Genesis 12:10-20

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Looking at our world from a theological
perspective. This is the Theology Central podcast

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making Theology Central. Good morning everyone. It is Thursday, July the eleventh,

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twenty twenty four. It is currently
nine forty three am Central Time,

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and I am coming to you live
from the Theology Central studio located right here

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in Abilene, Texas. I hope
you're having a wonderful day. I hope

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you're ready to put on those that
those well, if I'm speaking to multiple

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people, I hope all of you
are willing to put on your thinking cap.

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Is that better? I want everyone
to put on their thinking cap this

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morning, because we're going to be
digging in. We're going to be digging

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into a very well known passage of
scripture, and we are going to challenge

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the way it is typically presented and
preached. And whenever I do that,

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I find myself usually in the middle
of some form of controversy. It is

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amazing. I look, I don't
understand why that for passage after passage after

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passage of scripture, it's almost like
a template has been handed down, right,

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Someone's like handed down to template,
like this is how you preach this

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passage of scripture? And you can
go from sermon to sermon to sermon to

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sermon to sermon, like, well, they got the memo, they got

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the memo, they got the memo. They're using the template. And sometimes

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I like to come along and go
no, no, no, no,

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no, no no, let's challenge
this. Let's question this, because I

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don't think this template is actually handling
the text in an accurate way. In

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fact, I think it's presupposing and
placing things on the text and in the

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text that aren't actually there. And
we see this happen continually with Old Testament

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narratives. Right, people just read
into these narratives things that I'm like,

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where, why are we reading it
from this perspective? But to challenge it,

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well, people, you'll get some
pushback. People will get very irritated

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with you. It's almost like,
I don't know, they get very defensive.

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Maybe that's a better word. They
get defensive and they're like no,

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no, no, no, no, no, no no, this is

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the way it must be understood.
Like, well, I don't know,

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maybe maybe we can at least consider
that our approach to the text has been

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incorrect. Maybe possibly, so hopefully
you will at least allow me to present

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maybe a different way to look at
a very well known text of scripture,

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and hopefully we will all benefit from
it. Now, here's what we are

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doing. If for some reason you
have missed everything. I have in front

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of me. The May twenty second, twenty twenty four issue of the Sort

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of the Lord newspaper. Right,
May twenty second, twenty twenty four.

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I got a brand new issue of
the Lord newspaper in the middle yesterday.

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Okay, but this is the May
twenty second, And I was looking at

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the May twenty second, twenty twenty
four issue a couple of days ago,

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and I made it to page ten
of this issue of the Sword of the

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Lord newspaper. And there's a section
called the Preacher's Column. And I always

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like to look at the Preacher's column
because a lot of times it gives you

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maybe an outline or an illustration or
something that you could utilize or build maybe

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an entire message upon or a devotional
message. You could do something with it,

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maybe a Bible study. It gives
you kind of the maybe the basic

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concept, and then you could build
upon it. So I was looking the

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first one state, or the first
one is entitled are Christians Heartless? And

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I'm like, okay, maybe I
could do something with that. Maybe I

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don't know, we'll see. And
then I looked down and then the very

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next thing was leaning wrong. Leaning
wrong. Now, at first I thought

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it said learning wrong, and I'm
like, I thought it was going to

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be like something about how Christians look
the wrong way. And I'm like,

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ooh, that could be. That
would be right up my alley. I'd

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like to correct how Christians learn.
Okay, but it's leaning wrong, and

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I'm like, oh, okay,
that's interesting. And then right underneath that

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is Proverbs chapter three, verse five
that don't quote the entire verse. They

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quote this part lean not onto thine
own understanding, don't lean to your own

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understanding. And I'm like, oh, okay, this this could be interesting.

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It's in Proverbs. This was supposed
to be the Summer of Proverbs summer,

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the Proverbs summer of twenty twenty four
was going to be about Proverbs,

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and we did do a lot of
work in Proverbs. And then the next

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thing, you know, Summer twenty
twenty four is really turned into the summer

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of Psaw eighty three. So we
won't get into that entire story. That's

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been crazy, right, and we
have more developments about psaw Maty three,

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but we won't get into that right
now. So I was like, Okay,

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lean not onto thine own understand that's
that's a very well known verse.

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And then underneath that, they have
this, if we have any leaning toward

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anything, we are sure to fall
to the thing towards which we lean.

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If we have any leaning towards anything, we are sure to fall to the

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thing towards which we lean. Now
immediately I kind of challenge that, right

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because I'm like, well, I
don't. That's again placing the issue external

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outside of us. If I lean
towards that, then I'm going to fall.

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And my argument is, I'm leaning
towards certain things because of the fallen

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nature that is in me. My
fall in nature is what causes me to

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lean towards certain things. It's not
the thing that I'm leaning towards. It's

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not its fault. The fault is
inside of me. See, I lean

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in certain ways because I'm fallen inside. My leaning is evidence of my fallen

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nature, my sinful nature that is
inside of you. Whether you are a

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believer or an unbeliever, I know
Christians like to act like the fallen nature

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is gone and has been eradicated.
I don't know why that's I know Christians

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try to say that's not the case. Christians do this maddening things. I

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was listening listening to a sermon yesterday
that I wanted to just start screaming.

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It was based on the Book of
James and the pastor literally like within three

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minutes, basically said these like wildly
contradictory ideas. In Christ you are a

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new creature, the old is gone. Everything is new. You have been

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set free from bondage. You have
been set free. You are free,

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You're no longer in bondage to sin. And then literally like thirty seconds later.

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But as Christians, we continue to
fight the flesh and we continue to

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wait a minute, if I'm set
free and I'm a new creature and the

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old is gone, what am I
fighting? What am I still struggling with?

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If I've been said for it?
Like, it's weird how Christians state

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this and they don't hear themselves contradict
themselves. Well, in this particular case,

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I would argue, if we have
any leaning towards anything, we are

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leaning that way because of the fallenness
inside of us. That's the way I

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would state it, I am fallen
inside. I have a sinful nature,

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and that sinful nature wants things,
and it desires things, and it's full

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of lust and coveteousness and adultery and
pride and anger and bitterness and unforgiveness.

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That is what we are in our
nature. We can try to deny it,

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we can try to cover it up, we can try to pretend it's

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not there, and it manifests itself
when I start leaning this way or that

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way. So that was my first
kind of issue with it. Is I

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hate to say it. I'm not
saying that this is the author of this

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article would even claim this, but
it almost felt a little Pelagian to me,

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a little bit of Pelagianism, or
at least semi Pelagianism. And I

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reject Pelagianism outright, semi Pelagianism.
I reject outright, completely opposed to Pelagianism.

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I loathe it. I can't stand. I don't think it's an accurate

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understanding of human nature in any way, shape or form, and I think

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all Christians should reject it, all
right. So, and we've done plenty

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of study on discussions of Pelagianism.
I think I did what the eighteen points

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of Pelagianism. So we've covered that
in the past, all right, So

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then after the article does that,
it gives us seven, count them seven

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examples of people leaning in the wrong
direction. The first one is Abraham,

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all right, and it reads,
Abraham leaned towards Egypt in unbelief and soon

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found him self crippled by it.
Abraham leaned towards Egypt in unbelief and soon

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found himself crippled by it. And
we spent over an hour yesterday covering that

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one. So let me just remind
you it gives you seven. Those seven

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are Abraham and him leaning towards Egypt, found in Genesis twelve ten through twenty.

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Second, it mentions Lot, who
leaned towards sodom Genesis thirteen ten and

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Genesis nineteen seventeen. Number three David
leaning towards unholy desire and laziness. Second

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Samuel eleven two through four. Number
four is jehosephat leaned towards worldly association.

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First Kings twenty two twenty nine through
thirty two. Then number five, King

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Saul leaned towards his own inclination.
First Samuel fifteen ten through twenty three.

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Number six, Hezekiah leaned towards pride, Isaiah thirty nine, and number seven

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Peter leaned towards self sufficiency Luke twenty
two two verses thirty three and fifty five

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through fifty seven. Now, your
goal was what my not necessarily your goal,

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my assignment for you. My goal
for you was for you to write

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all of those scriptures down and read
them five times and then start finding random

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sermons on each one of those sections
of scripture. Right, That's what you

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were called to do. That's what
I challenged you to do. Now,

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yesterday we covered number one, and
I really really disagreed a lot with this

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assumption. The assumption is that when
we read the story in Genesis twelve ten

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through twenty that Abraham was doing something
wrong, he was demonstrating unbelief, he

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was doing something that was ungodly,
a lack of faith, and there's all

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kinds of criticism is heaped upon him. And I challenged that based off a

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number of things that based on where
this story occurs, what is not stated

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in the story. I think there's
just a lot of things pastors impose upon

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that text that's not based on anything
we have in scripture. There's nothing in

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scripture that condemns him going to Egypt. There there's no record of even God

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saying, hey, what you did
was wrong. There's no record, there's

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nothing. There was no scripture prohibiting
him from doing that. There was nothing.

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And yet the story is always handled
as a like, Abraham did something

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wrong. So I told so,
we covered that, I challenged it,

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spent over an hour. Well today
today is all about choosing a random sermon

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on that one number one Abraham leaned
towards Egypt and unbelieved, and I chose

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a random sermon, the very first
one I found. I think it's called

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Greater God, Genesis twelve ten through
twenty. It's the first. I just

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went to the sermons two point oh
app did a search for Genesis twelve ten,

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and this is the first thing that
showed up. That's simple. So

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I remember, this all goes to
our sermons two point oh app Sermon Challenge.

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So hopefully you're still participating in that. And so this fits perfectly because

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you're supposed to be choosing random sermons. I've given you. Now I want

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you to choose random sermons on these
sections of scripture. Make sure random.

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Don't look for your favorite broadcaster,
don't look for a particular kind of church.

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Just search for the scripture. And
what you get is what you get.

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And you don't throw a fit.
Well you can throw a fit,

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but yeah, you hear different perspectives, different broadcasters, and you never know

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what's going to happen. So I've
done just that. I've chosen a random

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one. The only thing I know
about the message we're about to hear is

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that the volume is insanely loud.
It's almost at times distorted, So I'm

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going to have to pull the volume
back on my end, So be patient.

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If it's a little too loud,
and then I go maybe a little

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too low, I'm going to be
messing with it, kind of trying to

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figure out exactly where to have it. So be patient. But here we

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go. Are you ready? Genesis
twelve ten through twenty. That's thirteen minutes

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of getting you all on the same
page, all right. I sometimes I

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don't like doing that much of a
review, But if I don't do that

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review, then kind of just jumping
in, you lose the context, and

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all of that context is essential.
So what I'm basically telling you and my

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introduction is we're going to be listening
to a sermon on Genesis twelve through twenty.

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My expectation is it's going to go
after Abram or his name wasn't Abraham

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at the time Abram. They're going
to go after him basically claiming that what

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he did demonstrated a lack of faith
or a lack of that of unbelief,

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et cetera, et cetera, et
cetera. And I've already challenged that presupposition.

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So there's a high probability that what
we're going to listen to they're going

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to go that direction, and I'm
going to be challenging it. That's what

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I that's my expectation. That is
what I'm predicting. If I'm wrong,

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great, but either way, this
is how you benefit from this. The

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goal here is not just to critical, like if I go if I disagree

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with everything they say, that has
nothing to do with me attacking them or

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thinking I'm smarter than them. It's
just I have a different perspective. So

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here's the Oh, A lot of
times people listen miss this right. They

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think it's just me trying to find
a sermon to be critical. No,

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that's why I don't listen to them
in advance, because then nobody can accuse

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me of just finding something I'm being
critical of. I'm just listening to a

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sermon following the very assignment I gave
you. I'm following. Now I may

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have a different perspective. That doesn't
mean I'm being mean or think that I'm

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better. I'm just gonna put forth
my perspective. You, the listener,

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you benefit by hearing two different perspectives
in one episode. So you walk away

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go, well, here was the
theology Central perspective, Here was the perspective

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of the sermon. Well, I
think that Theology Central podcast. I think

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they're idiots. That's the they don't
know what they're talking about. Wait,

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I disagree with that other pastor.
I think that they don't know what they're

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talking about. You get the opportunity. I think that that's great. That's

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awesome, and it also demonstrates,
sadly, it's very frustrating that no matter

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what text you look at, the
one thing you can always be certain of

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is that Christians will not agree on
how to interpret it. That's madening.

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All right, are you ready?
Here we go? No book's open,

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pencils in hand, have something to
drink, have a snack, get a

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bible, Tell your kids, hey, it's sermon review time, and then

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watch them go, ah, I'm
run out of the house, okay,

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which I don't know why they wouldn't
want to listen to a sermon review,

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but here we go. Henry Father, thank you for bringing us together again.

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Please clear a mind of the distractions
from the road, from what we

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have on our schedule, from life's
worries, riches and pleasures, from the

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trouble that is going on, from
the way our hearts may be troubled over

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things. Okay, now you know
you know my feelings about open prayer,

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about opening prayers in sermons and concluding
prayers in sermons. I've stated it before

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so many times. I get bothered
by opening prayers and closing prayers because I

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don't believe in most cases the pastor
is actually praying. It's almost like he's

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just getting a head start on his
sermon, or he's repeating what he's already

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preached. And when you're supposed to
be talking to God, you don't need

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to be preaching to him. But
in this particular case, he seems to

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actually be praying. You're not necessarily
trying to preach a sermon. At least

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I don't think he is at this
point. But what I'm always curious about

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in prayers, especially in churches before
sermons, either one that bothers me is

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the prayers where they basically say,
God, you know, show us,

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teach us, give us understanding.
Well, that drives me insane because if

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God is teaching, guiding and giving
us understanding, or as some preachers state

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and misc and I think misapply a
scripture, lead us into all truth,

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I don't think that has anything to
do with us. That was leading the

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original writers of the New Testament into
all truth, that that was a prayer

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for them, not for us.
Because if God is leading us into all

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truth, ladies and gentlemen, I
don't know, there wouldn't be thousands of

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denominations, and there wouldn't be one
hundreds of thousands of non millions of different

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interpretation of every single verse in the
entire Bible, no agreement on anything.

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Two thousand years later. We can't
agree on baptism, we can't agree on

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the Lord's Supper, we can't agree
on the structure of the church, I

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agree on anything. So clearly God
is not leading us into all truth.

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He's not teaching us, he's not
guiding us, or we would all arrive

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at the same location, at the
same destination. So either God can't lead,

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or we keep praying for something that
God is not going to do.

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Our job is to take the Bible
and figure it out. God is not

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the one guiding and leading because and
the minute you say God is the one

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guiding and leading your understanding of scripture, you're basically claiming your understanding comes directly

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from God, so you can never
be challenged on it. So that's that

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already creates almost a magisterial authority for
yourself. That's that's that's frightening, and

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that's basically a return to Catholicism.
So no, we have to study the

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Bible. So I have when I
hear these prayers. That kind of prayer

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always bothers me because I'm just like
no, or when pastors like somehow in

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their prayer or they tell the congregation, God gave me this sermon. Well,

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that's crazy because now I can't criticize
the sermon it came directly from Okay,

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that's problematic. Now in this one, he's asking God to remove all

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distractions Now, I would love to
believe that a pastor could pray for God

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to remove all distractions before a sermon, and every all distractions would be removed.

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But as someone who has stood behind
a pulpit for twenty three years,

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I mean twenty three years, week
after week after week, hours upon hours,

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yeah, I don't think I would
love divine intervention to stop all distractions.

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I just don't. I don't know. I don't know. You can

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ask yourself. So let's back that
up and we'll just let hear the whole

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prayer now, and I'll try not
to interrupt it. Here we go,

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he many, Father, thank you
for bringing us together again. Please clear

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a mind of the distractions from the
road, from what we have on our

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schedule, from life's worries, riches
and pleasures, from the trouble that is

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going on, from the way our
hearts may be troubled over things. Lord,

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Please take control of our minds and
our hearts and lead us now in

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and through your word for your glory. Help us to understand, as we

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look at Abraham and his story,
how you work, how you're in control,

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and how we can react differently than
what is natural, what is no

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it's hard for me not. It's
hard for me not to hear that he's

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starting to preach a sermon, he's
giving a preview to the sermon. And

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God take over our minds. I
mean that would that Would that not be

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the greatest? Would that not be
awesome? If God just took over your

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mind today? He just took over
your mind. God's controlling your brain.

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He's controlling every thought. Because think
of how much of you you are is

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controlled by your mind. If God
was to take over your mind, well,

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every thought would be right, every
thought would be pure, everything,

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every decision would be perfect. If
God was to take over I mean sometimes

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these prayers, I just I just
so baffled by the praying. Sometimes God

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is really going to take over our
minds, ladies and gentlemen, we would

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there would be the Christianity would be
the most unified religion in the history of

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religion. We would have one interpretation
because we would all think the same thing.

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Would it be great? If God
just good, just take over our

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minds two thousand years of church history. Has God ever taken over our minds?

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And if I say God has taken
over my mind, then you could

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not question or challenge anything that I
gave you because God has taken over.

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If I say I have been praying
for God to take over my mind and

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as of yesterday he has done it, well, guess what. Back off,

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You can't challenge anything I say.
You can't challenge any conclusion, because

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God has taken over my mind.
Like I don't even know. Like,

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at one hand, it's one thing
to pray for it, but if you're

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praying for it, you obviously are
believing God can do that. The minute

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you think God has taken over your
mind, I don't know what that leads

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to. The Consequences of that seem
pretty frightening to me, right But Okay,

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so he's kind of starting to give
the preview. And again this is

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why opening prayers and closing prayers.
Ah, if I'm the pastor and I'm

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praying, it's supposed to be me
communicating with God. When I get to

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the pulpit. What do I need
to communicate with God at that moment?

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What do I need to communicate with
God with? Like I should have already

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prayed for my sermon. And at
that point, if I'm saying God,

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because pastors will say God, let
me, you basically take control and let

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me only say what is pleasing to
you. Well, how does that work?

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Because you have a Presbyterian praying that, you have a Baptist praying that,

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and they will preach a sermon on
baptism giving completely different philological conclusions.

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God, if God is controlling what
we're saying, he would have stopped one

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of them because they both can't be
right. You'll have someone who's a you

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know, a someone who olds to
reform theology, maybe an Augustinian view,

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a Calvinistic view, as someone who's
a have an Armenian view, and guess

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what, God, They'll say,
God control my lips, let me only

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say what is pleased. Well,
that's two completely contradictory systems. So does

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God. I don't Sometimes I think
in church we use we use language without

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thinking of what we're actually saying.
I would love for God to take over

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my mind. Man, that would
be awesome. Can you imagine that?

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Ladies and gentlemen, you're listening to
the Theology Central podcast. This podcast is

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hosted by an individual whom God has
taken over his mind, meaning everything you

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were about to hear in this podcast
it comes directly from God, comes from

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a mind that is controlled by God. Therefore what I say is infallible,

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It is an errant. It is
true, and you cannot challenge and you

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cannot question it. Can you imagine
if I did a podcast like that,

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people would lose their minds. But
yet we pray like that, God control

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what I say. Control well,
the consequences of that would be better than

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the pope. We can act in
faith. Please lead us now in Jesus.

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Amen. All right, Genesis chapter
twelve. I'm gonna read for you

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verses ten through the end of the
chapter, and just you can tell that

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it's kind of distorting a little bit, So I have the volume turn I

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keep going, like, turn it
down, go back up. So I

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apologize if if it's all over the
place. But we're gonna we're gonna just

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try to now let him just get
far into this. I'm gonna try.

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I'm gonna try not to interrupt or
say anything. Who am I kiddy.

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Let's just see what happens. Now. There was a famine in the land,

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so Abram went down to Egypt to
sojourn there, for the famine was

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severe in the land. When he
was about to enter Egypt, he said

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to Sarah, his wife, I
know that you are a beautiful woman,

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beautiful in appearance, and when the
Egyptians see you, they will say this

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is his wife. Then they will
kill me, because they will let you

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live. But they will let you
live, say you are my sister,

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that it may go well with me
because of you, and that my wife

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may be spared for your sake.
When Abram entered Egypt, the Egyptians saw

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that the woman was very beautiful,
and when the princes of Pharaoh saw her,

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they pray to Pharaoh, and the
woman was taken into Pharaoh's house.

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And for her sake, he dealt
well with Abram, and he had sheep,

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oxen, male donkeys, male servants, female servants, female donkeys,

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and camels. But the lord afflicted
Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because

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of Sarah, Abram's wife. So
Pharaoh called Abraham and said, what is

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this? What is this you have
done to me? Why did you not

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tell me that she was your wife? Why did you say she is my

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sister so that I took her from
my wife? Now, then here is

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your wife, Take her and go. And Pharaoh gave men orders concerning him,

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and they sent him away with his
wife and all that he had all

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right, So think about Genesis chapter
twelve. Here a lot happens, A

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lot happens, and again, for
time's sake, the way Moses writes this,

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he writes this in such a way
that everything is just a matter of

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fact. He doesn't really make much
commentary. He just gives us the plain

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truth of the story. And so
the story in Genesis chapter twelve, this

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starts out well with great promises.
I hate that, not even that's nothing

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about the sermon yet, but it's
just about from a preaching perspective, I

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hate when I'm preaching or teaching and
I have to cough or something because I

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almost inevitably forget to mute my mic. You're wearing a lapel mic, so

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right there, you know, on
your hip, you usually have the little

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receiver there right, and you can
usually just click it over one and mute

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it. Right, you commute it, but almost inevitably you because you're thinking

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about the sermon, you don't think
of it. So then I'll cough,

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and I'll be like, oh,
oh man, what what what? Why

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didn't I mute the mic or or
at least turn my head from the mic,

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like take my hand and cover the
mic. Now, here. When

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00:29:29.599 --> 00:29:33.039
I'm broadcasting, I can just simply
I can just simply click the little mute

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button right here. When you hear
that click, that's me muting the mic.

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But yeah, you always forget that
when I go back and if I'll

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listen to one of my messages,
I'm like, oh, man, what

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was I? Oh? That sounds
like trash. And then sometimes I'll just

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delete the message because I get really
bothered by Now I've seen most people you

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00:29:51.200 --> 00:29:55.759
probably don't even think about that,
But from a public speaking perspective, I

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hear that. Now it's hard for
me not to go m see I that

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would have That would bother me if
I did that, But maybe it doesn't

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bother you. I don't know how
it's perceived by the people sitting in the

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pew versus the person behind the microphone. For me being behind the microphone,

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that that bothers me. But all
right, here we go Genesis twelve.

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All right, say are you glad
I interrupted for that? But see,

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I'm just if I wouldn't, I
would be a liar if I don't turn

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stop this and at least tell you
what I'm thinking, because that's why I

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would be thinking. That may be
very fleshly may be very not spiritual.

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But I'm just saying, when you've
been preaching for years and years and years

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and years and years, sometimes when
you start listening to a message, this

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is one of the negative things.
You start kind of critiquing the style,

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and and that's that's not necessarily a
good thing. Great, great promises from

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God, and if God makes a
promise, he keeps his promise. God

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promises land, he promises great nature
or descendants, and he promises blessing.

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All the families of the eyes will
be blessed through you. He says,

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Now this is very important here.
Look at exactly what God promises in Genesis

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twelve. Right, hey, Land, make a great nation and to bless

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He does not promise I will feed
you in a famine. He does not

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promise that. I think it's very
I think maybe the key to Genesis twelve,

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ten through twenty and to combat the
way most preachers handle this is look

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at exactly what is promised to Abraham
or Abram and what isn't promised. I

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00:31:42.200 --> 00:31:45.759
think you may want to make that
list because because I think you're gonna hear

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00:31:45.799 --> 00:31:49.799
a lot of the preachers are going
to kind of almost imply, well,

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why did Abraham go to Egypt when
there was a famine? God promised?

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But did God promise, hey,
I will feed you? And not only

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that. What is even more mind
blowing to me in this section is in

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00:32:00.400 --> 00:32:08.279
Genesis twelve, God literally speaks to
Abram, literally interrupts and speaks directly,

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00:32:08.519 --> 00:32:15.519
initiates the conversation twice with Abram twice
in Genesis twelve, two times. And

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then you get to Genesis twelve ten
there's a feminine land and guess who doesn't

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00:32:22.000 --> 00:32:25.240
initiate a conversation God, God does
not say a word. Now, guess

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00:32:25.279 --> 00:32:34.279
when God shows back up when he
then plagues Pharaoh's house. So why if

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God already initiated a conversation twice as
soon as the femine hit, why didn't

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God just step in and go who
whoa Woa? Abram? Abram? Abram,

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don't go to Egypt. Don't I
will feed you. I will provide

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for you if you did not understand
that that was implied in my promises.

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But I'm now being very specific so
that you understand why didn't God show up

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00:32:57.839 --> 00:33:00.119
that to me? To me,
that may be the biggest question in Genesis

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00:33:00.119 --> 00:33:05.119
twelve, God initiates two conversations.
But then here God's just like, I'm

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00:33:05.160 --> 00:33:07.640
sorry. And when when when Abram's
coming up with this plan, Hey,

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00:33:07.680 --> 00:33:10.839
here's hey, Sarah, tell them
you're my sister. They're gonna come take

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00:33:10.880 --> 00:33:14.240
you. I don't know what's gonna
happen to you when they take you.

405
00:33:14.319 --> 00:33:16.559
I mean, it could go really
bad. But just know I'll be safe

406
00:33:16.839 --> 00:33:21.680
and I'll be okay. God didn't
step in and go Abram, I don't

407
00:33:21.680 --> 00:33:23.200
know what you're doing. But this
is a horrible idea. God doesn't step

408
00:33:23.200 --> 00:33:27.319
in. He doesn't step in when
he decides to go to Egypt. He

409
00:33:27.359 --> 00:33:30.039
doesn't step in when he comes up
with them. God just go silent.

410
00:33:31.799 --> 00:33:36.839
That to me is more of a
question than anything else. Now, let's

411
00:33:36.880 --> 00:33:38.720
see maybe he's going to address that. I think most of the time,

412
00:33:38.759 --> 00:33:42.480
most of the time, I don't
think people do because it makes them uncomfortable.

413
00:33:42.480 --> 00:33:47.839
But I think it's a good question
to ask. Then we after the

414
00:33:47.880 --> 00:33:55.440
great promises, we have great beginning. What does Abram do you bease God?

415
00:33:57.839 --> 00:34:01.839
It says Abram wimt Verse four.
So Abram went as the Lord had

416
00:34:01.839 --> 00:34:05.759
told him, and Lot went with
him. And it goes on and tells

417
00:34:05.839 --> 00:34:09.920
us that they went on together,
and so there was this great beginning.

418
00:34:10.039 --> 00:34:14.800
After the great promises, there was
obedience. And then two times in the

419
00:34:14.840 --> 00:34:19.639
next few verses, it said that
Abram built an altar that he worshiped.

420
00:34:21.159 --> 00:34:29.840
So you see Abram being obedient and
him bowing down before God. Now that

421
00:34:29.920 --> 00:34:37.239
makes God silence that much louder.
If Abram, whenever God does initiate a

422
00:34:37.280 --> 00:34:42.599
conversation and tell him what to do, if Abram immediately obeys, now we

423
00:34:42.639 --> 00:34:45.960
could argue is he obeying by bringing
a lot with him? Now we could

424
00:34:46.039 --> 00:34:51.079
argue this right. And trust me, you would think everyone would have an

425
00:34:51.119 --> 00:34:53.239
agreement on it. They don't.
Even in my own church. When we've

426
00:34:53.280 --> 00:34:57.280
covered this, I got some people
like, I don't think Lot did anything

427
00:34:57.280 --> 00:35:00.159
wrong. You got other people like
what what what? I don't think Abraham

428
00:35:00.159 --> 00:35:05.239
did anything wrong by bringing Lot along. I don't think he did anything wrong.

429
00:35:05.280 --> 00:35:07.400
And others would be like, what
are you talking about? Abram was

430
00:35:07.440 --> 00:35:10.400
supposed to leave everyone. He definitely
did something wrong. And you have people

431
00:35:10.440 --> 00:35:14.920
in the same church, reading the
same Bible who cannot agree. That's maddening.

432
00:35:14.960 --> 00:35:20.199
Okay, But here's whether you believe
his obedience was partial or complete or

433
00:35:20.199 --> 00:35:23.840
incomplete, whatever you believe about it. He obeyed to some level God tells

434
00:35:23.920 --> 00:35:28.880
him to leave. He leaves.
So then this makes God silence loud.

435
00:35:29.199 --> 00:35:35.719
Let me explain if every time God
initiated a conversation, Abram at least obeyed

436
00:35:35.800 --> 00:35:39.880
in part what God told him,
then all that was needed to avoid the

437
00:35:40.079 --> 00:35:47.199
entire Egyptian scandal, the entire Egypt
scandal, Abram could have. All God

438
00:35:47.239 --> 00:35:54.920
needed to say was don't go to
Egypt. Problem solved because Abram has demonstrated

439
00:35:55.039 --> 00:36:00.000
that he would obey what God told
him. God never initiates a converse,

440
00:36:00.559 --> 00:36:05.840
not one time. Why wouldn't God
step in here? Hey could have stopped

441
00:36:05.840 --> 00:36:10.400
the entire Egypt scandal, the entire
scandal that would have been all over you

442
00:36:10.400 --> 00:36:15.440
know social media. Did you hear
what Abram did? Did you hear what

443
00:36:15.480 --> 00:36:19.800
he did to his wife? This
is a piece of trash? Okay,

444
00:36:20.000 --> 00:36:22.559
that's how. But God doesn't step
in. He could have stopped it.

445
00:36:22.800 --> 00:36:27.280
I mean, obviously Pharaoh thinks Abram's
a piece of trash. Why why did

446
00:36:27.280 --> 00:36:30.519
you do this to me? Right? Pharaoh is not too happy with Abram,

447
00:36:30.599 --> 00:36:32.400
So there's at least scandal there.
I know there wasn't social media?

448
00:36:32.440 --> 00:36:36.920
Obviously, I'm joking. The point
is all of this could have been avoided

449
00:36:37.000 --> 00:36:40.440
because if every time God has spoken, Abram pretty much obeys, then why

450
00:36:40.480 --> 00:36:45.800
wouldn't God you step in here?
God's been giving him direction, but then

451
00:36:45.880 --> 00:36:50.840
when there's a famine, God's direction
stops. It's like, Oh, God's

452
00:36:50.880 --> 00:36:53.920
given me a GPS. Oh we
got a famine in the land. You're

453
00:36:53.960 --> 00:36:59.199
tapping on the screen. Whypn't to
my GPS? Oh no, my GPS

454
00:36:59.239 --> 00:37:00.760
went out. I guess I've got
to figure out what to do now.

455
00:37:01.719 --> 00:37:05.880
Now he figures out what he does
now, is that leaning to his own

456
00:37:05.960 --> 00:37:07.840
understanding? Well, you could argue
it is, But where else is he

457
00:37:07.920 --> 00:37:15.360
supposed to lean if God's and if
God's not initiating the conversation. Abram can't

458
00:37:15.360 --> 00:37:20.159
pull out his Bible into a Bible
study. He doesn't have that, So

459
00:37:20.239 --> 00:37:23.239
all he can rely on is if
God doesn't intervene, Abram's got to make

460
00:37:23.239 --> 00:37:29.960
the decision. There is no prohibition. There is no instructions between Genesis one

461
00:37:30.119 --> 00:37:35.039
and eleven not to go to Egypt, so you can't impose that being wrong.

462
00:37:35.320 --> 00:37:39.039
So what do you expect Abram to
do here? Now? The whole

463
00:37:39.079 --> 00:37:43.360
thing he does with Sarah, his
wife. We could call that into question.

464
00:37:43.440 --> 00:37:50.239
But again and that culture, he
is there some prohibition again about how

465
00:37:50.280 --> 00:37:52.320
you are to treat your wife.
Is there any instruction about how to treat

466
00:37:52.360 --> 00:37:55.440
your wife in Genesis one, two, three, four, five, six,

467
00:37:55.599 --> 00:38:00.719
seven, eight, nine, ten
eleven. You can go take from

468
00:38:00.760 --> 00:38:09.760
other scripture, because Abram would not
know what you're talking about. What a

469
00:38:09.760 --> 00:38:15.079
great response, what a great beginning, right to a man, or from

470
00:38:15.119 --> 00:38:22.400
a man who is from a completely
pagan culture. His father, Tera moon

471
00:38:22.440 --> 00:38:34.159
worshiper, was from a family that
was idolatrous. And God calls him out

472
00:38:34.159 --> 00:38:36.599
of that and says, nope,
this is what I'm going to do with

473
00:38:36.679 --> 00:38:40.800
you. You go, you listen, and he does great promise, great

474
00:38:42.159 --> 00:38:47.880
blessing, and it says even in
verse A. From there he moved on

475
00:38:49.599 --> 00:38:54.039
to the hill country on the east
of beth l and pitched his tent.

476
00:38:55.639 --> 00:39:02.320
Well. That word Bethel there that
means house of God, Beath means house

477
00:39:04.840 --> 00:39:08.400
and l is God. So Bethel
is the house of God. And so

478
00:39:08.920 --> 00:39:17.639
the idea here is that Abram's life
was surrounded with God and worship. That

479
00:39:17.679 --> 00:39:22.320
doesn't mean that's all he did.
Right, he had to work, he

480
00:39:22.199 --> 00:39:28.440
failed to function, but his life
was centered around who God was in God's

481
00:39:28.519 --> 00:39:37.360
promises. This is also this verse
here of verse eight is reminiscent of Jesus

482
00:39:37.599 --> 00:39:45.920
in John chapter one, where it
said that he pitched his tent among us.

483
00:39:50.119 --> 00:39:54.000
That's literally the words that could be
translated in John chapter one and be

484
00:39:54.119 --> 00:39:59.119
set about Jesus. And this is
what it says about Abram here Bethel.

485
00:39:59.280 --> 00:40:04.519
He went to Beth and pitched his
tent. He dwelt there. He understood

486
00:40:04.679 --> 00:40:07.280
the idea of pitching a tent is
I mean, back then it literally was

487
00:40:07.320 --> 00:40:14.760
a tent. But the idea of
pitching a tent is a temporary place of

488
00:40:14.840 --> 00:40:19.440
dwelling. You know, even though
you and I live in homes that are

489
00:40:19.800 --> 00:40:25.360
made of brick or siding and have
concrete and have all these great structures to

490
00:40:25.400 --> 00:40:30.920
them, they're temporary. Right.
We're not going to last forever. We're

491
00:40:30.960 --> 00:40:37.360
not going to live here forever,
and even our houses that are built well

492
00:40:37.559 --> 00:40:42.599
aren't going to endure forever. Right, So this idea of pitching a tents

493
00:40:42.639 --> 00:40:49.599
is the idea of that we're just
soldiers, we're just temporary here as God

494
00:40:49.639 --> 00:40:58.159
allows us to be that's interesting.
I'm not in any way disagreeing with the

495
00:40:58.159 --> 00:41:02.239
fact that to pitch a tent would
be seen as a temporary lodging place.

496
00:41:02.760 --> 00:41:07.599
And okay, but is the purpose
of this narrative is to point us to

497
00:41:09.000 --> 00:41:14.639
Christ in his incarnation? I don't
think so. Is this to remind us

498
00:41:14.639 --> 00:41:19.159
that we pitch a tent in our
our flesh and it's a temporary dwelling place,

499
00:41:19.320 --> 00:41:22.519
so we're just pilgrims. I don't
know. I don't know. I

500
00:41:22.519 --> 00:41:24.599
don't know if that. I think
this is just he pitched a literal tent

501
00:41:24.800 --> 00:41:29.760
because well, that's what he had. Now, you could argue that Abram

502
00:41:29.840 --> 00:41:36.400
as a pilgrim, as a stranger
is indicative of us, because the Bible

503
00:41:36.440 --> 00:41:39.719
does say that we're pilgrims and strangers. His whole journey may be one.

504
00:41:40.599 --> 00:41:44.400
I don't know about the pitching the
tent. Okay, but all right,

505
00:41:44.880 --> 00:41:47.960
you know, don't You can argue
if that's a decent application, if that's

506
00:41:49.079 --> 00:41:52.559
fair, if that's if that's in
accordance with the text. All right.

507
00:41:52.119 --> 00:41:54.840
I just want to see overall where
he's going to take this story. I

508
00:41:54.840 --> 00:41:59.400
have a feeling where this is going, but let's see let's just let's try

509
00:41:59.400 --> 00:42:04.280
to let it play out little more. All right, So we have great

510
00:42:04.320 --> 00:42:08.079
promises, great blessing, obedience,
worship in the House of God, and

511
00:42:08.280 --> 00:42:15.599
then we have great failure. All
right, Well, I figured that's where

512
00:42:15.639 --> 00:42:23.400
it was going. We have great
failure. So he is now accusing that

513
00:42:23.519 --> 00:42:31.719
the actions of Abram starting in Genesis
twelve ten is great failure. Now does

514
00:42:31.719 --> 00:42:37.320
that mean great sin? And what
has he failed? Now this is the

515
00:42:37.360 --> 00:42:40.719
issue. What did Abram fail at? Did he fail to obey God?

516
00:42:44.280 --> 00:42:46.719
Does he disobey God? Here?
God doesn't say don't go to Egypt?

517
00:42:47.840 --> 00:42:52.599
Is there a clear prohibition that Abram
is violating? Here there is no prohibition.

518
00:42:52.920 --> 00:42:58.639
There is no instruction that he is
violating. And even if you say

519
00:42:58.800 --> 00:43:02.840
Abram fail, why didn't God simply
intervene? He speak, He looked,

520
00:43:02.880 --> 00:43:08.000
look, look, just a few
verses before verse seven Genesis twelve seven,

521
00:43:08.199 --> 00:43:14.000
then the Lord appeared to Abram and
said, so, just a couple of

522
00:43:14.079 --> 00:43:17.639
verses before he literally appeared to Abram, all you would have to do now

523
00:43:17.760 --> 00:43:21.960
is just appear one more time to
Abram has said, please don't go to

524
00:43:22.000 --> 00:43:24.760
Egypt. I don't want you to
go to Egypt. That's against my will,

525
00:43:24.960 --> 00:43:29.800
don't do it. But he doesn't. And even after Abram goes to

526
00:43:29.960 --> 00:43:37.039
Egypt, he never does God ever
reprimand Abram. Does he ever tell Abram

527
00:43:37.079 --> 00:43:39.159
that he did wrong, does he
ever correct him, does he ever rebuke

528
00:43:39.280 --> 00:43:45.000
him? But preachers come along,
Abram was wrong on the basis of what?

529
00:43:45.159 --> 00:43:47.239
Well, on what basis are we
saying that what he did was wrong?

530
00:43:47.519 --> 00:43:53.280
Or are we just imposing that on
Abram? I find it fascinating that

531
00:43:53.360 --> 00:43:58.000
everyone wants to run to this text
and say what Abram did was wrong.

532
00:43:58.239 --> 00:44:00.400
In fact, this is called a
great and he will see how he emphasized

533
00:44:00.400 --> 00:44:10.719
it great fail your a great failure? Well, what did he fail at?

534
00:44:13.679 --> 00:44:20.119
Now we take some of these actions
and judge them according to standards,

535
00:44:20.320 --> 00:44:25.880
ideas, morality, and scripture that
comes much later, way after Abram has

536
00:44:27.119 --> 00:44:30.159
died. We can then take that
morality, those ideas, those scriptures,

537
00:44:30.280 --> 00:44:34.960
bring them back to Genesis twelve,
and then judge him. But why how

538
00:44:35.000 --> 00:44:38.840
can Abraham be judged on rules,
laws, and morality that has yet even

539
00:44:38.920 --> 00:44:47.280
been established or even stated. He's
literally having a ongoing conversation with God.

540
00:44:47.679 --> 00:44:59.239
God is the one establishing the rules
here, what rule did Abram violate great

541
00:44:59.320 --> 00:45:07.639
failure. Verse ten. Now there's
a famine in the land. Okay,

542
00:45:07.679 --> 00:45:13.760
that's something that Abram could not help. That's something he did not have control

543
00:45:13.800 --> 00:45:15.800
of, was the famine in the
land. Just as you and I do

544
00:45:15.920 --> 00:45:22.639
not have control of the economy here, we don't have control of diseases.

545
00:45:22.480 --> 00:45:27.800
You know. I think if anybody
in this room could, could you know,

546
00:45:28.559 --> 00:45:30.920
wave your own little magic wand you
would have said, let's not do

547
00:45:31.039 --> 00:45:38.039
COVID. Right, if we were
quote unquote in control, we would have

548
00:45:38.559 --> 00:45:45.320
said, let's do this. Different
gods in control and things like COVID or

549
00:45:45.760 --> 00:45:51.280
other diseases, bad things like a
famine. You know what they are.

550
00:45:52.199 --> 00:45:55.480
They're part of the curse of the
world. They're part of sin. They're

551
00:45:55.519 --> 00:46:00.480
gonna happen. Okay, so there's
a famine that out of Abram's control.

552
00:46:02.159 --> 00:46:12.639
But do you notice what happened Moses
as he writes this about Abram, talks

553
00:46:12.679 --> 00:46:17.639
about Adam's Abram's faith here right his
great beginning, he's obedient, he's worshiping.

554
00:46:19.360 --> 00:46:23.800
Now something happens disruption. Now you've
got chapter breaks in your Bible or

555
00:46:24.159 --> 00:46:28.679
not, Well, you have chapter
breaks, but you also have section breaks.

556
00:46:29.559 --> 00:46:34.119
In your Bible, and you have
headings that wasn't written originally. Okay,

557
00:46:34.360 --> 00:46:37.079
it wasn't written there, and it
doesn't say when Moses wrote this.

558
00:46:37.159 --> 00:46:43.039
He doesn't go Abram and Sarah in
Egypt. He doesn't put that above the

559
00:46:43.119 --> 00:46:46.360
section. Right, that's just to
help you and I to understand things a

560
00:46:46.400 --> 00:46:50.679
little bit better. So he goes
right on, and Abram journeyed on,

561
00:46:50.840 --> 00:46:53.639
still going toward Negeb. Now there
was a famine in the land, so

562
00:46:53.719 --> 00:47:04.199
Abraham went down to Egypt. He
makes a turn. God didn't tell him

563
00:47:04.199 --> 00:47:15.320
to go there. God didn't tell
him not to go there. So are

564
00:47:15.320 --> 00:47:19.719
we gonna so how are we gonna
go? Regulative or normative principle? Now,

565
00:47:19.800 --> 00:47:22.800
I know that's typically a principle applied
to worship in the church. But

566
00:47:22.920 --> 00:47:30.119
is it regulative or normative? It
can? Can Abram only do what God

567
00:47:30.360 --> 00:47:35.519
specifically instructs him to do or has
an example for him to follow. So

568
00:47:35.880 --> 00:47:39.719
because God did not specifically say go
to Egypt. Because God did not say

569
00:47:39.760 --> 00:47:46.760
specifically go to Egypt, therefore he's
wrong to go to Egypt. Now we

570
00:47:46.800 --> 00:47:51.559
could if we go more normative principle. Well, Abram can do anything unless

571
00:47:51.559 --> 00:47:58.639
it's specifically prohibited or specific instruction against. Well, there's clearly no instruction or

572
00:47:58.840 --> 00:48:04.559
prohibition against going to Egypt, literally
none. And God has been directing every

573
00:48:04.599 --> 00:48:07.159
single step up to this point.
Right. If God has been directing the

574
00:48:07.159 --> 00:48:12.880
steps, he appears in Genesis twelve
one, he appears in Genesis twelve seven.

575
00:48:13.079 --> 00:48:15.000
Now we get to ten, there's
a famine in the land. Now

576
00:48:15.039 --> 00:48:20.199
I don't know how quickly he goes
down to Egypt, but obviously it says

577
00:48:20.239 --> 00:48:22.760
he goes down to Egypt to dwell
there, for the famine was severe,

578
00:48:23.079 --> 00:48:29.960
So obviously it seems that maybe he
sticks around until he realizes how bad the

579
00:48:30.000 --> 00:48:32.480
famine is, and then he goes
down to Egypt. Possibly you could possibly

580
00:48:32.480 --> 00:48:36.960
read it that way, Maybe you
don't, but it sounds like the famine

581
00:48:36.960 --> 00:48:42.800
doesn't just go from no famine boom
famine to boom severe famine in like forty

582
00:48:42.840 --> 00:48:45.079
eight hours. It would have been
a prolonged period of time as the famine

583
00:48:45.119 --> 00:48:50.199
got worse and worse and worse.
Abron then decided to go down. Now

584
00:48:50.320 --> 00:48:52.960
you can sit there. We can
argue about this all day, but I

585
00:48:52.000 --> 00:48:57.800
can be emphatic and dogmatic about this. Where was God? God doesn't step

586
00:48:57.840 --> 00:49:04.800
in. So is the failure on
Abram? Or is the failure on God?

587
00:49:04.840 --> 00:49:07.679
I mean, at this point God's
been stepping in. Maybe Abram's like,

588
00:49:07.719 --> 00:49:09.800
Okay, well God's not telling me
what to do here. I've got

589
00:49:10.079 --> 00:49:14.800
I got people to take care of. We're gonna die. Now. You

590
00:49:14.800 --> 00:49:16.559
can say, well, that's a
lack of faith. What a lack of

591
00:49:16.599 --> 00:49:21.840
faith in? What where has God
told him? He don't worry about it.

592
00:49:22.159 --> 00:49:23.920
I will feed you. No,
God said from him will come a

593
00:49:23.920 --> 00:49:27.599
great nation. It doesn't say that
God was going to preserve all the people

594
00:49:27.639 --> 00:49:34.840
with him. Doesn't say God was
going to preserve his cattle or any No,

595
00:49:34.960 --> 00:49:38.000
he had to make a decision.
So is what he's doing here is

596
00:49:38.039 --> 00:49:40.880
wrong? I know we love to
say that it is. I just don't

597
00:49:40.920 --> 00:49:45.960
know how we can be so emphatic
and dogmatic that we are condemning this action.

598
00:49:46.199 --> 00:49:50.559
I just don't know. God could
have stepped in at any point and

599
00:49:50.760 --> 00:50:00.719
time. That was something he decided
to do all on his own. Maybe

600
00:50:00.760 --> 00:50:05.599
that's shocking to you now, And
and I would say with you, but

601
00:50:05.679 --> 00:50:12.159
doesn't it make sense that he would
go where their food was? Absolutely makes

602
00:50:12.199 --> 00:50:20.679
sense. You and I might make
the same decision right, and often we

603
00:50:20.840 --> 00:50:27.280
make a decision that seems to make
worldly sense that isn't for our godly good.

604
00:50:30.679 --> 00:50:35.920
Do you believe that if Abram stayed
obeying God, stayed in the place

605
00:50:35.960 --> 00:50:40.320
to worship God, that God would
not have provided for him? What are

606
00:50:40.360 --> 00:50:44.719
you basing that off of? Even
if God provided for Abram, was he

607
00:50:44.760 --> 00:50:46.880
going to provide for the people with
Abram? Maybe they would have all starved

608
00:50:46.880 --> 00:50:50.360
and died. Would that have been
the best decision? Hey, Abram,

609
00:50:50.360 --> 00:50:52.679
Well, Abram, like, look, look, guys, I know there's

610
00:50:52.719 --> 00:50:55.679
food in Egypt, but hey,
we're gonna stay here because God's going to

611
00:50:55.719 --> 00:51:00.880
provide. He's not promised me that
he's going to provide. He's not shown

612
00:51:00.960 --> 00:51:04.360
up, he's not smoke. I
know he's spoken to me twice and he's

613
00:51:04.360 --> 00:51:07.360
told me exactly where to go.
He's he's not talking right now, he's

614
00:51:07.400 --> 00:51:12.199
not intervening. But I just know
God's going to provide. Well, So

615
00:51:12.320 --> 00:51:16.039
let's say God provided fed Abraham other
people died. Is that hey it's all

616
00:51:16.039 --> 00:51:20.480
good? Though, it's all good. It's all good because because Abram did

617
00:51:20.519 --> 00:51:28.320
the right thing. Like I don't
understand are why we want to run to

618
00:51:28.360 --> 00:51:34.079
this story and throw Abram so far
under the proverbial bus. All he has

619
00:51:34.239 --> 00:51:38.800
to go by is what is in
Genesis twelve one to Genesis twelve nine.

620
00:51:39.159 --> 00:51:45.280
Genesis twelve one to twelve nine,
God literally intervenes and initiates a conversation with

621
00:51:45.320 --> 00:51:53.119
Abram twice. Now a famine and
God goes silent. But Abram's the one

622
00:51:53.119 --> 00:51:58.679
who's wrong. How dare he go
to Egypt? What a piece of trash,

623
00:51:58.880 --> 00:52:05.639
what a great fell? What?
I have a hard time with this

624
00:52:05.719 --> 00:52:08.320
perspective. I do. Look,
I've preached this perspective because this is what

625
00:52:08.360 --> 00:52:12.199
I was always taught. I was
always taught. Egypt is a picture of

626
00:52:12.239 --> 00:52:15.920
the world. And so Abram,
the man of faith, is demonstrating a

627
00:52:15.000 --> 00:52:19.880
lack of faith by turning to the
world instead of turning to God. So

628
00:52:20.000 --> 00:52:23.639
when things go bad in your life, don't turn to the world, don't

629
00:52:23.679 --> 00:52:28.599
turn to worldly wisdom. Turn to
God and God will take care of you.

630
00:52:28.639 --> 00:52:31.199
And everyone says amen. Now,
of course, everyone turns to the

631
00:52:31.199 --> 00:52:36.679
world and our worldly wisdom every single
time something goes wrong. But I digress.

632
00:52:37.440 --> 00:52:39.679
But in this particular that's the way
I've always preached this. But at

633
00:52:39.719 --> 00:52:45.079
some point you start thinking Wait a
minute, How am I imposing this like

634
00:52:45.519 --> 00:52:52.280
sin, this failure onto Abram based
of what he knows? He knows God

635
00:52:52.320 --> 00:52:55.679
has shown up twice, and he
has done exactly as God has told him

636
00:52:55.880 --> 00:53:05.760
each and every single time. Then
something bad happens and God doesn't show up.

637
00:53:06.880 --> 00:53:20.920
So what does Abram do. I
absolutely believe that God meant what he

638
00:53:20.960 --> 00:53:23.719
said when he promised him, I'm
going to give you this land, you

639
00:53:23.760 --> 00:53:28.840
and your descendants. You're gonna have
a You're gonna have many descendants, more

640
00:53:28.880 --> 00:53:31.119
than you can count, right,
and you're gonna be a blessing to everybody

641
00:53:31.119 --> 00:53:39.440
in yours. There's no promise of
feeding him, there's no promise of provision

642
00:53:39.519 --> 00:53:43.360
in the middle of a famine.
I don't know how we can just like

643
00:53:43.639 --> 00:53:47.719
from those very basic promises Abraham is
supposed or Abraham is supposed to then go

644
00:53:47.880 --> 00:53:50.760
oh wait, wait, wait,
guys, guys, guys, guys,

645
00:53:50.800 --> 00:53:53.159
based off the and you know,
he's got the promises written on the refrigerator,

646
00:53:53.199 --> 00:53:55.440
I know, not an actual refrigerator. And he's like, okay,

647
00:53:55.440 --> 00:54:00.159
guys, everyone come in right,
he's got it written on a white board

648
00:54:00.320 --> 00:54:04.039
and you know, sharpie and you
know brings everyone into the living room.

649
00:54:04.039 --> 00:54:06.000
All right, guys, look,
look, I know, I know we're

650
00:54:06.039 --> 00:54:08.880
all starving everything, there's no food, but look see these promises God gave.

651
00:54:10.199 --> 00:54:15.079
This tells me he's gonna feed us. Now, someone in the back

652
00:54:15.119 --> 00:54:19.280
and raised my hand. Are you
sure? Because I'm not seeing food or

653
00:54:19.400 --> 00:54:22.639
or feed during famine and that promise? Well, you just got to see

654
00:54:22.679 --> 00:54:25.239
us between the lines. Okay,
I got another question, Yes, yes,

655
00:54:25.280 --> 00:54:30.039
go ahead ask uh. Well,
God spoke to you the first time

656
00:54:30.079 --> 00:54:32.280
for us to leave, right,
Yes, God spoke to you a second

657
00:54:32.280 --> 00:54:37.039
time. Yes? Has God intervened
or spoken to you since then? Well?

658
00:54:37.039 --> 00:54:44.800
No, hmm, I don't know. Abram if he's been giving us

659
00:54:44.800 --> 00:54:50.559
such specific instruction and he's not giving
us instruction now, you think then we

660
00:54:50.599 --> 00:54:53.440
should just sit here until we get
further instruction. Now, you could make

661
00:54:53.480 --> 00:54:58.480
an argument there that what Abram should
have done is stayed until God spoke.

662
00:54:58.760 --> 00:55:00.559
I guess you could have could have
done. I guess you could make that

663
00:55:00.760 --> 00:55:07.599
argument. I guess you couldn't make
that argument. Maybe maybe you could present

664
00:55:07.679 --> 00:55:09.800
it that way that what Abram should
have done is called out to God and

665
00:55:09.840 --> 00:55:14.679
said I'm going to stay. But
how much does Abram know about God.

666
00:55:14.719 --> 00:55:16.119
I mean, we act like that. Abram's got you know, he's been

667
00:55:16.159 --> 00:55:20.519
walking with God for seventy five years
at this point, and he's got a

668
00:55:20.559 --> 00:55:25.719
great understanding. Didn't they all start
basically in Genesis twelve? Maybe maybe we

669
00:55:25.760 --> 00:55:29.119
could argue a little bit in chapter
eleven. I know we can get a

670
00:55:29.119 --> 00:55:31.960
whole argument in how twelve one is
written, but I just don't know.

671
00:55:32.039 --> 00:55:40.559
Let's see where he takes this.
Did the famine change that? Do circumstances

672
00:55:40.800 --> 00:55:53.320
change God's promises? They don't.
Circumstances don't change God's promises. But let

673
00:55:53.320 --> 00:55:59.920
me mention a couple of things.
Circumstances don't change God's promises, but stop

674
00:56:00.079 --> 00:56:02.119
claiming promises that have never been made
to you. That's a good one.

675
00:56:02.159 --> 00:56:08.280
And number two, circumstances don't change
God's promises, but circumstances doesn't also call

676
00:56:08.360 --> 00:56:13.559
for you to add to those promises. Right, Hey, Circumstances don't change

677
00:56:13.599 --> 00:56:16.719
God's promises, but circumstances is not
a license for you to add to those

678
00:56:16.719 --> 00:56:20.960
promises. Saying Okay, well,
God's promised these three things, but hey,

679
00:56:21.000 --> 00:56:23.400
guys, I'm gonna go ahead and
add some here. He's gonna also

680
00:56:23.519 --> 00:56:28.559
feed us he's gonna preserve us,
he's gonna keep us, and this is

681
00:56:28.599 --> 00:56:30.679
for all of us, all the
cat Well, we're not gonna lose anything.

682
00:56:30.719 --> 00:56:34.360
Well, but he didn't promise that. I know he didn't promise that.

683
00:56:34.440 --> 00:56:39.679
But circumstances allow me to add to
his promise. Circumstances don't change God's

684
00:56:39.679 --> 00:56:45.000
promises. But circumstances don't allow you
to claim promises that are not for you,

685
00:56:45.239 --> 00:56:52.519
and they don't allow you to add
to those promises. And I'm going

686
00:56:52.599 --> 00:56:57.880
to tell you that's really, really
hard. It's not hard to understand here,

687
00:56:58.440 --> 00:57:09.320
it's hard to do here. Right, Circumstances do not change God's promises.

688
00:57:13.920 --> 00:57:19.519
What God says he means, and
when God makes a promise, he

689
00:57:19.760 --> 00:57:24.440
always fulfills it. It doesn't always
look like we think it's going to look

690
00:57:24.559 --> 00:57:30.119
like, and it doesn't happen in
the time that we think it should take.

691
00:57:31.320 --> 00:57:43.159
Abram never saw the fruit of all
these promises. He never saw the

692
00:57:43.199 --> 00:57:46.320
fruit of all of these promises.
But you're telling me he should stick around.

693
00:57:47.000 --> 00:57:50.760
And because God was going he was
going to see the fruit of the

694
00:57:50.840 --> 00:57:53.960
promise to feed him during a famine. Hey, Hey, all these promises,

695
00:57:54.079 --> 00:57:58.480
Abram never actually saw the fruit of
them. But I want you to

696
00:57:58.519 --> 00:58:00.599
know it was a failure for him
to go to Egypt during a famine because

697
00:58:00.639 --> 00:58:04.800
God promised. Well, what if
he never saw the fruit of the promise

698
00:58:05.159 --> 00:58:08.599
and he would have starved to death? Like, on one hand, you're

699
00:58:08.639 --> 00:58:13.159
like, Abram he had promises,
he should have stayed, even though there's

700
00:58:13.159 --> 00:58:15.880
no actual promise about providing for him
during a famine. But let you say

701
00:58:15.920 --> 00:58:19.239
it's implied. But then you turn
around and say, hey, but guys,

702
00:58:19.280 --> 00:58:22.400
just remember all of these promises that
Abram received. He never saw the

703
00:58:22.440 --> 00:58:24.760
fruit of it. But yet he
should have stuck around to hold on to

704
00:58:24.840 --> 00:58:28.760
a promise that he meant and may
never see the fruit of. In the

705
00:58:28.840 --> 00:58:31.159
time of a famine, where if
you don't have food after a certain number

706
00:58:31.199 --> 00:58:38.320
of days, you die. You
do realize there's a limit to how long

707
00:58:38.360 --> 00:58:43.480
you can wait without food, right, you do realize that, right,

708
00:58:43.760 --> 00:58:50.800
there's a limited amount of time you
can go without food. I mean,

709
00:58:50.840 --> 00:58:53.400
I mean by all means, either
you can test it if you would like,

710
00:58:53.480 --> 00:58:58.239
or you can google it. How
long can a person go without food?

711
00:58:59.440 --> 00:59:01.639
There's a limit amount of time.
So it's not like you're like,

712
00:59:01.679 --> 00:59:06.840
well, I'm gonna wait for the
fruit of this promise. Okay, well,

713
00:59:07.559 --> 00:59:09.400
well we just lost a couple of
cattle. They died they didn't have

714
00:59:09.440 --> 00:59:14.800
food. Oh wait, we lost
a couple of servants they died they didn't

715
00:59:14.800 --> 00:59:17.480
have food. Or we're gonna keep
holding out. But what if one person

716
00:59:17.639 --> 00:59:25.480
dies? Do you then just say, well, that's on God. And

717
00:59:25.559 --> 00:59:31.239
what I love about this is because
to me, this sets up the inevitable

718
00:59:31.440 --> 00:59:37.400
contradiction in the world of Christianity.
On one hand, we'll look at Abram,

719
00:59:37.559 --> 00:59:40.360
he should have just trusted God.
Don't go get food, don't do

720
00:59:40.440 --> 00:59:45.360
anything. Trust God. But on
the other hand, hey, guys,

721
00:59:45.639 --> 00:59:47.679
there's been a couple of church shootings. We need to make sure we have

722
00:59:47.719 --> 00:59:52.320
people in this church armed with guns
in case someone comes in, because we

723
00:59:52.360 --> 00:59:54.599
trust God. But if God doesn't
show up, we're gonna put a couple

724
00:59:54.599 --> 01:00:00.440
of bullets and anyone who attempts to
attack us. Hey, hey, Abram,

725
01:00:00.480 --> 01:00:04.199
you're supposed to trust God. But
hey, we're gonna lock our doors.

726
01:00:04.440 --> 01:00:07.800
We're gonna have a security system.
We're gonna do this. We're gonna

727
01:00:07.840 --> 01:00:09.519
do this. We're gonna do this, We're gonna do We're gonna take all

728
01:00:09.599 --> 01:00:13.239
of these percussions, and we're gonna
do all of this, and we're gonna

729
01:00:13.239 --> 01:00:15.880
make sure we have provision, and
we're gonna do this, and we're gonna

730
01:00:15.960 --> 01:00:17.199
save up for the future, and
we're gonna do this, and we're gonna

731
01:00:17.199 --> 01:00:20.280
have insurance, and we're gonna do
this, and we're gonna do this.

732
01:00:20.320 --> 01:00:22.480
And we had to wait a minute. Wait a minute, Wait a minute.

733
01:00:22.480 --> 01:00:25.199
Did God instruct you to remember?
He said, God never instructed him

734
01:00:25.239 --> 01:00:29.960
to go to Egypt? Well,
has God ever instructed you to take this

735
01:00:30.039 --> 01:00:34.119
percussion or this percussion or this percussion? Are you not leaning to your own

736
01:00:34.199 --> 01:00:37.239
understanding? Are you not demonstrating a
lack of trust in God? Just trust

737
01:00:37.280 --> 01:00:43.639
God He will provide. I mean, can't you use the same argument against

738
01:00:43.760 --> 01:00:45.480
us that you're gonna use the Abram? Are we gonna hold Abram to a

739
01:00:45.559 --> 01:00:52.039
standard that we're not gonna hold ourselves
to? Because I am not seeing in

740
01:00:52.079 --> 01:00:55.880
these promises that Abram is like,
hey, stay right here, I will

741
01:00:55.880 --> 01:01:00.760
feed you and all the people with
you sure that no one dies. I

742
01:01:00.800 --> 01:01:10.360
don't see that promise anywhere, or
at least not at this point. If

743
01:01:10.400 --> 01:01:20.519
God tells you to be faithful to
him in purity, in finances, in

744
01:01:20.639 --> 01:01:29.119
friendship, in love, in work, in whatever He's called you to do.

745
01:01:30.719 --> 01:01:37.760
Your circumstances do not change God's ability
to fulfill those promises. They do

746
01:01:37.880 --> 01:01:42.440
not change God's ability to work through
you, or work in you, or

747
01:01:42.440 --> 01:01:47.679
to provide for you. And now
your mind is going, yeah, but

748
01:01:49.280 --> 01:01:55.320
pastor now again if you're going to
take this, hey, hey, No

749
01:01:55.360 --> 01:02:00.000
matter the circumstance, God will provide. Now, I'm just going to raise

750
01:02:00.039 --> 01:02:02.039
some questions. You can look it
up today. Look up how many people

751
01:02:02.079 --> 01:02:06.800
starve to death every day in the
world. Every day? How many people

752
01:02:06.880 --> 01:02:10.239
die of starvation? Just look it
up? How many people die daily of

753
01:02:10.280 --> 01:02:15.000
starvation? Do you want me to
look it up for you? Would you

754
01:02:15.039 --> 01:02:17.119
like me to look it up for
you? Would you do you want me

755
01:02:17.159 --> 01:02:20.800
to look it up. I can
look it up for you. Would do

756
01:02:20.840 --> 01:02:23.480
you want me to No? Yes, No, I'm hearing different answers.

757
01:02:23.559 --> 01:02:28.119
Okay, I'm going to look it
up, all right, I'm going to

758
01:02:28.159 --> 01:02:45.199
look it up. How many people
die each day of starvation? Twenty five

759
01:02:45.440 --> 01:02:50.480
thousand people Each day, twenty five
thousand people, including more than ten thousand

760
01:02:50.599 --> 01:02:53.880
children, die from hunger and related
causes. Some eight hundred and fifty four

761
01:02:53.920 --> 01:02:59.800
million people worldwide estimated to be undernourished, and high food prices may drive a

762
01:02:59.840 --> 01:03:05.639
No, they're one hundred million end
of poverty. Twenty five thousand people die

763
01:03:05.800 --> 01:03:17.599
every single day, every single day
of starvation, twenty five thousand, ten

764
01:03:17.639 --> 01:03:25.000
thousand children every single day. So
when you go to bed tonight, just

765
01:03:25.119 --> 01:03:36.719
remember about ten thousand children has died
of starvation. Now, whenever I point

766
01:03:36.760 --> 01:03:39.679
these statistics out, Christians get mad
at me and they push back and they're

767
01:03:39.719 --> 01:03:44.039
like, oh, how dare you
say so? But usually the argument,

768
01:03:44.199 --> 01:03:47.360
well, they're not Christians, so
everyone who dies of starvation is not a

769
01:03:47.480 --> 01:03:51.519
Christian because if they were a Christian, God would have provided for That's the

770
01:03:51.800 --> 01:03:58.199
go to argument. But again the
argument is God will provide. God will

771
01:03:58.239 --> 01:04:01.159
provide. God will provide, so
just trust God. Well, then I

772
01:04:01.199 --> 01:04:04.199
don't understand. The argument is,
Abram, just stay right here, God

773
01:04:04.239 --> 01:04:08.119
will provide for you. And hey, you out there, hey, when

774
01:04:08.119 --> 01:04:11.920
you facing circumstances, you just trust
God will provide. Well, if we're

775
01:04:11.920 --> 01:04:15.000
gonna trust God to such this extent, then why do we do it?

776
01:04:15.280 --> 01:04:17.639
Why don't we just trust God to
provide whatever we need? Now? With

777
01:04:17.679 --> 01:04:21.199
then people say, but you've got
to do your part. Well, you're

778
01:04:21.239 --> 01:04:28.559
telling me Abram his part was not
to do anything. So which is Christians

779
01:04:28.559 --> 01:04:31.400
seem to go back and forth.
Hey, God is our rock, our

780
01:04:31.480 --> 01:04:36.000
refuge, our fortress, our shield, our protector. But make sure you

781
01:04:36.039 --> 01:04:40.480
own a gun. Well, I
see my rock, my fortress, my

782
01:04:40.519 --> 01:04:44.320
shelter. Is he or isn't he? When is it? Hey? Hey,

783
01:04:44.400 --> 01:04:47.400
we'll sing about how God will protect
us in this church, but we

784
01:04:47.440 --> 01:04:51.840
will also have armed guards. Wait, I don't get it. So when

785
01:04:53.079 --> 01:04:58.840
is he? When isn't he?
Which is it? Because I'm hearing that

786
01:04:58.920 --> 01:05:05.760
Abraham did everything wrong here? I
know it is because mine does the same

787
01:05:05.800 --> 01:05:12.199
thing. Yeah, but look at
the people over here and how bad they're

788
01:05:12.239 --> 01:05:18.159
struggling. Some of them have to
I'm not God. I'm not going to

789
01:05:18.239 --> 01:05:27.440
play him. I would do a
really bad job. All I can tell

790
01:05:27.480 --> 01:05:33.239
you is that God is faithful.
So we see great failure here. Famine

791
01:05:33.440 --> 01:05:39.960
made sense to go to Egypt not
the right thing to do. Again,

792
01:05:40.039 --> 01:05:43.920
the accusation is that it was the
wrong thing to do. The accusation.

793
01:05:44.400 --> 01:05:48.719
But no, nothing is provided to
demonstrate that what he's doing here is wrong.

794
01:05:48.880 --> 01:05:54.679
We just impose it. We presuppose
it and pose it onto the text.

795
01:05:54.920 --> 01:05:58.199
There is nothing in Genesis one,
two, three, four, five,

796
01:05:58.320 --> 01:06:00.840
six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, and twelve.

797
01:06:00.000 --> 01:06:02.199
One two, three, four,
five, six, seven, eight,

798
01:06:02.239 --> 01:06:06.480
and nine. This says, don't
go to Egypt. And not only

799
01:06:06.559 --> 01:06:11.320
that, we still have the struggle
of God appearing in one, verse one

800
01:06:11.480 --> 01:06:17.199
and verse seven. But yet when
the famine happens, God goes absolutely silent.

801
01:06:18.719 --> 01:06:24.440
But yet Abram, you're to blame. You're a failure. I just

802
01:06:24.599 --> 01:06:29.199
don't get it. I don't.
I know it preaches good that I've stated

803
01:06:29.199 --> 01:06:34.039
it so many times. Some of
the most damage to the Word of God

804
01:06:34.400 --> 01:06:41.639
has occurred because of preaching. More
than any other thing. Preaching takes the

805
01:06:41.719 --> 01:06:46.159
text, and we have to create
sermons, and when we create sermons we

806
01:06:46.239 --> 01:06:49.559
do a lot of things to the
text that was never designed to be done

807
01:06:49.599 --> 01:06:54.199
to the text. We go to
Genesis twelve, and we've got our preaching

808
01:06:54.320 --> 01:06:58.400
is such a morality? Tell right, well, our preaching is always like

809
01:06:58.480 --> 01:07:00.800
we got to tell people they can't
do this, do this, don't do

810
01:07:00.840 --> 01:07:03.239
this, feel bad about doing this, feel bad about everything is morality.

811
01:07:03.280 --> 01:07:06.800
Morality, morality, morality. So
we go to Genesis twelve. We are

812
01:07:06.840 --> 01:07:10.800
like, Okay, we got to
find something that he did wrong so that

813
01:07:10.880 --> 01:07:13.760
I can challenge to people about the
things that they do wrong, so we

814
01:07:13.800 --> 01:07:16.719
can all be challenged to do better. Because all Christianity is is moralism.

815
01:07:19.039 --> 01:07:27.719
So we want to throw Abram under
the bus here by just imposing onto the

816
01:07:27.719 --> 01:07:34.800
text a prohibition that doesn't exist in
the text. It wasn't where he was

817
01:07:34.880 --> 01:07:46.559
called to go. Nevertheless, he
goes down there and I don't know where

818
01:07:46.599 --> 01:07:50.599
their church is located. It sounds
like it's located right on the highway.

819
01:07:50.880 --> 01:07:54.280
And that car was loud that went
by. I don't know if you heard

820
01:07:54.280 --> 01:07:59.599
that. That was loud. Okay, so that our church is located right

821
01:07:59.599 --> 01:08:01.960
next to us highway and sometimes you'll
hear me in the middle Oficarmon going what

822
01:08:02.000 --> 01:08:05.239
in the world was that, Because
it'll be some loud car that will go

823
01:08:05.280 --> 01:08:10.559
by. So I definitely understand their
pain. That's so frustrating. When that

824
01:08:10.599 --> 01:08:16.119
happens. He's about to answer Egypt
and we don't know if people are already

825
01:08:16.279 --> 01:08:23.279
noticing the beauty of his wife or
not yet doesn't really tell us exactly when

826
01:08:23.319 --> 01:08:29.079
that starts to happen. But he
understands how pretty his wife was, it's

827
01:08:29.079 --> 01:08:39.159
like Tina, and he says,
you know what, They're going to want

828
01:08:39.159 --> 01:08:45.760
to kill me if they think that
I'm a threat, right, if if

829
01:08:45.760 --> 01:08:49.920
they think I'm your husband, they're
just going to take me out because you

830
01:08:50.000 --> 01:08:54.800
know that's not going to look good. Somebody's going to want you, want

831
01:08:54.880 --> 01:08:59.760
you more than I can have the
ability to protect you or protect this relationship.

832
01:08:59.800 --> 01:09:03.760
So let's lie. That's what he
says. He doesn't say that,

833
01:09:03.840 --> 01:09:09.279
but that's what he says. All
right, now are we ready for this?

834
01:09:10.279 --> 01:09:16.520
Here we go? Here we go
in Genesis one to chapter twelve,

835
01:09:16.960 --> 01:09:25.039
verse nine. Now here's your challenge
today. Genesis one one to Genesis twelve

836
01:09:25.279 --> 01:09:33.039
nine. Find me where there is
a prohibition, law or instruction against lying.

837
01:09:39.079 --> 01:09:44.000
Can we take the prohibition that God
hates lying? And all the scriptures

838
01:09:44.000 --> 01:09:48.920
about lying being wrong that are later
revealed not revealed at this time. Abram

839
01:09:48.960 --> 01:09:53.680
can't be looking up you know,
don't bear false witness, don't lie.

840
01:09:53.840 --> 01:09:58.880
He can't be looking in proverbs about
God hates lying lips, and nothing about

841
01:09:58.920 --> 01:10:01.560
being true. There's nothing scripture.
He's got no Bible, he's got no

842
01:10:01.600 --> 01:10:06.960
body. His interaction with God seems
very limited to what God has told him

843
01:10:06.960 --> 01:10:12.640
in Genesis twelve one and Genesis twelve
seven. Some will argue that the call

844
01:10:12.720 --> 01:10:15.359
to Abram came before twelve one and
it's kind of repeated in twelve one.

845
01:10:15.520 --> 01:10:21.520
We could get into that discussion,
but the discussion God initiating conversations with Abram

846
01:10:21.680 --> 01:10:26.319
have been very limited about this is
what you can and this is what you

847
01:10:26.359 --> 01:10:29.199
can't, or not. Really,
he doesn't even say what you can't do.

848
01:10:29.399 --> 01:10:30.439
He just says, this is what
I want you to do. There's

849
01:10:30.479 --> 01:10:36.880
not really any laying down any system
of morality. So Abram he's like,

850
01:10:36.960 --> 01:10:41.039
okay, guys, we got to
go to Egypt because we're gonna starve.

851
01:10:41.159 --> 01:10:44.479
So he makes a decision. God
does not intervene. Then he's like,

852
01:10:44.520 --> 01:10:46.600
okay, now we got another problem. All right, if I if we

853
01:10:46.680 --> 01:10:51.279
go in this way because Sarah,
Sarah is so beautiful, they're gonna kill

854
01:10:51.319 --> 01:10:54.920
me. And if they kill me, what does that leave for the rest

855
01:10:54.920 --> 01:10:57.279
of you? Where does that leave
Sarah? Where does that leave any the

856
01:10:57.319 --> 01:11:00.319
wret you're gonna be, You're gonna
be all in trouble. So now you

857
01:11:00.359 --> 01:11:03.520
could argue, Now you could argue
he's being selfish out of fear. You

858
01:11:03.520 --> 01:11:08.840
could argue he's trying to be strategic. We could have this debate all day,

859
01:11:09.000 --> 01:11:12.399
but he comes up with this scheme. Now I don't like the scheme.

860
01:11:12.439 --> 01:11:15.520
I think the scheme is very questionable
at best. I think the scheme

861
01:11:15.600 --> 01:11:19.840
is somewhat messed up. It puts
Sarah in the most vulnerable position. Now,

862
01:11:19.840 --> 01:11:25.239
we could argue, how are women
viewed in Genesis chapter twelve at that

863
01:11:25.359 --> 01:11:30.159
point in time and human history?
Was the woman? How was the woman

864
01:11:30.279 --> 01:11:33.399
viewed as? Like? How was
she viewed? And we probably won't like

865
01:11:33.439 --> 01:11:38.560
the answer. She's probably not viewed
the way we would think that woman should

866
01:11:38.560 --> 01:11:43.680
be viewed today. But either way, he makes this strategic decision. Now

867
01:11:43.720 --> 01:11:48.399
again I'm going to scream and emphasize
again God doesn't step in. He stepped

868
01:11:48.399 --> 01:11:50.680
in in twelve to one, he
steps in in twelve seven, and he

869
01:11:50.800 --> 01:11:54.880
just goes silent. You're like,
God, this is the time to step

870
01:11:54.920 --> 01:11:59.520
in, But he doesn't. He
doesn't step in, and he allows this

871
01:11:59.640 --> 01:12:03.399
to go down. Now again,
he just referred to this as a lie

872
01:12:03.479 --> 01:12:10.359
to deception? Is this a sin? So here's the question. Can we

873
01:12:10.560 --> 01:12:18.520
judge the people in Genesis according to
the law that is not revealed until Exodus.

874
01:12:20.920 --> 01:12:28.960
Can we judge the actions of the
people in Genesis who are living before

875
01:12:29.119 --> 01:12:32.000
the law the law has not been
revealed, that the law has not been

876
01:12:32.119 --> 01:12:36.600
articulated. Can we judge them?
Now? There are times God steps in

877
01:12:36.640 --> 01:12:41.640
and says behavior is sinful, or
this is wicked, or this is wrong.

878
01:12:41.880 --> 01:12:45.800
He seems to clearly articulate that.
Now, when God steps in and

879
01:12:45.800 --> 01:12:48.640
says it's wrong, then by all
means it's wrong because God is now imposing

880
01:12:48.920 --> 01:12:54.279
his standard, which is always his
standard at any time. But if you're

881
01:12:54.359 --> 01:12:59.079
living at this time, you don't
have direct access to God's standard. Okay,

882
01:12:59.159 --> 01:13:02.199
there's not a book you can read, there's not a law anywhere given.

883
01:13:04.000 --> 01:13:13.680
So is Abraham acting and an accordance
to what he thinks is best?

884
01:13:14.399 --> 01:13:18.199
Or is he violating a law?
But there's been no law established, So

885
01:13:18.399 --> 01:13:25.640
like, how do you judge this
action? Just as there's no prohibition against

886
01:13:25.680 --> 01:13:28.319
going to Egypt in Genesis one,
two, three, four, five,

887
01:13:28.439 --> 01:13:30.760
six, seven, eleven, Chapter
twelve, verses one through nine, there

888
01:13:30.800 --> 01:13:36.399
is also no prohibition or instruction against
lying in Genesis twelve. Are Genesis one

889
01:13:36.720 --> 01:13:43.560
all the way to Genesis's twelve ten, there is no prohibition instructions against it.

890
01:13:43.640 --> 01:13:47.079
Now, maybe you can find something
that would possibly imply it, but

891
01:13:47.199 --> 01:13:50.840
I don't know where that would be. So how to how is Abram to

892
01:13:50.880 --> 01:13:55.079
be judged? And even if you
find some scripture goes well, this would

893
01:13:55.079 --> 01:14:00.920
seem to imply that God doesn't like
it. Does Abram have just direct access

894
01:14:00.960 --> 01:14:03.680
to the text that you're quoting.
He doesn't have access to any text.

895
01:14:09.640 --> 01:14:15.159
Hey, let's come up with this
lie. Now, if you've read this

896
01:14:15.520 --> 01:14:18.319
before and you know the story of
Genesis, you know it's not completely a

897
01:14:18.399 --> 01:14:23.880
lie. But that's how most lies
are, right, they're the skin of

898
01:14:23.920 --> 01:14:30.520
the truth. So turn with me
just a couple chapters to Genesis, chapter

899
01:14:30.600 --> 01:14:48.319
twenty, and in verse eleven,
it says Abram said, I did it

900
01:14:48.359 --> 01:14:53.920
because now this is the he's lying
again here by the way, I did

901
01:14:54.000 --> 01:14:58.760
it because I thought there is no
fear of God at all in this place,

902
01:14:58.800 --> 01:15:01.000
and they will kill me because of
my wife. Besides, she is

903
01:15:01.039 --> 01:15:05.840
indeed my sister, the daughter of
my father, though not the daughter of

904
01:15:05.880 --> 01:15:14.439
my mother, and she became my
wife. Okay, so Sarah was actually

905
01:15:14.520 --> 01:15:18.840
his half sister. And he said, well, that's weird. It kind

906
01:15:18.840 --> 01:15:25.399
of is weird. For us,
but back then the population pool was much

907
01:15:25.399 --> 01:15:30.680
smaller. Okay, now I love
this. Oh this is this is so

908
01:15:30.800 --> 01:15:34.239
good. Okay, this is how
people deal with Genesis all the time.

909
01:15:34.319 --> 01:15:38.640
If there's something that makes us uncomfortable, and there's something that we don't like,

910
01:15:38.680 --> 01:15:41.239
we said, well, well,
I know it sounds strange to us,

911
01:15:41.279 --> 01:15:44.479
but at that time, and then
we make all these excuses for the

912
01:15:44.520 --> 01:15:46.640
behavior. Hey, I know he
married his in a sense, I guess

913
01:15:46.640 --> 01:15:49.479
half sister, but hey, hey, at that time, this would have

914
01:15:49.479 --> 01:15:53.399
been okay, wait a minute,
wait a minute. So that means we're

915
01:15:53.439 --> 01:16:00.479
not going to impose later morality onto
Abraham as far as him marrying Sarah,

916
01:16:00.600 --> 01:16:10.159
But then we are going to impose
later morality on Abram for his line.

917
01:16:11.880 --> 01:16:16.720
How do we play this game?
Hey, sometimes we look at the people

918
01:16:16.760 --> 01:16:20.039
in Genesis and we're like, they
violated this, this, this, this,

919
01:16:20.039 --> 01:16:24.039
this, But in other times,
well, they had to marry this,

920
01:16:24.159 --> 01:16:28.680
or they had to they had to
be involved in marrying a sibling because

921
01:16:28.720 --> 01:16:32.279
well that's that's their only option.
Well okay, so then so then we

922
01:16:32.399 --> 01:16:38.439
excuse the behavior. And in other
cases, so hey, he had to

923
01:16:38.439 --> 01:16:41.880
marry me. The population pool was
small, he had to marry her.

924
01:16:43.159 --> 01:16:45.199
Hey, there's a femine in the
land. Well, he should have just

925
01:16:45.239 --> 01:16:48.159
trusted God. He should have just
trusted God. That's what he should have

926
01:16:48.159 --> 01:16:53.279
done. He was wrong to go
to Egypt. God could have provided Well,

927
01:16:53.319 --> 01:17:01.199
could God provided a spouse other than
a relative? Could he? I

928
01:17:01.239 --> 01:17:05.239
mean, you see, we have
these weird standards. Like one time we

929
01:17:05.279 --> 01:17:10.279
impose this standard, in the next
minute we impose a different standard. We

930
01:17:10.319 --> 01:17:15.840
are very inconsistent in our morality,
in our standards, especially as we read

931
01:17:15.279 --> 01:17:23.760
things like Genesis. This is before
the prohibition to do such things. So

932
01:17:24.039 --> 01:17:30.439
there was no sin in it.
See, there's no prohibition against this because

933
01:17:30.479 --> 01:17:35.079
there's no sin in it. But
there was a prohibition against going to Egypt.

934
01:17:35.359 --> 01:17:41.960
See, he imposed a prohibition on
Abram about going into Egypt, even

935
01:17:42.039 --> 01:17:45.479
there is no prohibition there. Then
when he talks about him marrying his half

936
01:17:45.520 --> 01:17:49.279
sister, well, hey, this
was okay because there was no prohibition against

937
01:17:49.279 --> 01:17:56.159
it. So one second, Abram's
wrong even though he's not violating a prohibition,

938
01:17:56.399 --> 01:17:59.840
and the next minute he is violating
what will be later a prohibition.

939
01:18:00.039 --> 01:18:02.079
But he's not wrong because that prohibition
doesn't exist. Well, then you can't

940
01:18:02.159 --> 01:18:06.239
judge him on any action in which
there is not a prohibition against. If

941
01:18:06.279 --> 01:18:11.640
you're going to excuse him marrying his
half sister, then you've got to excuse

942
01:18:11.800 --> 01:18:16.479
every other behavior unless that behavior has
a prohibition in the text, or God

943
01:18:16.640 --> 01:18:21.199
himself steps in and says this behavior
is wrong. And guess what God never

944
01:18:21.319 --> 01:18:26.359
does. Does God step in and
tell him that he's wrong? And what

945
01:18:26.399 --> 01:18:29.479
he does in Genesis twelve, No, he doesn't. In fact, Abram

946
01:18:29.520 --> 01:18:32.800
comes out better off, he comes
out rich. They come out fed,

947
01:18:33.479 --> 01:18:41.239
provided for and rich. God does
never intervenes and reprimends or condemns what he

948
01:18:41.279 --> 01:18:45.079
did. But yet that's a great
failure. Hey over here where it tells

949
01:18:45.119 --> 01:18:49.439
me who he married, Hey,
that's not a failure because God's not given

950
01:18:49.439 --> 01:18:53.960
a prohibition against it. But over
here it's wrong even though God's not given

951
01:18:54.000 --> 01:18:58.960
a prohibition against it. I think
sometimes, I know Christians don't like to

952
01:18:59.000 --> 01:19:04.159
admit this. Our morality sometimes very
much sounds like relativism, and we pick

953
01:19:04.239 --> 01:19:08.439
and choose when it's wrong and when
it's not wrong. And that's a problem.

954
01:19:08.600 --> 01:19:15.000
And I think it's a very problematic
in how we sometimes handle Genesis because

955
01:19:15.000 --> 01:19:18.880
they weren't told any different and in
the beginning. That's just kind of what

956
01:19:18.920 --> 01:19:26.760
you had to do. And so
you know this is dad's daughter and not

957
01:19:26.920 --> 01:19:35.399
mom's daughter. And so understand also
in that culture, especially where he came

958
01:19:35.439 --> 01:19:41.119
from, right, he's coming from
an idolatrous place. In that place he

959
01:19:41.199 --> 01:19:45.319
came from, it's very likely that
the dad's side and the mom's side didn't

960
01:19:45.359 --> 01:19:50.319
even mingle, so they may not
known each other that well anyway, it

961
01:19:50.399 --> 01:19:57.079
is, so now we're going to
come up with a cultural excuse. Hey,

962
01:19:57.079 --> 01:20:00.439
well, at the culture at that
time or at the culture at that

963
01:20:00.560 --> 01:20:03.560
time, is it not possible that
A if the if the wife's got to

964
01:20:03.600 --> 01:20:06.880
die to preserve the husband, then
that's the way it should be. Why

965
01:20:06.880 --> 01:20:12.800
don't we make a cultural excuse for
that at that time and that culture.

966
01:20:12.960 --> 01:20:16.239
If there's a femine in the land
going to where there's food, that makes

967
01:20:16.319 --> 01:20:23.079
sense. How come there's a cultural
explanation for a later behavior, but no

968
01:20:23.239 --> 01:20:27.439
cultural explanation for his actions in genesis
to wel, I think we just make

969
01:20:27.560 --> 01:20:33.560
up the rules. I like this, this is, this is this is

970
01:20:33.720 --> 01:20:43.000
fascinating to me how we play these
games. This half sister, but it

971
01:20:43.039 --> 01:20:46.039
was a it wasn't a half lie. It's either a liar not a lie,

972
01:20:46.359 --> 01:20:49.840
right, And he was really lying
because he wasn't trying to prove that

973
01:20:49.920 --> 01:20:55.119
it was a sister. He was
trying to hide that it was his wife.

974
01:20:57.479 --> 01:21:00.399
So hey, okay, we're going
to excuse this, but hey,

975
01:21:00.520 --> 01:21:03.399
his lying was wrong on the basis
of what you just said. That his

976
01:21:03.560 --> 01:21:06.880
marriage is not wrong because there was
no prohibition against it. Where is the

977
01:21:06.880 --> 01:21:18.399
prohibition against lying? Where is the
prohibition against a half truth? Now you're

978
01:21:18.399 --> 01:21:21.880
gonna say, well that's later,
Well, there's a letter of prohibition against

979
01:21:23.000 --> 01:21:26.840
marrying like this. So if you're
going to take that past the future prohibition

980
01:21:26.920 --> 01:21:30.079
and bring it back to the text, you've got to bring all the future

981
01:21:30.079 --> 01:21:34.079
prohibitions and apply all of them to
the text. You can't just pick and

982
01:21:34.159 --> 01:21:42.720
choose, all right. So we
have this pretty woman here, this beautiful

983
01:21:42.760 --> 01:21:50.119
woman Sarah, and this man Abram. Going is the wrong direction because they're

984
01:21:50.199 --> 01:21:57.800
going away from what God had told
them to do. Now I don't know

985
01:21:57.880 --> 01:22:04.079
which translation you all are working on, but here's what happens. So it

986
01:22:04.119 --> 01:22:09.840
says the princess of Pharaoh saw her. So these are people that would have

987
01:22:09.920 --> 01:22:15.880
Pharaoh's ear, people that are important
in the government also took notice how beautiful

988
01:22:15.880 --> 01:22:23.000
that Sarah was, and they said, hey, Pharaoh, look at this,

989
01:22:25.279 --> 01:22:30.079
and so he takes her into his
house with the intention of making her

990
01:22:30.520 --> 01:22:36.720
his wife. Now this is why
I said, I don't know what translation

991
01:22:36.720 --> 01:22:41.600
you're working with, but verse sixteen
it says, and for her sake,

992
01:22:41.680 --> 01:22:46.399
he dealt well with Abram, and
he had sheep ox and blah blah blah.

993
01:22:46.560 --> 01:22:54.439
The sv doesn't make this real clear. The way this could be translated,

994
01:22:54.439 --> 01:22:58.560
and probably should be translated, is
Pharaoh gave him all this stuff.

995
01:23:00.920 --> 01:23:06.199
Okay, Now, Abram already was
wealthy, right, He already had his

996
01:23:06.279 --> 01:23:14.439
own flock of animals, and he
had a lot, and he had herdsman,

997
01:23:14.880 --> 01:23:17.319
and he had servants. It said
that, you know, earlier tells

998
01:23:17.399 --> 01:23:21.600
us that all the people that God
gave him went with him. So he

999
01:23:21.760 --> 01:23:29.560
gave him a lot of folks already
journeying with him on this journey. Sidebar

1000
01:23:31.520 --> 01:23:34.479
not really having anything to do with
the story, but just Middle Eastern culture,

1001
01:23:34.600 --> 01:23:41.920
something to keep in mind. Okay, we'll stop there. So here's

1002
01:23:41.960 --> 01:23:49.479
what we need to remind ourselves.
This whole series started because of an article

1003
01:23:49.720 --> 01:23:53.600
and the sort of the Lord newspaper
from May the twenty second, twenty twenty

1004
01:23:53.600 --> 01:23:58.520
four. The articles entitled leaning Wrong, and it's based off lean not onto

1005
01:23:58.560 --> 01:24:04.359
thine own understanding from Proverbs three to
five. It gives us seven examples of

1006
01:24:04.399 --> 01:24:11.319
people supposedly leaning in the wrong direction. The example number one is Abram leaned

1007
01:24:11.359 --> 01:24:15.319
towards Egypt and unbelief and soon found
himself crippled by it Genesis twelve ten through

1008
01:24:15.319 --> 01:24:21.039
twenty. I spent over an hour
working through that and challenging that entire presupposition

1009
01:24:21.279 --> 01:24:26.920
that the way that you're judging Abram. So I told everyone that what you're

1010
01:24:26.960 --> 01:24:29.800
going to do this week is you're
going to go through all seven of these

1011
01:24:29.840 --> 01:24:32.920
examples. You're going to read these
scriptures five times. Right, I've given

1012
01:24:32.960 --> 01:24:35.039
you the scriptures I gave them at
the beginning. Here, I'm not going

1013
01:24:35.079 --> 01:24:39.079
to go through them again, read
them five times, and then start looking

1014
01:24:39.159 --> 01:24:43.439
up random sermons on the sermon's two
point oh app and see how they cover

1015
01:24:43.520 --> 01:24:46.079
it. I told you from the
beginning that I felt that because what I

1016
01:24:46.159 --> 01:24:48.960
do. What I'm doing here is
I just chose a random sermon on the

1017
01:24:48.960 --> 01:24:53.800
sermon's two point oh app Right.
This one is called greater God. I

1018
01:24:53.800 --> 01:24:57.880
think Genesis twelve, ten through twenty. And I told you that my prediction,

1019
01:24:58.720 --> 01:25:00.920
my feeling was this was going to
go in the very same direction that

1020
01:25:00.960 --> 01:25:05.279
most sermons go. Abram was wrong. Abram was wrong, And I said

1021
01:25:05.359 --> 01:25:10.960
I was going to challenge that presupposition
because I believe that is at place and

1022
01:25:11.000 --> 01:25:15.800
presupposing and placing the things upon the
text that the text do not support.

1023
01:25:15.960 --> 01:25:19.720
I think it's bad exegesis. I
think it's bad hermineutics. I think it's

1024
01:25:19.720 --> 01:25:25.479
bad. But remember the goal here
is I'm not criticizing the one preaching this.

1025
01:25:25.479 --> 01:25:28.920
This is nothing about criticizing to the
person. I'm glad they put their

1026
01:25:28.920 --> 01:25:32.359
sermon out. I'm glad they give
a different perspective because this allows me to

1027
01:25:32.399 --> 01:25:38.439
take my hypotheses, place it next
to their sermon, and then you,

1028
01:25:38.560 --> 01:25:43.119
the listener, get to hear two
radically different approaches to the same text.

1029
01:25:43.640 --> 01:25:48.399
You benefit from it. I benefit
because it challenges my approach to the text.

1030
01:25:48.840 --> 01:25:54.399
I don't think he did anything textually
to art to prove my hypotheses as

1031
01:25:54.439 --> 01:25:57.640
being wrong, and I don't think
he did a lot textually to establish his

1032
01:25:57.760 --> 01:26:01.439
hypotheses. So I still stand by
mine, but I'm more than willing to

1033
01:26:01.439 --> 01:26:04.000
admit that I'm wrong, but I
feel that this is what you're going to

1034
01:26:04.039 --> 01:26:06.960
find as you go through these sermons, or at least not the one,

1035
01:26:08.800 --> 01:26:12.319
the one for Genesis twelve. I
think whatever sermon you choose, it's going

1036
01:26:12.359 --> 01:26:15.319
to take the exact same approach that
Abram did something wrong. Abram did something

1037
01:26:15.359 --> 01:26:20.119
wrong, and I'm challenging that.
And you already said, but what I

1038
01:26:20.159 --> 01:26:24.479
loved about this sermon is he goes
later on it says, see, but

1039
01:26:24.520 --> 01:26:28.039
what Abraham did, it's you can't
judge him. He can't be wrong.

1040
01:26:28.159 --> 01:26:31.279
There was no prohibition against it,
and there was no prohibition to go against

1041
01:26:31.279 --> 01:26:34.720
it, to go to Egypt,
there was no prohibition against lying. Then

1042
01:26:34.920 --> 01:26:40.640
all the things you're condemning him for
there is no prohibition against. And again,

1043
01:26:40.720 --> 01:26:45.199
I am going to state this over
and over. What blows my mind

1044
01:26:45.279 --> 01:26:47.560
about this story? And I still
think that this is the key to the

1045
01:26:47.600 --> 01:26:55.640
story. God intervene, initiates and
intervenes in Genesis twelve one and speaks directly

1046
01:26:55.680 --> 01:27:00.920
to Abram. He initiates a conversation
and intervenes and Genesis twelve to seven and

1047
01:27:00.000 --> 01:27:04.960
speaks directly to to not to Pharaoh. Can we state that again God initiates

1048
01:27:05.159 --> 01:27:12.000
and intervenes, specifically, speaking to
Abram and Genesis twelve one, He initiates

1049
01:27:12.000 --> 01:27:16.359
a conversation and intervenes and speaks directly
to Abram and Genesis twelve seven of famine

1050
01:27:16.359 --> 01:27:23.439
happens. God goes absolutely silent,
He just goes incognito. He just disappears.

1051
01:27:23.680 --> 01:27:28.159
He just gone right. Abram makes
a decision. We judged that decision

1052
01:27:28.319 --> 01:27:31.000
on the basis of no actual prohibition. But that's okay, we still do

1053
01:27:31.039 --> 01:27:34.439
that. We throw him under the
bus. Then Abram comes up with this

1054
01:27:34.520 --> 01:27:40.399
great idea with Sarah to try to
come up with this scheme to save himself.

1055
01:27:40.600 --> 01:27:43.680
Whatever you want to think about that, he does it. And then

1056
01:27:43.680 --> 01:27:49.560
guess what. God then shows back
up, going after Pharaoh, not after

1057
01:27:49.640 --> 01:27:56.960
Abram, goes after Pharaoh. Abram
comes out of the situation, fed,

1058
01:27:57.600 --> 01:28:04.680
provided for and amassing more wealth.
God never condemns him, never speaks against

1059
01:28:04.800 --> 01:28:13.520
Abram in any way, shape or
form. Now, if God could intervene

1060
01:28:13.560 --> 01:28:17.079
in twelve one, he could intervene
in twelve seven, and then he intervenes

1061
01:28:17.239 --> 01:28:24.520
again verse seventeen. So he intervenes
in twelve one, twelve seven, and

1062
01:28:24.520 --> 01:28:29.119
twelve seventeen. He just doesn't bother
to intervene at all. When Abram decides

1063
01:28:29.159 --> 01:28:32.479
to go to Egypt. He doesn't
intervene when Abram's making the decision to tell

1064
01:28:32.520 --> 01:28:38.880
the lie about Sarah. And he
doesn't intervene after all of this to rebuke,

1065
01:28:39.119 --> 01:28:51.359
condemn, or correct Abram. Now
you are left to decide how you

1066
01:28:51.399 --> 01:28:59.159
interpret that. How do you interpret
God's silence in this entire matter, God's

1067
01:28:59.279 --> 01:29:03.920
absence, his lack of intervention and
lack of initiating anything. You have to

1068
01:29:03.960 --> 01:29:15.239
interpret that. Now we've gone eighty
nine minutes. Now again, if you

1069
01:29:15.279 --> 01:29:19.560
want to find that sermon, look
for Greater God Genesis twelve ten through twenty

1070
01:29:19.800 --> 01:29:27.680
pastor Matt Zodro z O d r
W. Yes, I'm reading that right,

1071
01:29:28.079 --> 01:29:30.760
Zodro, and you can listen to
the rest. You probably will have

1072
01:29:30.840 --> 01:29:35.079
to fast forward. Maybe it looks
like we have about twenty five minutes left

1073
01:29:35.079 --> 01:29:38.199
in the sermon. I think I
don't. I don't. I don't know

1074
01:29:38.199 --> 01:29:40.920
if I'm gonna I don't think I'm
gonna do a part too, because we

1075
01:29:40.920 --> 01:29:43.720
we've already got a pretty basic idea
of how he handled it, and he

1076
01:29:43.840 --> 01:29:48.359
provided us that great example of the
relativism and the really contradictory way in which

1077
01:29:48.399 --> 01:29:56.960
we apply prohibition and condemnation to the
people in Exodus and and or and Genesis,

1078
01:29:57.039 --> 01:30:00.000
and the and the excuses we make
for them. We take him in

1079
01:30:00.079 --> 01:30:03.680
the cases laws revealed an Exodus,
apply them to the people in Genesis.

1080
01:30:03.760 --> 01:30:08.279
But some cases we excuse behavior because
we're like, well, there was no

1081
01:30:08.319 --> 01:30:11.920
prohibition against it. And then sometimes
we condemn them even though there was no

1082
01:30:11.960 --> 01:30:16.680
prohibition against it, meaning who were
basically being very relativistic and our approach to

1083
01:30:16.720 --> 01:30:24.560
morality and the Book of Genesis that
should cause us to pause. All right,

1084
01:30:25.279 --> 01:30:29.840
that took a lot of work.
I can't wait to hear from you

1085
01:30:30.479 --> 01:30:34.960
news I f at yahoo dot com. News I f at yahoo dot com.

1086
01:30:35.359 --> 01:30:40.159
That's news. I fit yeahoo dot
com. If you listen to a

1087
01:30:40.199 --> 01:30:44.520
sermon on Genesis twelve ten through twenty
today, please send me you know the

1088
01:30:44.600 --> 01:30:46.399
name of the sermon or a link
and tell me give me, give me

1089
01:30:46.439 --> 01:30:50.520
your summary. Did it have a
different approach? Was there something you If

1090
01:30:50.560 --> 01:30:54.479
you think there's something like wow,
you got to hear this part, give

1091
01:30:54.520 --> 01:30:58.159
me the time stamp and a link, and then we may just review that

1092
01:30:58.279 --> 01:31:01.199
part of it. I don't think
I'm going to continue to I think we've

1093
01:31:01.359 --> 01:31:08.039
established the basic We were able to
kind of establish my hypotheses again, so

1094
01:31:08.079 --> 01:31:10.680
I think we kind of accomplished what
we wanted to accomplish. I hate not

1095
01:31:10.760 --> 01:31:15.560
finishing one out here, that motorcycle
in the background. I think we kind

1096
01:31:15.560 --> 01:31:17.439
of established that. I think we
did a pretty good job with that.

1097
01:31:17.720 --> 01:31:23.279
So what we will hopefully do is
the next time we will move to the

1098
01:31:23.399 --> 01:31:29.920
second example lot leaning towards sodom and
compromise and lost all he had gained Genesis

1099
01:31:29.960 --> 01:31:32.960
thirteen ten and Genesis nineteen seventeen.
We will cover that, and then of

1100
01:31:32.960 --> 01:31:38.239
course your job will be to find
random sermons on Genesis thirteen ten or Genesis

1101
01:31:38.319 --> 01:31:42.680
nineteen seventeen. That's the goal.
So we're trying to we're trying to continue

1102
01:31:42.760 --> 01:31:45.560
our sermons two point oh app sermon
challenge. We're trying to then turn this

1103
01:31:45.600 --> 01:31:49.840
into kind of a mini series,
and then you know, we give some

1104
01:31:49.880 --> 01:31:54.920
specific text of scripture to look at, so hopefully you will do that.

1105
01:31:55.199 --> 01:31:59.479
Now, it sounds like the kids
in the neighborhood have their motorcycle out right,

1106
01:31:59.600 --> 01:32:03.000
they go around the block, then
they come down the little side alley

1107
01:32:03.039 --> 01:32:05.720
between my house and the neighbor's house. Boom. Then they go to the

1108
01:32:05.840 --> 01:32:10.239
alley in the back, they go
back down to the front of the of

1109
01:32:10.279 --> 01:32:14.960
the neighborhood, and they come back
and do around the block. So yeah,

1110
01:32:15.359 --> 01:32:18.039
and it gets loud. I'm glad
they I I am glad they have

1111
01:32:18.119 --> 01:32:23.399
fun. I just you know,
they just don't seem to care that I

1112
01:32:23.479 --> 01:32:27.600
have a broadcast studio right here.
But now I'm glad they have fun.

1113
01:32:28.439 --> 01:32:30.800
I want to go out there and
hey, let me on the motorcycle.

1114
01:32:30.840 --> 01:32:32.479
Let me go do that. Come
on, it looks fun, all right,

1115
01:32:32.800 --> 01:32:38.840
But I digress. You have lots
of work to do. I guess

1116
01:32:38.880 --> 01:32:41.239
you have a lot of things to
work on, So get to work.

1117
01:32:41.319 --> 01:32:45.319
What are you doing? Go go
get to work, all right, accomplish

1118
01:32:45.399 --> 01:32:51.279
all of your assignments. It's Thursday. I didn't really say you have to

1119
01:32:51.319 --> 01:32:55.920
have them done by the end of
this week, so so you have time.

1120
01:32:56.039 --> 01:32:58.720
But get busy, all right,
Stop being lazy. All right,

1121
01:32:58.920 --> 01:33:00.760
Thanks for listening everyone, have great
day. You can email me news i

1122
01:33:01.000 --> 01:33:08.800
F at yahoo dot com. News
I F at yahoo dot com. God

1123
01:33:08.800 --> 01:33:12.760
bless Hm.