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Adventure in Evangelism

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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkGEN">
 <div class="chapter ch18" data-usfm="GEN.18">
 <div class="label">18</div><div class="s1">The Three Visitors</div><div class="p"> 1The Lord appeared to Abraham near the great trees of Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance to his tent in the heat of the day. 2Abraham looked up and saw three men standing nearby. When he saw them, he hurried from the entrance of his tent to meet them and bowed low to the ground.</div><div class="p"> 3He said, &#8220;If I have found favor in your eyes, my lord,#18:3 Or eyes, Lord do not pass your servant by. 4Let a little water be brought, and then you may all wash your feet and rest under this tree. 5Let me get you something to eat, so you can be refreshed and then go on your way&#8212;now that you have come to your servant.&#8221;</div><div class="p">&#8220;Very well,&#8221; they answered, &#8220;do as you say.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 6So Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah. &#8220;Quick,&#8221; he said, &#8220;get three seahs#18:6 That is, probably about 36 pounds or about 16 kilograms of the finest flour and knead it and bake some bread.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 7Then he ran to the herd and selected a choice, tender calf and gave it to a servant, who hurried to prepare it. 8He then brought some curds and milk and the calf that had been prepared, and set these before them. While they ate, he stood near them under a tree.</div><div class="p"> 9&#8220;Where is your wife Sarah?&#8221; they asked him.</div><div class="p">&#8220;There, in the tent,&#8221; he said.</div><div class="p"> 10Then one of them said, &#8220;I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife will have a son.&#8221;</div><div class="p">Now Sarah was listening at the entrance to the tent, which was behind him. 11Abraham and Sarah were already very old, and Sarah was past the age of childbearing. 12So Sarah laughed to herself as she thought, &#8220;After I am worn out and my lord is old, will I now have this pleasure?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 13Then the Lord said to Abraham, &#8220;Why did Sarah laugh and say, &#8216;Will I really have a child, now that I am old?&#8217; 14Is anything too hard for the Lord? I will return to you at the appointed time next year, and Sarah will have a son.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 15Sarah was afraid, so she lied and said, &#8220;I did not laugh.&#8221;</div><div class="p">But he said, &#8220;Yes, you did laugh.&#8221;</div><div class="s1">Abraham Pleads for Sodom</div><div class="p"> 16When the men got up to leave, they looked down toward Sodom, and Abraham walked along with them to see them on their way. 17Then the Lord said, &#8220;Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do? 18Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and all nations on earth will be blessed through him.#18:18 Or will use his name in blessings (see 48:20) 19For I have chosen him, so that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just, so that the Lord will bring about for Abraham what he has promised him.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 20Then the Lord said, &#8220;The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous 21that 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.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 22The men turned away and went toward Sodom, but Abraham remained standing before the Lord.#18:22 Masoretic Text; an ancient Hebrew scribal tradition but the Lord remained standing before Abraham 23Then Abraham approached him and said: &#8220;Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked? 24What if there are fifty righteous people in the city? Will you really sweep it away and not spare#18:24 Or forgive; also in verse 26 the place for the sake of the fifty righteous people in it? 25Far be it from you to do such a thing&#8212;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?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 26The Lord said, &#8220;If I find fifty righteous people in the city of Sodom, I will spare the whole place for their sake.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 27Then Abraham spoke up again: &#8220;Now that I have been so bold as to speak to the Lord, though I am nothing but dust and ashes, 28what if the number of the righteous is five less than fifty? Will you destroy the whole city for lack of five people?&#8221;</div><div class="p">&#8220;If I find forty-five there,&#8221; he said, &#8220;I will not destroy it.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 29Once again he spoke to him, &#8220;What if only forty are found there?&#8221;</div><div class="p">He said, &#8220;For the sake of forty, I will not do it.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 30Then he said, &#8220;May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak. What if only thirty can be found there?&#8221;</div><div class="p">He answered, &#8220;I will not do it if I find thirty there.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 31Abraham said, &#8220;Now that I have been so bold as to speak to the Lord, what if only twenty can be found there?&#8221;</div><div class="p">He said, &#8220;For the sake of twenty, I will not destroy it.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 32Then he said, &#8220;May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak just once more. What if only ten can be found there?&#8221;</div><div class="p">He answered, &#8220;For the sake of ten, I will not destroy it.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 33When the Lord had finished speaking with Abraham, he left, and Abraham returned home.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkGEN">
 <div class="chapter ch19" data-usfm="GEN.19">
 <div class="label">19</div><div class="s1">Sodom and Gomorrah Destroyed</div><div class="p"> 1The two angels arrived at Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gateway of the city. When he saw them, he got up to meet them and bowed down with his face to the ground. 2&#8220;My lords,&#8221; he said, &#8220;please turn aside to your servant&#8217;s house. You can wash your feet and spend the night and then go on your way early in the morning.&#8221;</div><div class="p">&#8220;No,&#8221; they answered, &#8220;we will spend the night in the square.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 3But he insisted so strongly that they did go with him and entered his house. He prepared a meal for them, baking bread without yeast, and they ate. 4Before they had gone to bed, all the men from every part of the city of Sodom&#8212;both young and old&#8212;surrounded the house. 5They called to Lot, &#8220;Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 6Lot went outside to meet them and shut the door behind him 7and said, &#8220;No, my friends. Don&#8217;t do this wicked thing. 8Look, I have two daughters who have never slept with a man. Let me bring them out to you, and you can do what you like with them. But don&#8217;t do anything to these men, for they have come under the protection of my roof.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 9&#8220;Get out of our way,&#8221; they replied. &#8220;This fellow came here as a foreigner, and now he wants to play the judge! We&#8217;ll treat you worse than them.&#8221; They kept bringing pressure on Lot and moved forward to break down the door.</div><div class="p"> 10But the men inside reached out and pulled Lot back into the house and shut the door. 11Then they struck the men who were at the door of the house, young and old, with blindness so that they could not find the door.</div><div class="p"> 12The two men said to Lot, &#8220;Do you have anyone else here&#8212;sons-in-law, sons or daughters, or anyone else in the city who belongs to you? Get them out of here, 13because we are going to destroy this place. The outcry to the Lord against its people is so great that he has sent us to destroy it.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 14So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who were pledged to marry#19:14 Or were married to his daughters. He said, &#8220;Hurry and get out of this place, because the Lord is about to destroy the city!&#8221; But his sons-in-law thought he was joking.</div><div class="p"> 15With the coming of dawn, the angels urged Lot, saying, &#8220;Hurry! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away when the city is punished.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 16When he hesitated, the men grasped his hand and the hands of his wife and of his two daughters and led them safely out of the city, for the Lord was merciful to them. 17As soon as they had brought them out, one of them said, &#8220;Flee for your lives! Don&#8217;t look back, and don&#8217;t stop anywhere in the plain! Flee to the mountains or you will be swept away!&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 18But Lot said to them, &#8220;No, my lords,#19:18 Or No, Lord; or No, my lord please! 19Your#19:19 The Hebrew is singular. servant has found favor in your#19:19 The Hebrew is singular. eyes, and you#19:19 The Hebrew is singular. have shown great kindness to me in sparing my life. But I can&#8217;t flee to the mountains; this disaster will overtake me, and I&#8217;ll die. 20Look, here is a town near enough to run to, and it is small. Let me flee to it&#8212;it is very small, isn&#8217;t it? Then my life will be spared.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 21He said to him, &#8220;Very well, I will grant this request too; I will not overthrow the town you speak of. 22But flee there quickly, because I cannot do anything until you reach it.&#8221; (That is why the town was called Zoar.#19:22 Zoar means small.)</div><div class="p"> 23By the time Lot reached Zoar, the sun had risen over the land. 24Then the Lord rained down burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah&#8212;from the Lord out of the heavens. 25Thus he overthrew those cities and the entire plain, destroying all those living in the cities&#8212;and also the vegetation in the land. 26But Lot&#8217;s wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.</div><div class="p"> 27Early the next morning Abraham got up and returned to the place where he had stood before the Lord. 28He 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.</div><div class="p"> 29So 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.</div><div class="s1">Lot and His Daughters</div><div class="p"> 30Lot 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. 31One day the older daughter said to the younger, &#8220;Our father is old, and there is no man around here to give us children&#8212;as is the custom all over the earth. 32Let&#8217;s get our father to drink wine and then sleep with him and preserve our family line through our father.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 33That night they got their father to drink wine, and the older daughter went in and slept with him. He was not aware of it when she lay down or when she got up.</div><div class="p"> 34The next day the older daughter said to the younger, &#8220;Last night I slept with my father. Let&#8217;s get him to drink wine again tonight, and you go in and sleep with him so we can preserve our family line through our father.&#8221; 35So they got their father to drink wine that night also, and the younger daughter went in and slept with him. Again he was not aware of it when she lay down or when she got up.</div><div class="p"> 36So both of Lot&#8217;s daughters became pregnant by their father. 37The older daughter had a son, and she named him Moab#19:37 Moab sounds like the Hebrew for from father.; he is the father of the Moabites of today. 38The younger daughter also had a son, and she named him Ben-Ammi#19:38 Ben-Ammi means son of my father&#8217;s people.; he is the father of the Ammonites#19:38 Hebrew Bene-Ammon of today.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkROM">
 <div class="chapter ch7" data-usfm="ROM.7">
 <div class="label">7</div><div class="s1">Released From the Law, Bound to Christ</div><div class="p"> 1Do you not know, brothers and sisters&#8212;for I am speaking to those who know the law&#8212;that the law has authority over someone only as long as that person lives? 2For example, by law a married woman is bound to her husband as long as he is alive, but if her husband dies, she is released from the law that binds her to him. 3So then, if she has sexual relations with another man while her husband is still alive, she is called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is released from that law and is not an adulteress if she marries another man.</div><div class="p"> 4So, my brothers and sisters, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God. 5For when we were in the realm of the flesh,#7:5 In contexts like this, the Greek word for flesh (sarx) refers to the sinful state of human beings, often presented as a power in opposition to the Spirit. the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in us, so that we bore fruit for death. 6But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.</div><div class="s1">The Law and Sin</div><div class="p"> 7What shall we say, then? Is the law sinful? Certainly not! Nevertheless, I would not have known what sin was had it not been for the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, &#8220;You shall not covet.&#8221;#7:7 Exodus 20:17; Deut. 5:21 8But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of coveting. For apart from the law, sin was dead. 9Once I was alive apart from the law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died. 10I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death. 11For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death. 12So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good.</div><div class="p"> 13Did that which is good, then, become death to me? By no means! Nevertheless, in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it used what is good to bring about my death, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful.</div><div class="p"> 14We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. 15I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. 16And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. 17As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. 18For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature.#7:18 Or my flesh For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do&#8212;this I keep on doing. 20Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.</div><div class="p"> 21So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22For in my inner being I delight in God&#8217;s law; 23but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. 24What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? 25Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!</div><div class="p">So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God&#8217;s law, but in my sinful nature#7:25 Or in the flesh a slave to the law of sin.</div>
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