Audio Tapes # 43,    Oct 1, 2000       (Notes Updated Oct 24, 2000)

Don't miss the pictures of the zoo days. The Lord willing, Creation Creature Features soon.

Review: (Gen 1-12) See the previous sermon notes on the Web -

The Text (Blue Letter Bible): Genesis 13-14:17 
(Strong's numbers, Hebrew-Greek lexicons, cross references, etc., can be accessed from the above link)

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  Gen 18:¹⁹  "For I have known him, in order that he may command his children and his household after him, that they keep the way of the Lord, to do righteousness and justice, that the Lord may bring to Abraham what He has spoken to him."

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Brief Exposition and Commentary - (Gen 13 - 14:17)

Remember that in Ch. 12, Abraham fails in faith and is humiliated (humbled) by Pharoah's rebuke.
But like the nation Israel in the book of Judges, and you and me today, Abraham's life is a picture of growth.  Sometimes he blew it and the consequences led him to get back under God's hand of authority.  Then he'd walk in strong faith to the glory of God and the blessing of others.  

This passage is one of those times, when Abram marched faithfully under the hand of God.
This historical record is not just filler.  There is not filler in God's Word.  It is a crucial message of brotherly love (1 John 4).  Abram embraced his responsibility to his dead brother, Haran, and proved it by his interactions with Haran's son, Lot.

Abram was called to rule over his household, and a godly ruler not only provides for his household, but protects them at the risk of his own life.  A godly ruler is a good shepherd (John 10).

Sometimes it is good and necessary for people to separate.
(Gen 2) A new husband is to leave his parents and cleave to his wife, forming a new household.
Abram and Lot needed to separate, since their combined livestock were too numerous to feed off of one common pasture land.  As an ex-zookeeper, I know this principle well!

Abram had just recently failed in his faith as he headed toward Egypt.  His witness to Pharoah and that nation was ruined.  But here he shines in repentant faith as an example of brotherly love.

Example:  Tempted to hoard the filet mignon at a recent social gathering.  Why?  Sinful love of self and pleasure that overrode my love for God and neighbor!  It's real simple folks.

The middle east at that time was all a desert, but much of it was "Eden-like".
Abram was the patriarch and had the right and responsibility to rule.
So he could have taken not only the best, but ALL that was good.
Twice he humbly uses the term for "please" in speaking to his subordinate nephew.
And he give to Lot the first choice of filet mignon :-)
This was not an abdication of authority, but simply an act of self-sacrificial leadership in love.
1 Cor 4:6 warns us not to speculate beyond what Scripture reveals, so don't try and read too much into Lot's heart attitude by looking at his choice.  The Bible calls him, "righteous Lot" (2 Pet 2:7).
Sodom's men were "exceedingly sinful", and this indictment is another indication of the responsibility that MEN bear for the state of things under God's hand of delegated authority.
Whether it be in the home, the church, a nation, or the world, it is the men who will stand before God for the ultimate outcome.
As later chapters of Genesis will reveal, Lot's tent was pitched "close" to Sodom, then in it, then he became a political leader in the very "gates" of corporate responsibility.

Example:  How do we fail at being in, but not of the world?

We're not called to be monks or nuns, isolated from the world (1 Cor 5:9-13).
But we run the danger of letting the culture soak into our souls and families and churches like spiritual osmosis.
First we loose our sensitivity to the horror of sin.  Just as a physical scar is hardened and less sensitive to pain, sin sears our souls to the reality and danger of the world's ways.
Then we increasingly tolerate the sin. (Rom 1)
At times we actually indulge in the sin and enjoy is pleasures, because we love self naturally more than God and neighbor.
Eventually we can become so deceived that we actually exalt the sin, promote it, and try to encourage others to embrace it as well.  (Col 2:8-9).

** Have your kids been overexposed to the pleasures of the world?  Have you socialized them to God's family character, or to the character of the world?  Remember, even if they don't run after really gross sins, just a lack of zeal for the things of God is enough to ruin their lives and God's honor!

Lot is captured (Col 2:8-9) because of his close association with world (1 John 2).

Abram To The Rescue (Captain Bible, Sgt. Scripture, ...........)

318 men against an army that beat the relatives of the Nephilim.
Just like Gideon, God loves to use the impossible to demonstrate His power, love, and wisdom. (1 Cor 1-2)
These men, however, were well trained (2 Tim 2).
In the same way, folks, your little family and our little church can rescue souls who've been captivated by the ways and philosophies of the world, and L.E.A.D. them into restoration and maturity in Christ.

The captives all around us:

Pantheistic socialism.
Psychologized promises of abundant life.
Chemical alternatives to reality (drugs).
Our brothers and sisters persecuted in other countries!
Etc., . . . . . 

How does all of this apply to you: Are you, your family, and your church walking in submissive faith like Abram and his family? Are your relationships socializing others to become disciplined disciples or dysfunctionally dishonoring rebels? 
Please take time to examine your life, and write down what you see in God's light:

* Yourself?

* Your Family?

* Your Church?
 Do you genuinely L.E.A.D. your sheep toward restoration and maturity in Christ?

Use the following chart to examine yourself, and change by putting off habit patterns of attitude, behavior, & countenance.