Below is a clip of a teaching that Dan gave on 2 Samuel 9 while in McConnelsville, Ohio.  Listen while he shares about Love instead of Hatred, Kindness instead of Anger, and how God makes good on His promises for everyday ordinary people! 

Dan\’s sermon on 2-samuel-9-at-mcconnelsville-ohio, USA

Just in case some of you don’t know I’m boarding a plane today and on my way over to England.  While i’m there I wanted to inform you that the devotional survey through Genesis will continue.  The purpose for the MP3 studies is to alott me time to make the trip and be able to relax a little while doing it.  Praying these teachings in Psalms are a blessing to you who are tuning in.  Below is a teaching that was done in Ohio just a few weeks back.  May the Lord touch your heart, stir your spirit, and refresh you life with the wonder of His word.

God bless you all

-Dan

psalm-107-at-mcconnelsville-oh 

Genesis 19:4-5

  The Hebrew verb for “Know” in verse 5 is normally used to describe sexual relations between a male and female, however in this case we see how the culture and indulgence of sin has skewed the thinking of these men and perverted the community into a gnarly disregard for God’s beautiful design for sex.  The men of Sodom were hostile and aggressive homosexuals, it seems that their lust for carnal pleasure had grown to such a degree that they were bent on forcefully taking the guests of Lots home and gang raping them out in the open square of the town.  Here is where the term “sodomite” originates.

Although this passage and story is probably one of the most disturbing accounts of mankind’s depravity, the truths we can glean from it are significant.  In this passage we see what type of dire straits we as children of God can end up in when we keep a foot in the world and a foot in the word.  We witnessed Lot time and time again be brought to the issue of the will.   

What is the “issue of the will”?

It is when we are faced with the question deep in our hearts on whether or not we “will” choose to fully commit our self to the Lord and live separate from the sinful tendencies of this world, or choose to fully immerse our self into the ways of the world and gradually shift away from God our thinking and conduct. 

Lot up to this point has neglected to make a commitment and has sat on the faith fence, in doing so we see his circumstances get uglier and the risk gets greater.  James would tell us,

“…Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God?  Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.”

James 4:4

The truth is we can’t ride the fence; eventually we are always brought to an issue of the will and faced with the decision of full surrender and commitment to God or this world. 

In the book of Numbers Moses warns the children of Israel that if they don’t keep their commitment to the Lord they will in turn sin, and that sin will come find them out (Numbers 32:23).  When Lot divided his allegiance and compromised his relationship with God what happened was he also became an ally to the wrong team.  Later we see that “the allegiance of this world” he had tried so hard to develop would be the same allegiance that would demand his family, home, and almost his life.  On the flip side the allegiance he had walked steadily away from (The Lord) was the one that would come to rescue him and his family from the destruction that sin always brings.  How good God is to pursue us with His grace and mercifully keep us from the destruction of sin! 

Consider your own commitment to the Lord and take a look around you.  Is sin knocking on your door and demanding everything good from you?  If you, like Lot, made a commitment of faith and have found yourself in the wrong neck of the woods not living the way you know you should, know that the Lord hasn’t given up on you, in fact He’s offering right now the way out. 

Perhaps it’s not you, but someone you love, take heart, “If you have confessed with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believed in your heart that God raised Him from the dead” then you can know for certain that they will be saved (Romans 10:9,10). 

If the situation is hopeless and it seems like everything is too far gone… remember the Lord is the God of the impossible, and those things which are impossible for man, are in fact possible for God.

Genesis 17:5

Here Abram gets a new name. What he once was is no longer, and what is to come is how Abram will be known from now on. In the same token we see this truth presently at work for us as recipients of salvation.

We as the redeemed of Christ find that what we once were in our natural sinful state is no longer, God the father sees us now through the blood of Jesus Christ and “calls those things which do not exist as though they did” God sees us in the righteousness of Christ (2 Cor. 5:21).

We also see that those who faithfully abide and obey the Lord will also receive a new name, we will see the face of our Savior and He’ll come close and whisper in our ears a new name that no one else will know, and we too will be “friends of God” as Abraham.

“So Abram said to Sarai, “Indeed your maid is in our hand; do to her as you please.”  And when Sarai dealt harshly with her, she fled from her presence.”

Genesis 16:6

This is so like us, we foolishly make decisions apart from God, and then we start lashing out on everyone around us when we start to reap what we have sown.  Here we see that neither Abram nor Sarai showed conduct becoming of those who were faithful to God; the Bible is so honest like that, showing both the good and the ugly in every particular story. 

The great thing is that God comes to the rescue and redeems the gnarly actions of Abram and Sarai.  I like that, because I too have behaved foolishly, I have gone out of God’s will and lashed out on people when I had to pay the piper for my stupidity. 

God is so faithful to us even when we blow it and turn people off to God like Sarai and Abram did here with Hagar.  Praise God that He faithfully “sees” and intervenes in each of our lives, not only redeeming our mistakes but at the same time reconciling everyone to Him.

Genesis 15:13-15

God would tell Abram that hard times were coming. The generations to come would be strangers in a land that was not theirs. Affliction, bondage, and some gnarly situations would be experienced in that land, but in due time, when the iniquity of the Amorites was complete they would be ushered into the Promised Land.

In a way, God was giving time before delivering the Amorites (or the Canaanite people) to destruction.

Why?

Because God is longsuffering, His mercy is huge, and His love and compassion don’t fail as it’s told to us again and again in scripture. God was not only giving a chance for the people of Canaan to see and respond to Him (which some did end up doing) but God was also prepping Israel for their inheritance.

In the same way, you and I are part of the lineage of Abram, grafted into the family tree through the blood of Jesus Christ (Romans 11). We too are strangers here on earth, enduring through difficulty, hardship, and affliction while waiting for the time God would bring us into the Promised Land of our Heavenly home.

Why is it we aren’t home in heaven with the Father yet?

Because God is giving time for the inhabitants of earth to see and respond to Him…as well as prepare those who are His own for the inheritance that awaits beyond those wonderful borders of eternity.

Genesis 14:14

I love what happens here, Abram fights to rescue his “brother” from error. Upon hearing the bad news Abram doesn’t kick back and say, “Serves him right!”…NO WAY, Abram preps for a rescue mission immediately. Armed with everything he’s got he pursues the problem, with no thought of letting up till the mission is completed.

This story stirs my heart. So many times I, like Lot, have made poor decisions, gotten derailed, and found myself a prisoner to my bad choices. At one time or another, for whatever reason, we’ve all been where Lot is. The wonderful truth is that we have a “greater than Abram” who left his dwelling place next to God and pursued us to where sin held us captive. The only thing He was armed with for our rescue was three nails and a cross.

“I’ve won”, Satan shouted.

“Over my dead body”, Jesus replied.

And He laid down His life for our ransom. Jesus our Savior had no intention of letting up till the mission was accomplished, restoring not just his family (the Jewish race) but also the “women and the people” (verse 16) meaning “everyone”, Jew and Gentile, no matter the gender, race, past, present and future. (Ephesians 2:11-18 Hebrews 2:9)

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