Hey everyone, welcome back to PvBibleAlive. Today we continue in our study of the Bible book of Genesis. We’ll be looking at chapter 14. If you haven’t been with us up until now, you can catch up on all the previous studies in Genesis by going to PvBibleAlive.com and following the link to our podcasts.
Well I’ve been amazed at how relevant these studies have been to current events. Genesis covers the topics of violence, racism, family discord and salvation. And today’s study is no exception. As I read these two chapters, I was struck by the ordinary nature of the events that transpire. And the ordinary conversations that take place. But yet these events are a part of the Word of God, so we are supposed to be able to get some instruction from them.
And that’s where my thoughts went; “How do I live on a day to day basis? Most of us don’t have miraculous events happen to us. Most of us don’t have God audibly speaking to us. Our lives are not spectacular. So, for us ordinary people, what are some principles that we can live by? And that’s what we are going to consider today.
But by way of introduction, I wanted to remind you where Abram is in his life story. Remember that God called him to leave his home country, Ur of the Chaldees, and travel some 3500 miles, to the land of Canaan. God promised that He would make him a great nation, and that through him all the nations would be blessed. And Abram believed and obeyed. He was 75 years old at the time, and Sarai his wife was 65. They had no children, for Scripture tells us that Sarai was barren. They brought Abram’s father, who died on the way, and Lot, Abram’s nephew, who separated with his family from them when they got to Canaan.
Now one of the things you will notice about the story of Abram, is its length in Scripture. Since he is the patriarch of the nation of Israel, and since his life is key to understanding Christianity, his story is told from chapters 12 through 25 in Genesis. And it spans his life from age 75 to 175; 100 years. And as the story is told, there are about 8 times that it tells us how old Abram is. But in between those times we have events happen. And we really don’t know how old Abram is. That’s the case with today’s story. We know Abram was 75 when he left Haran to continue with his pilgrimage to Canaan. But it is not until chapter 16, verse 3 that we are given another word about how much time has transpired. That is the whole sordid story of Abram taking his handmaid as a concubine. It says there.
Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her servant, after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to Abram her husband to be his wife.
So, at that time, they had been 10 years in Canaan, which would make him 85. So the events of 14 and 15 take place somewhere between Abram’s 75th and 85th years.
Well my point in calling attention to Abrams age is to highlight the fact that 100 years of Abram’s life are summed up in just 13 chapters. And if you took the actual conversations described in those chapters, and measured them with a stopwatch it would take less than half an hour to record them all. And the events in Abram’s life, not counting the travel from place to place, could all be fit into one week. We just don’t have an extensive record of Abram’s life. So, the events that are described are the important ones. They are steeped with meaning. So today I want to point out two things that Abram did that are important for us to emulate.
Today’s study is about relationships, and how important it is to surround yourself with the right people.
The Bible has some things to say about that.
Proverbs 12:26 World English Bible (WEB)
26 A righteous person is cautious in friendship, but the way of the wicked leads them astray.
Psalm 1 Blessed is the man who doesn’t walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand on the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers;
Proverbs 18:24 One who has unreliable friends soon comes to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.
Proverbs 27:17 Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.
Proverbs 13:20 Walk with the wise and become wise, for a companion of fools suffers harm.
1 Corinthians 15:33 Do not be misled: Bad company corrupts good character.
We know Abram had a relationship of trust with God, but what can we learn from his relationships with other people? We discover today, that Abram chose his friends wisely.
Well, enough of that, let’s read the passage for today. And I have to warn you, there are lots of names here. And it will take us a while to explain the story in order to get to the point for today.
14 And it came to pass in the days of Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of nations;
2 That these made war with Bera king of Sodom, and with Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, and Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela, which is Zoar.
Now I know I butchered some of those names. But here’s the long and short of what just happened. One group of kings decided to go to war against another set of kings. The only kingdoms we can identify here are the kingdom of Shinar, which is Babylonia, and Elam, which was a kingdom east of Babylonia.
So what’s going on? This is simply a battle over control of Canaan. And it was between some rising powerful nations to the east of Canaan, and some less powerful kings of city-states in Canaan.
You see, when we think of a king, many of us imagine the king of England. The king of a nation of people. And it’s likely that Chedorlaomer, let’s call him Cheddar for short, king of Babylonia comes closest to that level of power. Babylon, the capital city of the empire was founded hundreds of years before Abram. And it followed the same course of many city-states. First a group settles in an area, they build a city with walls for protection. One person rises in leadership to protect his people, and is made, or makes himself king. As the population of that city-state grows, and their wants and needs expand, they begin exerting influence over an ever-expanding territory around their city-state. They form alliances, by friendship or force, with other tribes and city-states around them. Eventually some leader decides that he wants to/needs to dominate a larger territory, so he sends envoys or armies to cities farther and farther away and demands their cooperation, or he takes money, or commodities from them as a kind of tax or tribute. And other city-states comply, because they don’t have the army or the resources to fight.
And all of that has happened here.
3 All these (kings) were joined together in the vale of Siddim (the Dead Sea Valley), which is the salt sea.
4 Twelve years they served Chedorlaomer, and in the thirteenth year they rebelled.
So Cheddar, king of Babylonia, had come into Canaan, probably with an army, and demanded a certain sum of money be given to him, maybe yearly, or more or less often. It was similar to mobsters who go into businesses and demand “protection” money. “Hey, you need to give us $100 a week out of your cash register to protect you from vandalism. If you don’t, somebody, (wink, wink) might come and break your front window. And the business owner does it, because if he doesn’t, the mobsters will come and break out his windows, or worse. So Cheddar has this type of arrangement with at least 5 kings in the land of Canaan.
But, as is usually the case, eventually somebody decides that they don’t like giving up their money. So they go searching for allies who are willing to rebel, and eventually fight the encroaching king. So these 5 kings, after 12 years of paying their “protection money” to Cheddar, don’t pay one year. They send the collection agent home empty-handed. So, after they do that, the agent goes home to king Cheddar, and tells him that these 5 kings didn’t pay, and Cheddar makes plans to make them pay. He’ll march his army down there and break some stuff, kill some people, and take some slaves to make his point.
But he takes with him the armies of his allies, or lackeys. He and 3 other kings march west to teach these Canaanite kings a lesson.
5 And in the fourteenth year came Chedorlaomer, and the kings that were with him, and smote the Rephaims in Ashteroth Karnaim, and the Zuzims in Ham, and the Emins in Shaveh Kiriathaim,
6 And the Horites in their mount Seir, unto Elparan, which is by the wilderness.
7 And they returned, and came to Enmishpat, which is Kadesh, and smote all the country of the Amalekites, and also the Amorites, that dwelt in Hazezontamar.
8 And there went out the king of Sodom, and the king of Gomorrah, and the king of Admah, and the king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (the same is Zoar;) and they joined battle with them in the vale of Siddim;
Now the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah seem to be the leaders among this group.
9 With Chedorlaomer the king of Elam, and with Tidal king of nations, and Amraphel king of Shinar, and Arioch king of Ellasar; four kings with five.
So battle ensues. Cheddar’s 4 king army come from the east and proceed down the eastern shore of the Jordan river. It says that they “smote” a number of different people groups along the way.
the Rephaims in Ashteroth Karnaim, and the Zuzims in Ham, and the Emins in Shaveh Kiriathaim,
6 And the Horites in their mount Seir, unto Elparan, which is by the wilderness.
7 And they returned, and came to Enmishpat, which is Kadesh, and smote all the country of the Amalekites, and also the Amorites, that dwelt in Hazezontamar.
And this would have been typical of invading armies. The big battle was to take place in the valley at the southern end of the Dead Sea. But as the invading armies march through the country, they just slaughter people as they go. Some may have been among those who rebelled against Cheddar, others may have been collateral damage.
So they proceed south to the place where the 5 rebelling kings and their armies are gathered.
10 And the vale of Siddim was full of slimepits; and the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, and fell there; and they that remained fled to the mountain.
So there was a battle, and the rebelling kings lost against Cheddar. Apparently it was not only the invading army that was too much for them, but the landscape, full of slimepits, or tarpits also worked against them. The tar would be a petroleum substance that was bubbling up out of the ground. But what is interesting to me is that the pits were a “pitfall” to the local residents, not to the invading army. That implies to me that either the local kings of Sodom and Gomorrah were not well prepared for battling, even on their home turf, or that God Himself was working against them.
11 And they (Cheddar’s army) took all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah, and all their victuals, and went their way.
Now all of this narrative would seem to be inconsequential to the story of Abram, if it weren’t for the following verse.
12 And they (Cheddar’s army) took Lot, Abram's brother's son, who dwelt in Sodom, and his goods, and departed.
You might remember that originally Lot chose to settle in the valley near the Jordan river, which was near Sodom. But now he is living in Sodom. And keep in mind that Sodom is known for being a wicked city.
Now the men of Sodom were exceedingly wicked and sinners against Yahweh.
So Lot is choosing to put himself and his family increasingly under the influence of evil people. Lot is “righteous” in
and delivered righteous Lot, who was very distressed by the lustful life of the wicked
But we know that his wife was judged and died in the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah later, and we will discover that his daughters could hardly be called righteous. So Lot’s decision to bring his family under the influence of this wicked city led to his family’s damnation. So he and his family are taken captive. Obviously, they were in the wrong place at the wrong time. They were swept up in the war between battling city-states. And Abram finds out that Lot and his family have been captured.
Now here’s the first interjection related to my point about choosing friends wisely. We don’t find Abram settling down in any city throughout his life. He meets people, he makes alliances, but he doesn’t put himself under the influence of anyone for an extended period of time. Now, there are two times that Abram moves toward city life because of famine. But we note that in both of those instances, he ends up in trouble because of sin. But, for the most part, he lives a nomadic life. He is a stranger in a strange land.
And that’s an important lesson. Lot got into trouble because he tied himself to Sodom. He became too entrenched in the evil system. And when God later calls him to come out of it, he has a very difficult time doing so.
13 And there came one that had escaped, and told Abram the Hebrew; for he dwelt in the plain of Mamre the Amorite, brother of Eshcol, and brother of Aner: and these were confederate with Abram.
Abram hears that Lot and his family are taken. It also mentioned that Abram had his own allies.
Mamre the Amorite, brother of Eshcol, and brother of Aner
14 And when Abram heard that his brother was taken captive, he armed his trained servants, born in his own house, three hundred and eighteen, and pursued them unto Dan.
Notice that Abram exhibited here is loyalty and bravery. Just think about this; Cheddar’s army just invaded and slaughtered at every turn. He won the victory over 5 kings and their armies. In the conquest, he takes a number of captives who will become slaves, one of them is Lot, and also his family, servants, possessions and cattle are taken.
Why in the world would Abram take his 318 servants, and his Amorite allies and pursue that army? What chance does he have in rescuing Lot?
Well Abram is living by some solid values in his world. And one of his values is loyalty. All he knows is that his nephew has been captured, and that he can’t leave him to a future of slavery or death. He has to try and save his life. It’s likely that Cheddar’s army was a multitude compared to Abram’s little band.
Now we could try to explain Abram’s victory by the circumstances. He does have certain advantages. First he has the element of surprise. Cheddar’s army has just defeated five kings. They are basking in the glow of victory. They don’t expect any other challengers. So they are probably in the middle of “party time” in the camp. Second, he has the advantage of the home turf. It says that he armed his servants and pursued Cheddar’s receding army to Dan. Dan would be the territory given to the tribe of Dan later in Jewish history. And Abram knew the terrain, so he was able to catch up to the army. 3rd, the army was apparently on their way back to their home country. Which means that the armies could have begun to separate from each other. They had won the victory, they saw no more threat. So everyone could have begun to be strung out on the journey home. 4th, it tells us that they attacked by night, and divided their forces. It is a common tactic in war to confuse the enemy. Cheddar’s forces could have believed that they were under assault by a much larger army than there actually was. 5th, Abram was not battling in order to win a war. He just wanted Lot and his family rescued. He had a very strategic aim. All he really had to do was spy on the armies, discover where Lot and his family were. Wait for an opportunity when that group of people were somewhat separated from the bulk of the armies, and strike under the cover of darkness when he has the advantage. 6th we don’t know how many people came along with Abram; his allies, Mamre the Amorite, brother of Eshcol, and brother of Aner
They may have had their own large group of servants as well.
15 And he divided himself against them, he and his servants, by night, and smote them, and pursued them unto Hobah, which is on the left hand of Damascus.
They essentially drove them out of Canaan. Now we can see how this could have happened. We can list Abram’s advantages. But there is one advantage we didn’t list that made all the difference. Abram was living by faith in the promises of God. God had promised him that he would be a great nation, and that he would inherit all of Canaan land. Obviously, Abram hadn’t had any children yet, nor had he come into the possession of any property. But Abram believed God. And if God’s promises were to be believed, then Abram was indestructible. God’s promises hadn’t been fulfilled yet, so Abram knew that he couldn’t die while liberating Lot’s family from this army.
16 And he brought back all the goods, and also brought again his brother Lot, and his goods, and the women also, and the people.
Now after he brings back Lot and his family, Abram has an interaction with the king of Sodom that demonstrates how Abram is careful about who influences him.
17 And the king of Sodom went out to meet him after his return from the slaughter of Chedorlaomer, and of the kings that were with him, at the valley of Shaveh, which is the king's dale.
We’re going to jump over verses 18-20 for the moment in order to make this point.
21 And the king of Sodom said unto Abram, Give me the persons, and take the goods to thyself.
He is acknowledging that Abram had won a victory that he himself had lost. And so he says to Abram that he should keep the booty, but that the people who had been taken captive by Cheddar, should just go back to their homes. Now this could be quite a temptation for Abram. We don’t know how much stuff we’re talking about. Was this a rout of all the 4 kings who followed Cheddar, or was it a partial rout of the fleeing armies. Regardless, this could have been a significant amount of cattle, gold, jewelry, and clothing. But Abram would have nothing of it.
22 And Abram said to the king of Sodom, I have lift up mine hand unto the Lord, the most high God, the possessor of heaven and earth,
23 That I will not take from a thread even to a shoelatchet, and that I will not take anything that is thine, lest thou shouldest say, I have made Abram rich:
24 Save only that which the young men have eaten, and the portion of the men which went with me, Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre; let them take their portion.
He’s not going to force his scruples on his allies. They are to take their share, but he himself returns everything that belonged to the king of Sodom.
Now why is this important? Number 1, he doesn’t want the king of Sodom to advertise to the region that Abram is rich because of him. This is an aspect of Abram’s faith. Only God deserves the credit for Abram’s riches.
But you might say, didn’t Abram take goods, and cattle and servants from Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, when he lied about Sarai being his sister? Yes he did. And I would call that a character flaw on Abram’s part. But here Abram knew that he would be living among these inhabitants of Canaan, so this incident would establish his reputation among the people he lived among.
Number 2 reason why he doesn’t want to take anything from the king of Sodom; Sodom has a reputation for wickedness. As we will learn shortly, homosexuality and violence are rampant in the city. And it wouldn’t surprise me if some of the booty that the king was offering Abram was tainted with that wickedness; e.g. sexually explicit idols, goods with idolatrous symbols on them. So not only was Abram saying that he doesn’t want the king of Sodom to get credit for enriching him, but he also doesn’t want to bring that corruption into his household. And he doesn’t want to establish a relationship with the king of Sodom. He doesn’t want any sense of indebtedness to him, because he and his people are corrupt.
This is an example of Abram’s integrity, his incorruptibility. And I want you to also notice that Abram’s relationship with Lot didn’t change after this. They were separated from each other before the battles, and they will be separated after. Abram continues his nomadic shepherding life, and believe it or not, Lot goes back to actually live in Sodom. Lot may have been enticed by that city, but Abram was not.
But the king of Sodom wasn’t the only person Abram met upon his return from freeing Lot and his family. And this is an example of Abram choosing the right people for his circle of influence. Look back at verses 18 through 20.
18 And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was the priest of the most high God.
19 And he blessed him, and said, Blessed be Abram of the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth:
20 And blessed be the most high God, which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand. And he gave him tithes of all.
Now this is an interesting meeting. And in the day to day journey of the ordinary that we are all on, it’s important to find and hold on to people who are going to “call you up.” They aren’t people who drag you down into selfishness, they call you up to righteousness. They call you up to relationship with God. They call you up to being a better person.
And that’s what happens here. Abram is returning from his battle where he not only retrieved Lot and his family, but retrieved much of the property and people that Cheddar had taken from the king of Sodom and his allies. The king of Sodom comes out and meets with Abram, and Abram gives him his stuff, and they part company.
But another king shows up; Melchizedek king of Salem. This king brings Abram bread and wine. He is taking care of the exhausted Abram and his servants. And what’s more, it says that Abram gave this king a part of the booty he took in battle.
So Abram wanted to have nothing to do with the king of Sodom. But he sits down to lunch with the king of Salem, and give him gifts. He had to know something about Melchizedek.
Well where did this guy come from? He’s not mentioned before now, and he is only mentioned again in the Old Testament in Psalm 110:4, and in the New Testament book of Hebrews. He is not a part of the confederation of kings who fought against Cheddar. It never mentions him as a part of the peoples who were slaughtered.
So who is he? There have been some curious ideas about his identity down through history. And I’m going to share three with you and tell you what I believe is the best view. And I want to tell you about them because they are interesting and informative. There’s only one that I actually think fits best with Scripture.
Some in history have said that Melchizedek is Shem. You know, the 1st son of Noah, the Godly line that comes from Noah. Well the obvious reply to that would be, “Shem is long dead by now, isn’t he?” Well this is the Biblical record of how long Shem lived,
This is the history of the generations of Shem: Shem was one hundred years old when he became the father of Arpachshad two years after the flood.
Shem lived five hundred years after he became the father of Arpachshad, and became the father of more sons and daughters.
So Shem lived to be 600 years of age. And if you do the math, Shem’s would only have died after Abram had been well past 100 years of age. So the chronology is possible. But, you say, Melchizedek was a king and a priest in Salem. Was Shem a king and priest. We don’t know what happened to each of Noah’s sons, but I can imagine that as Shem had children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, and so on, that he become a powerful patriarch of his clan, then tribe, and may have led in the building of a city like “Salem.” And because he was the father of them all, he becomes their king and priest. And naturally we could see why Abram would give Shem a tithe of the goods he had.
The problem is obvious. And it hearkens back to my rules of Bible interpretation I mentioned before; “If it ain’t in there, it ain’t in there.” The problem is, the text doesn’t say that Melchizedek is Shem. If it was Shem, wouldn’t the author make note of it? “By the way, Melchizedek is Shem.” And the reason I wrote that rule was because the Bible is God’s Word. And we need to be very careful about putting words in God’s mouth.
And don’t you think that either Shem or Abram would have put together the family connection? “Hey, we’re related!” “And God sent me here to claim this heathen country of yours!” Shem is Abram’s great, great, great, great, great, great, great (7 greats) grandfather. He is of the godly line. So I don’t think it is faithful to the Scripture to postulate that this is Shem.
Now the second proposal for the identity of Melchizedek is that he is a pre-incarnate manifestation of Jesus. This is Jesus come to visit men before the New Testament birth of Jesus. There are some things that might make a person believe this. Melchizedek’s name, for example means “King of Righteousness.” And he is called a priest of God Most High.
Now added to that are the other
references in Scripture to Melchizedek.
Psalm 110: Yahweh says to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand,
until I make your enemies your footstool for your feet.”
2 Yahweh
will send out the rod of your strength out of Zion.
Rule among your enemies.
This is a Messianic Psalm. In other words, the Psalm was written as a description of what the coming Messiah, Jesus, would be and do. Well it goes on in verse 4,
Yahweh has sworn, and will
not change his mind:
“You are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.”
All of a sudden, in Psalms, the name of Melchizedek comes up again. His name hasn’t been mentioned or alluded to since the meeting with Abram in Genesis. And now in Psalms, it says that the Messiah will be a Priest, and His priesthood will come through the line of Melchizedek.
The only other time that Melchizedek is mentioned in the Bible is in Hebrews 7. Here’s a section of that chapter.
For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of God Most High, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him, 2 to whom also Abraham divided a tenth part of all (being first, by interpretation, “king of righteousness”, and then also “king of Salem”, which means “king of peace”, 3 without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like the Son of God), remains a priest continually.
4 Now consider how great this man was, to whom even Abraham, the patriarch, gave a tenth out of the best plunder.
Now, we’re not going to try and exegete this chapter here. But, if you read the entire chapter, it definitely adds a mystical, mysterious element to the story and identity of Melchizedek. Especially think about the words, 3 without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like the Son of God), remains a priest continually.
So this is how this pre-incarnate manifestation of Christ goes; Jesus manifests Himself as Melchizedek in order to meet with Abram. They exchange blessings. Then Jesus/Melchizedek just vanishes from history, until he is born to Mary in the New Testament. So this gives Jesus his credentials as the Priest He will become. He can’t be a priest by descending from Aaron. Instead He comes through the line of Melchizedek, who is Him. He is His own ancestor.
Now I don’t want to make light of this idea, but I don’t believe this is the best way to identify Melchizedek. Why? Because it removes him from history. If you were to just read Genesis 14, about Melchizedek, you would believe that this was a godly man who was the king of a real place. He is “king of Salem.” Now some have pointed out that “Salem” is the Hebrew word for peace. So this could be just another title for the Messiah.
But in a natural reading of the text, he is presented as the king of a real city. What city is that? Psalm 76 says
In Judah, God is known. His name is great in Israel. 2 His tabernacle is also in
Salem;
His dwelling place in Zion.
Salem here is Jerusalem. The area was later dominated by the Jebusites. The city of Jerusalem was called “Jebus” by that people.
1 Chronicles 11:3-5 World English Bible (WEB)
3 So all the elders of Israel came to the king to Hebron; and David made a covenant with them in Hebron before Yahweh; and they anointed David king over Israel, according to Yahweh’s word by Samuel. 4 David and all Israel went to Jerusalem (also called Jebus); and the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land, were there. 5 The inhabitants of Jebus said to David, “You will not come in here.” Nevertheless David took the stronghold of Zion. The same is David’s city.
So, I strongly believe that Melchizedek was a real king of the ancient city of Salem, or later Jerusalem and that he is a godly man, one that even Abram honors. And he is a strong type of Christ in the Old Testament. The author of Hebrews points out that typology when it says of Melchizedek, he is
3 without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like the Son of God), remains a priest continually.
All the author of Hebrews is saying is that Melchizedek is a type of Christ. Melchizedek shows up on the scene, no indication of who he is, no father of mother or genealogy listed. And he disappears from the pages of Scripture, no mention of his death anywhere. And in that way he is a type of the Eternal Priest who will come. He is “made like the Son of God.” Notice it didn’t say, he was the Son of God, but “like” the Son of God. He is a type of Christ and is the spiritual lineage on which is based the priesthood of Jesus.
Now let me remind you of the lesson. The lesson from Abram is that we all need to be careful of our friends. We need to attach ourselves to Godly people who encourage us to be better and more faithful. We need to remove ourselves from the influence of ungodly people.
Now I’m not saying that we should be entirely separate from the world.
1 John 2 says that we are to be “in the world, but not of the world.” We can’t be witnesses to the world about Christ, if we separate ourselves entirely from it. But we should take the example of Abram here. He didn’t want to bring “the stuff of Sodom” into his tents. He didn’t want to form a relationship with an evil man, that might later influence him and his family. As I noted one time before, Lot’s family was lost because they were influenced by the evil of Sodom. His wife and daughters were corrupted.
We have to be careful what we bring into our homes, and present to our children. And we must be intentional in developing godly friendships. If you find some godly people in this world, hold on to them. It’s a rare commodity to have that kind of friends. It amazes me how people choose a church today. They choose a church because it has good music, or good facilities, or entertaining programs. But teaching and living the Word of God is often low on their priority list. Surrounding their kids with Godly people isn’t necessarily a priority. My friends, if you are a regular church goer and you have kids, the odds are pretty good that your kids will choose a mate from among the people you worship with.
So look around, do you want your son or daughter to marry someone like the people who you call your closest friends. Choose your comrades carefully.
Well that’s where we are going to leave off for this time. We will continue next time with some more lessons for life from the story of Abram.
Let’s pray,
Lord we live in a dying and decaying world. And it’s easy for us to let go of the moorings of our faith. Lord, help us to say no to the influences of evil around us, that would pull us into sin. And help us find those people who will encourage and strengthen us in our upward journey. We pray this in Jesus name, amen.