people I love. I want them to learn to love God and chase after him fully and wholeheartedly and not chase after the world. And I'm expecting that for you.

And I'm expecting to see the great things that happen when people chase after God to happen in your life and in my life.

As you go today, I pray that the Lord will bless you and keep you that he'll make his face to shine upon you. And that he will give you hope and peace today in Jesus name.