Abraham and Lot and the Question of Influence

Influence is a funny thing.  What affects one person does not necessarily affect another.  For some, it's incredibly difficult not to follow friends into destructive behavior.  For others, it's not so hard, but the suggestions of advertisers move them to action. 
For Christians, influence is central to what it means to follow Christ, who said we are "the light of the world."  But what causes a Christian to "be light"?  Today we look at two believers, Abraham and Lot.  For one, his righteous life caused others to praise "God Most High."  For the other, his light was all but snuffed out.  Why?  Let's take a look today...

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The Sin of Sodom

Part 4 of 8 in the series, "Foundations of God's Plan: Abraham"

Sodom is famous for one particular sin, but the Bible says Sodom and the surrounding cities of the plain were destroyed for another sin entirely (of which the horrific scene from Genesis 19 is only an example). When you realize the true sin of Sodom (from Ezekiel 16:49-50), you find that it hits a lot closer to home. Are you guilty?

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Abraham: A Promised Home

Part 2 of 8 in the series, "Foundations of God's Plan: Abraham"

When God blessed Abram, he not only promised him a great name but also a home. Each of these promises answers a great longing in the hearts of people.

As Augustine said, "You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless ...until it rests in you"

So how did Abram come to his home? How do we come to our promised home? Let's look at the Scripture together...

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Foundations of God's Plan: Abraham, the Call and the Promise

One of the great theologians of the 20th Century - John Stott - calls it "the most unifying verses in the Bible" which are "indispensable to an understanding of the Bible and the Christian mission." Do you understand the significance of God's call of Abram in Genesis 12:1-3? Are you living under the blessing given to Abraham, inherited through Christ?

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Noah: Life and Promise

After Noah and the others got off the ark, they opened the door and stepped into a vastly different world from the one they had known.  Pictures of the devastation from modern-day floods are awful to see, but they are nothing compared with what Noah saw that day.  The world was waterlogged and full of death.  The stench must have been overwhelming.  But rising above that stench, there soon came another aroma which pleased the nostrils of God: a burnt offering of thanks prepared by Noah to the Lord.  In that moment, God made a decision, a proclamation, and a promise, all of which are still in effect today and still have tremendous ramifications for our lives.  The rainbow is set in the sky to remind us of the promise.  But what kind of promise is it?  What, exactly, did God promise?  And how does this promise affect us today?

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Noah: Judgment and Grace

There's a Noah movie coming out next month, filled with stars like Russell Crowe, Anthony Hopkins, and Emma Watson.  In some of the pre-publicity interviews, Crowe has been quoted as saying that he did not see Noah as a good person at all, because he let all those people die.  (This misses the characterization of Noah as a "preacher of righteousness"--which suggests that he warned people, but they did not listen). 

This problem points to something about the story of Noah, which despite being one of the most well-known stories in the Bible, remains one of the most difficult.  This is not a "cute" story for children.  It is a story about God's judgment with a tremendous amount of death.

So what do we learn about the judgment of God in this story?

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"In the Beginning": Being Human (Genesis 3)

There is no passage of Scripture that explains and illustrates our sinful human nature like Genesis 3. 

What was the sin? 
What is our sinful nature? 
What has it done to us? 

We look for answers this week...

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