{"id":15812,"date":"2021-05-18T22:00:45","date_gmt":"2021-05-19T05:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/genesis_18_1-15-copy\/"},"modified":"2021-05-16T17:36:31","modified_gmt":"2021-05-17T00:36:31","slug":"genesis_18_16-33","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/genesis_18_16-33\/","title":{"rendered":"Standing in the Gap"},"content":{"rendered":"

Genesis 18:16-33\u00a0\u00a0Click here for Bible Verses<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Genesis 18:1-15.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Genesis 18:16-21 (NIV)<\/em><\/strong>
\n16\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0When the men got up to leave, they looked down toward Sodom, and Abraham walked along with them to see them on their way.
\n17\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Then the\u00a0LORD\u00a0said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do?
\n18\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and all nations on earth will be blessed through him.
\n19\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0For I have chosen him, so that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the\u00a0LORD\u00a0by doing what is right and just, so that the\u00a0LORD\u00a0will bring about for Abraham what he has promised him.”
\n20\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Then the\u00a0LORD\u00a0said, “The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous
\n21\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0that I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached me. If not, I will know.”<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 16-21:\u00a0\u00a0Here God confides in Abraham regarding what He is planning to do to Sodom and Gomorrah.\u00a0\u00a0Likewise, when you make it your life\u2019s passion to worship, obey and trust God, God will entrust you with the things that are on His heart.<\/p>\n

Genesis 18:22-33 (NIV)<\/em><\/strong>
\n22\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The men turned away and went toward Sodom, but Abraham remained standing before the\u00a0LORD.
\n23\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Then Abraham approached him and said: “Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked?
\n24\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0What if there are fifty righteous people in the city? Will you really sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous people in it?
\n25\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Far be it from you to do such a thing–to kill the righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked alike. Far be it from you! Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?”
\n26\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The\u00a0LORD\u00a0said, “If I find fifty righteous people in the city of Sodom, I will spare the whole place for their sake.”
\n27\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Then Abraham spoke up again: “Now that I have been so bold as to speak to the Lord, though I am nothing but dust and ashes,
\n28\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0what if the number of the righteous is five less than fifty? Will you destroy the whole city because of five people?” “If I find forty-five there,” he said, “I will not destroy it.”
\n29\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Once again he spoke to him, “What if only forty are found there?” He said, “For the sake of forty, I will not do it.”
\n30\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Then he said, “May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak. What if only thirty can be found there?” He answered, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.”
\n31\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Abraham said, “Now that I have been so bold as to speak to the Lord, what if only twenty can be found there?” He said, “For the sake of twenty, I will not destroy it.”
\n32\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Then he said, “May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak just once more. What if only ten can be found there?” He answered, “For the sake of ten, I will not destroy it.”
\n33\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0When the\u00a0LORD\u00a0had finished speaking with Abraham, he left, and Abraham returned home.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 22-33:\u00a0\u00a0Here Abraham steps in as an intercessor for Sodom and Gomorrah.\u00a0\u00a0An intercessor is someone who stands in the gap and prays to God on others\u2019 behalf.\u00a0\u00a0Just as Abraham stood in the gap and prayed for Sodom and Gomorrah, so\u00a0you and I have an intercessor who speaks on our behalf: Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit<\/strong>.\u00a0\u00a0Hebrews 7:25 says that Jesus \u201calways lives to intercede\u201d for us.\u00a0\u00a0Romans 8:26 says that \u201cwe do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0Thank God that we have the greatest intercessors on our side praying for us.\u00a0\u00a0Likewise,\u00a0we, as priests in God\u2019s kingdom, can pray (intercede) for others and be confident that God hears our prayers<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Also, I believe it pleased God to see Abraham interceding on behalf of Sodom and Gomorrah.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s a reminder to me that\u00a0when we are given information about the challenges and problems others face, may we not be gossipers or just shrug our shoulders and say, \u201cOh well\u201d, but may we be intercessors who pray to God on behalf of others and who do what we can to help<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Heavenly Father, thank You for placing on my side Your Son Jesus and the Holy Spirit to intercede on my behalf.\u00a0\u00a0Thank You that I too can be an intercessor for the people in my home, in my church, in my neighbourhood, in my nation and for nations abroad.\u00a0\u00a0In Jesus\u2019 name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Genesis 18:1-15.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Genesis 18:16-21 (NIV)
\n16\u00a0\u00a0When the men got up to leave, they looked down toward Sodom, and Abraham walked along with them to see them on their way.
\n17\u00a0\u00a0Then the\u00a0LORD\u00a0said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do?
\n18\u00a0\u00a0Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and all nations on earth will be blessed through him.
\n19\u00a0\u00a0For I have chosen him, so that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the\u00a0LORD\u00a0by doing what is right and just, so that the\u00a0LORD\u00a0will bring about for Abraham what he has promised him.”
\n20\u00a0\u00a0Then the\u00a0LORD\u00a0said, “The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous
\n21\u00a0\u00a0that I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached me. If not, I will know.”<\/p>\n

On verses 16-21:\u00a0\u00a0Here God confides in Abraham regarding what He is planning to do to Sodom and Gomorrah.\u00a0\u00a0Likewise, when you make it your life\u2019s passion to worship, obey and trust God, God will entrust you with the things that are on His heart.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15814,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15812","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15812","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15812"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15812\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15813,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15812\/revisions\/15813"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15814"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15812"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15812"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15812"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}