Bible Study #31

Genesis Chapter 19:20-end

Verses of the week: Hebrews 11:5-6 5 It was by faith that Enoch was taken up to heaven without dying - suddenly he disappeared because God took him. But before he was taken up, he was approved a pleasing to God. 6 So, you see, it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that there is a God and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him. Poem of the week: Angel Wish If I could catch a rainbow I would do it just for you And share with you its beauty On the days you're feeling blue If I could build a mountain You could call your very own A place to find serenity A place to be alone If I could take your troubles I would toss them in the sea But all these things I'm finding are impossible for me I cannot build a mountain Or catch a rainbow fair But let me be what I know best A friend that's always there 20 Look, here is a town near enough to run to, and it is small. Let me flee to it--it is very small, isn't it? Then my life will be spared." 21 He said to him, "Very well, I will grant this request too; I will not overthrow the town you speak of. [Sometimes God grants our request because he has some greater plan that we don't know about and he lets us have some control if it doesn't screw up what he wants for us.] 22 But flee there quickly, because I cannot do anything until you reach it." (That is why the town was called Zoar. [6]) 23 By the time Lot reached Zoar, the sun had risen over the land. 24 Then the LORD rained down burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah--from the LORD out of the heavens. [Perhaps from a violent earthquake spewing up asphalt, such is still found in this region.] 25 Thus he overthrew those cities and the entire plain, including all those living in the cities--and also the vegetation in the land. [Many times God destroys everything there that is evil and leaves nothing that will offend for then his people will reinhabit the land after it is cleansed. This is how our eternity will be. This earth will be cleansed and we will inhabit it again. Rejuvenated and back to its original perfection without sin.] 26 But Lot's wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt. [Just as those who do not believe in Jesus they will go into the lake of fire and they will be wiped from our memory. Our faith in God will take us through the eternity. Never doubt that God can sustain you. Look all through the Bible and see what God does to those who doubt him. They all perish immediately upon doubt. I believe they go to the gulf and know immediately what they have done. In eternity they will tell us or those left here that we better shape up and listen to God or face eternal hell. Eternal hell is just being apart from God. No one can stand that. What's your choice?] 27 Early the next morning Abraham got up and returned to the place where he had stood before the LORD. 28 He looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah, toward all the land of the plain, and he saw dense smoke rising from the land, like smoke from a furnace. 29 So when God destroyed the cities of the plain, he remembered Abraham, and he brought Lot out of the catastrophe that overthrew the cities where Lot had lived. 30 Lot and his two daughters left Zoar and settled in the mountains, for he was afraid to stay in Zoar. He and his two daughters lived in a cave. 31 One day the older daughter said to the younger, "Our father is old, and there is no man around here to lie with us, as is the custom all over the earth. 32 Let's get our father to drink wine and then lie with him and preserve our family line through our father." 33 That night they got their father to drink wine, and the older daughter went in and lay with him. He was not aware of it when she lay down or when she got up. [Though Lots role was somewhat passive, he bore the basic responsibility for the drunkenness and incest that eventually resulted in his 2 daughters becoming pregnant by him.] 34 The next day the older daughter said to the younger, "Last night I lay with my father. Let's get him to drink wine again tonight, and you go in and lie with him so we can preserve our family line through our father." 35 So they got their father to drink wine that night also, and the younger daughter went and lay with him. Again he was not aware of it when she lay down or when she got up. 36 So both of Lot's daughters became pregnant by their father. 37 The older daughter had a son, and she named him Moab [7]; he is the father of the Moabites of today. 38 The younger daughter also had a son, and she named him Ben-Ammi [8]; he is the father of the Ammonites of today. [These names will be important as we go along in our study. They have certain characteristic and traits that will always apply to how they react in situation. Moses' wife was the daughter of a Moabite priest a descendant of Lot by his older daughter. Bloodlines are very important because Jesus will come through them. The devil always tries to destroy it but God will not allow it.] 1. [14] Or were married to 2. [18] Or No, Lord; or No, my lord 3. [19] The Hebrew is singular. 4. [19] The Hebrew is singular. 5. [19] The Hebrew is singular. 6. [22] Zoar means small. 7. [37] Moab sounds like the Hebrew for from father. 8. [38] Ben-Ammi means son of my people. Personals Faith is the basis for spirituality. As a side study this week do some reading on faith in Hebrews chapters 11, 12 and 13 there faith is explained. Believing in something you can't see is very hard. Back when I became a Christian I thought that because I made a decision to follow Jesus that he would magically touch my head and everything would be OK! Boy did I have a rude awakening! It took me many years of study to achieve peace and to change my attitude about God and sin. Those years were very hard and I shed many tears and faced old heartaches one at a time. Most sins are just bad habits we either picked up from our parents or friends or relatives. We must take those old tapes that are playing over and over again in our heads and re record them with Gods word. Out with the bad in with the new. The only way to change a wrong lifestyle is to keep reading about a new lifestyle. And keep trying to produce a new lifestyle. Studying Gods Book is the only way to achieve it. Although at a time when I didn't read my Bible God sent me a few good therapists to help me. Afterward I found they were Christian based people to begin with. I take my example from them. They never shoved God down my throat. But they helped me look at myself and others in a different light and gave me little exercises to help me change my habits and make my life choices turn out with a more positive ending. At this point I started on my spiritual walk God started to open my eyes and ears. He was always calling me but I didn't know why or how to answer him. That's when faith kicks in, you don't what it is, you can't see it, hear it, or touch it, but you know there is something there and you can't rest until you get it. I am still searching for whatever God has to offer me. He gives me little victories all the time that change my life and with each one I grow closer to him. But the ultimate victory is an eternal one. I look forward to it the most for I know that I am here on this earth to help others get this same feeling inside of them. When I can no longer help those here God will take me to him and I will forever be with him. Each one of us has the same job to do here, but we just don't have the faith to accomplish it. I can't tell you or relate what faith is, but I know as surely as the sun rises and sets that God will fulfill his promises to me and anyone else who believes in him. It's a very deep relationship that God forms with each of his children. I pray for everyone to have it, but I know there are stubborn people out there who don't want it. I'm sorry for them because God is going to shake their world till they fall to their knees and beg his forgiveness. No one gets away with anything in this world. There are no mysteries to God. I have faith that God will give everyone their just deserves, even me.