Brother Gary Wednesday Evening 8/26/15

Brother Gary Wednesday Evening 8/26/15

Gen 18:16  And the men rose up from thence, and looked toward Sodom: and Abraham went with them to bring them on the way.

Gen 18:17  And the LORD said, Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do;

Brother Warner wrote the song, “Watchman, Tell Me What of the Morning.”  If I remember right Brother Warner started writing that song when he was dying.  Brother DO Teasley helped to finish it.  If he could come back and talk to us, how he would tell us, “God always came through!”  He had really tough things in his life. 

For those before him, God always came through.  I think of those that we know that loved and served God, and of all the things that happened in their life, God always came through.

Gen 18:17  And the LORD said, Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do;

Gen 18:18  Seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him?

Gen 18:19  For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the LORD, to do justice and judgment; that the LORD may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him.

Isn’t it a wonderful testimony that God gave of Abraham?  “I know him.”

Gen 18:20  And the LORD said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous;

The cry of Sodom is great.  When I hear of Sodom and Gomorrah my mind often goes to the unspeakable sins that are not to be talked about in mixed crowds.  It is more than just the unspeakable sins.  It did not get into its terrible condition in one day.

Souls don’t get in spiritual trouble in one day.  There is a drifting that begins to take place. 

Sinning America doesn’t want to acknowledge how terrible America is.  Often you stand in a line even in a little country store and you see men and women with tattoos on their neck and back.  You ask them how they are and they will say, “I am great.”  Why do they have a tattoo there?  There is a vast difference between what men and women say and what it is really.

If our senses have been dulled by the journey, by the battle, or by unbelief then we will look at them and think, “Well, things probably are alright.”  Why is suicide so high?  There is something wrong with this picture.

We know that God hears the true cries of lives and souls.  His ear is not dull.  We often times will never hear the true cry that God can hear.  Jim Heffernan tells people how lonely his life is.  Why is his life so lonely?  There is not anyone here that wouldn’t have time for him.  There is open seating in the house of God. 

The cry of souls!  There is no way to leave God out of an individual’s life without there being a cry going out of, “This is terrible.”

I talked to a young lady that drives a big Toyota with big wheels.  I asked her how she was, “Everything is just fine.”  That is her words, but that is not her expression.  Everything is not just fine.

“I have heard the cry of Sodom… because their sin is grievous.”  There is one thing that causes the cry to be very great and it is sin. 

Church, may God stir me that I don’t become accustomed to sin.  Kay Baker told of the death of her first husband and then her second began socially drinking and it only increased from there.  One day he reached the place where he was drinking so much that it was going to take their home away from them.  Sin is terrible.

Mean people start small.  People that have a sharp tongue start small and then it grows and grows and grows. 

Gen 18:21  I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto me; and if not, I will know.

Gen 18:22  And the men turned their faces from thence, and went toward Sodom: but Abraham stood yet before the LORD.

We are blessed to know about worship.  We always have time to stand before the Lord.  If you don’t then you need to rearrange your schedule.  “God I have time.  I am not going to rush through this.  I need to stand before the Lord.”

You meet someone they tell you everything is fine and you leave there with a heavy heart.  Things are not just fine.  We all have that experience of, “This just doesn’t taste right.”  God has given us a spiritual taster.  People will tell you stuff and you think, “I need to chew on this a while for the palate is sensing that this doesn’t taste right.”

Where can our senses be made anew?  Abraham stood before God. 

Gen 18:23  And Abraham drew near, and said, Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked?

Abraham drew near.  We didn’t read that God was going to destroy Sodom.  Abraham knew that there is a penalty for sin.  Most of us have family and friends that ended up in Sodom.  They never planned for sin to take them where it went.  They went looking for prosperity, companions, education, or whatever they went for.

Let me tell you, if your senses ever become dull you don’t know where you will end up.  Sin will take you further than you want to go.  Mothers leave babies.  Can you imagine it?  Husbands leave wives.  Something got a hold of them and they think they want someone else.  Wives leave husbands.

Children rebel against parents.  We need to pray for our children.  We live in a condition that the world that is around them when we are not there says, “You don’t have to put up with strict parents.”

Gen 18:24  Peradventure there be fifty righteous within the city: wilt thou also destroy and not spare the place for the fifty righteous that are therein?

We can identify with this question.  We have children, grandchildren.  It doesn’t matter who, what family they are from, or what color they are.  Prejudice is a terrible thing.

Gen 18:25  That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?

Gen 18:26  And the LORD said, If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes.

Gen 18:27  And Abraham answered and said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, which am but dust and ashes:

Gen 18:28  Peradventure there shall lack five of the fifty righteous: wilt thou destroy all the city for lack of five? And he said, If I find there forty and five, I will not destroy it.

Gen 18:29  And he spake unto him yet again, and said, Peradventure there shall be forty found there. And he said, I will not do it for forty's sake.

Gen 18:30  And he said unto him, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak: Peradventure there shall thirty be found there. And he said, I will not do it, if I find thirty there.

Gen 18:31  And he said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord: Peradventure there shall be twenty found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for twenty's sake.

Gen 18:32  And he said, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak yet but this once: Peradventure ten shall be found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for ten's sake.

Gen 18:33  And the LORD went his way, as soon as he had left communing with Abraham: and Abraham returned unto his place.

In verse 27 Abraham says, “I am but dust and ashes.”  This shows that Abraham was really burdened for Lot and his family.  It is alright to be heavy burdened and it is alright to be grieving for someone in your family.  It is alright to take this thought, “I am in dust and ashes for they are lost.”

The world is, “You got a house, a job, a car?  Then things are good.”  Things are not good if people are not saved and serving God.  Our vision is not: “How much money do they have in the bank?”  It is not: “Do they drive a decent car?”  Or “Do the kids get new tennis shoes to go to school?” 

In this country we are targeted to be unconcerned for souls.  We are targeted to keep our mind off of spiritual things.  We are targeted to not have a soul burden. 

Abraham was in pain.  Abraham pleaded for forty, for thirty, for twenty, and for ten. 

I read verse 33.  I have had that happened to me.  God has spoken to me, communed with me, challenged my faith.  This message is going to require faith.  God went His way after communing with Abraham.  Abraham was left all alone.

God heard the cries of the great sin and God went to see.  Abraham loved Lot and his family.  He could not stop Lot from going toward Sodom.  Now Abraham is pleading and interceding and God considered the pleadings. 

Church, plead with God.  Brother Miller asked my dad one day, “If you cannot pray then who can?”  Souls are depending on us praying.  Heaven is depending on us praying.

Some of you sing the song, “Lord give me a vision.  Oh help me to see some soul saved.”

Abraham humbly pleaded with God.  God said, “I will show mercy if there is fifty.”  It worked way down and God said, “I’ll show mercy if there are ten.”

God left us with the encouragement to pray.

Adam Clarke: Faith in God endues prayer with a species of omnipotence.

I know about faith in God.  I know about how when you are in His presence there is that omnipotence of God, all power.  He is able to deliver. He is able to save to the uttermost. 

You may not feel strong enough to carry a burden.  Yes you are.  Stay before God until your senses have been moved upon by the presence of God. 

Whatsoever a man askes in His name He will do.

Prayer is termed the gate of heaven but only when faith can open the gate.

There are people that I want to go to heaven.  A dear one sang the song, “I want to stroll all over heaven with you.”  I think of our friends and all the guys that we worked with.  I think, “Oh I hope… I would love to stroll heaven with them.” 

There is a price to pay.  Dear ones, I don’t know how many of you have had the opportunity to visit with Dave and Joann, but they have had a terrible heartache in their life.  The sins of Sodom are mean.  It is not just Missoula. 

He who prays, pleads, intercedes, and believes shall have the fullness of the blessing of the Gospel of Peace.

America is in sad shape.  Families are in sad shape.  You and I were given the Word of God to encourage us and to help us to say, “I am not going to look on the outward.”  God open my senses so that I can hear. 

My brother says, “Everything is just fine.”  No things are not just fine. 

God help me to smell:
“How is it going sonny?” 
“Ok.” 
What kind of an attitude is that I smell?  

God help me to see.  We live in a smokescreen world. 

God help me to taste. 

God help me to have the spirit of discernment.  It is not surmising, but when there is a bad spirit you need to know it.